Denove, Garth, Greene to Be Designated as ‘Persons of the Year’

Thursday, October 7, 2010

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Denove, Garth, Greene to Be Designated as ‘Persons of the Year’

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Plaintiffs’ attorney Jack Denove, Southwestern Law School Dean Bryant Garth, and attorney/conductor Gary S. Greene will receive the Metropolitan News-Enterprise’s “Person of the Year” awards for 2010, it was announced yesterday.

Profiles of the three awardees will appear in a special section of the MetNews to appear in early January, 2011, and the 23rd annual “Person of the Year” dinner, at which they will be presented scrolls and plaques, will take place on Jan. 21.

Former Los Angeles District Attorney Robert H. Philibosian, now of counsel to Sheppard Mullin, will emcee the event for the 14th time.

Denove is president of Italian American Lawyers Association and is a past president of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the organization’s highest membership rank.

MetNews co-publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace commented that Denove is “one of the area’s leading practitioners, known for his legal skill.” Too, he is “marked by a sense of humor and a down-to-earth nature,” she said, noting he is a past president of the Cowboy Lawyers.

Garth became dean of Southwestern in 2005. He previously served as director of the American Bar Foundation, and prior to that was dean of the Indiana University School of Law.

Grace observed:

“As an experienced law professor and author or co-author of more than 16 books, as well as 75 articles, and as co-editor of the Association of American Law Schools’ Journal of Legal Education, Garth clearly qualifies as a legal scholar. That Southwestern would engage the services of such a person as its dean is consistent with its rapidly developing stature as a prestigious legal institution.”

Greene, aside from maintaining a legal practice since 1975, is founder/conductor of the Lawyers Philharmonic, which made its debut at the “Person of the Year” dinner in 2009, and has since performed in numerous venues, including Disney Hall. He is also conductor of the Jr. Philharmonic, comprised of young performers, founded by his late uncle in 1937.

“In less than two years, Gary has established a full-sized orchestra with a waiting list of lawyers and judge who want to join it,” Grace remarked. “Through the Lawyers Phil, he has not only entertained the legal community, at numerous events, but has done much to unify it.”

Former persons of the year include the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Mildred Lillie, 1983; the late California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, 1984; the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Lester Wm. Roth, 1985; the late Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Parker, 1986; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Billy G. Mills (since retired), 1987; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Executive Officer Frank Zolin, 1988 (now retired); then-Court of Appeal Justice Lynn “Buck” Compton (since retired), 1989; Court of Appeal Justice Miriam Vogel (now retired) and then-State Bar President Charles Vogel, 1990; Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer (now retired), 1991; Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, 1992; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge (now Court of Appeal Presiding Justice) Robert Mallano, 1993; Court of Appeal Justice Norman Epstein (now presiding justice), 1994; then-California Attorney General (now Congressman) Dan Lungren, 1995; California Chief Justice Ronald George, 1996; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge (then-Assistant Presiding Judge) Victor E. Chavez, 1997; U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew, 1998; and Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, 1999.

Others are then-Judicial Appointments Secretary (now Los Angeles Superior Court Judge) Burt Pines, 2000; then-State Bar President Karen Nobumoto, 2001; Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, 2002; then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, now on the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics in Washington, D.C., 2003; then-State Bar President John Van de Kamp and then-Los Angeles County Bar Assn. President John Collins, 2004; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge William MacLaughlin and then-Assistant Presiding Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, 2005; political consultant Joseph Cerrell, U.S. District Judge George Schiavelli of the Central District of California (now in law practice and mediation) and Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Paul A. Turner, 2006; San Fernando Valley attorney and civic leader Lee Kanon Alpert, then-Los Angeles County Bar Assn. President Gretchen Nelson, and Philibosian, 2007; Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles W. McCoy and Assistant Presiding Judge (now Presiding Judge-elect) Lee Edmon, 2008; and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County Public Defender Michael P. Judge, and Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, 2009.