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Bacigalupo Readies for Retirement From Bench
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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BACIGALUPO Judge |
Paul A. Bacigalupo has left his post on the Los Angeles Superior Court and will officially retire on Feb. 22.
“I’m out of the country enjoying some vacation time,” he said yesterday, in an email, adding:
“Feels good to recharge!”
His last day on the bench was Jan. 4.
Bacigalupo, then a State Bar Court judge, won election to the Superior Court in the Nov. 5, 2002 run-off against then-Deputy District Attorney David Gelfound, gaining 59.75 percent of the votes. (Gelfound was appointed to the Superior Court in 2007.)
The endorsement of the Los Angeles Times and the ballot designation of “Judge, State Bar” were viewed as contributing to Bacigalupo’s success at the polls.
The ballot designation was challenged by then-Deputy District Attorney Jared Moses (who was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2008). At that time, the holder of an office was restricted to a three-word designation (which has been remedied by legislation).
Moses’s attorney, Mark Geragos, argued before the Court of Appeal for this district on Sept. 10, 2002, that clarity would demand the title should be reworked to read “State Bar Judge.” Div. Three held on Sept. 11—one day before the ballot had to be prepared for printing—that while the wording suggested by Geragos would be preferable, the designation would stand, saying:
“Petitioner presents only arguments and conclusions in support of the contention that the ballot designation ‘Judge, State Bar’ is misleading, and provides no factual support of his position,”
Then-Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg named Bacigalupo to the State Bar Court in 2000. He was at the time a litigator with Castle & Lax.
Earlier, he was a founder of JAMS/Endispute.
In 2018, Bacigalupo was elected president of the California Judges Association.
He is presently a member of the Board of Governors of the Italian American Lawyers Association.
Copyright 2024, Metropolitan News Company