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Former LACBA President John D. Taylor Dies
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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Above is the photograph of Pasadena probate attorney John D. Taylor (1933-2025). It appeared in the monthly Los Angeles Lawyer magazine in 1978 and 1979 in connection with his “President’s Page” column. |
Pasadena probate attorney John D. Taylor, who was president of the County Bar in 1978-79 and practiced law for more than 56 years, has died at the age of 92.
His death, which occurred on April 12, was announced Saturday.
A 1959 graduate of the University of California Berkeley School of Law—then known as Boalt Hall—he was admitted to the State Bar on June 14, 1960, and assumed inactive status on Jan. 19, 2017.
His firm was Taylor Kupfer Summers and Rhodes
Taylor was long active in the Los Angeles County Bar Association (“LACBA”). Although it’s membership is now sinking and its activities curtailed, it was, in past days, a vibrant organization.
In 2016, Taylor recounted, in an email to the METNEWS, that around 1964, he and attorney John Hussey (now deceased) joined LACBA’s Membership Admissions Committee which, under procedures then in effect, approved or barred applicants for admission to the organization.
He recounted:
“At the first meeting Hussey and I attended, the then Executive Director Stan Johnson handed each us 5 or 6 large recipe type cards. Each card had the name of an applicant and whatever I assume the Executive Director or someone thought we should know about applicant. We sat around and read the cards and then reported to other members of the Committee what we had read. I asked the Chair if we could have the cards sent to us before the meetings—that would save everyone some time. Stan Johnson said that absolutely could NOT be done. The information was highly classified and the cards could not leave the room.
“Not long after that the name of an attorney who was well known for defending pornography cases came up. The Chair said ‘I don’t want anyone who defends pornographers to be a member of my club.’ At a meeting or two later, after canvassing other members of the Committee, either Hussey or I made a motion, which carried, recommending to the board of trustees that the Membership Admission Committee be abolished and that any judge or member of the State Bar of California in good standing was entitled to membership (subject to geographical location). The trustees accepted our recommendation and abolished the Membership Admissions Committee. You may wonder why I am mentioning this. It is because if I have done anything for LACBA and the legal profession, it was my perhaps small part in doing away with the Membership Admissions Committee which at least in the past had black balled membership to Jews, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, defenders of porn, etc., or so I was told.”
At LACBA’s helm, he said in his May, 1979 “President’s Page” column in the Los Angeles Lawyer magazine:
“All members of the [Los Angeles County Bar] Association, and not just the officers and trustees, clearly are entitled to know the sources and amounts of the Association’s income and how the Association’s funds are being used.”
Taylor declared:
“Comparative audited financial statements for the years 1976, 1977 and 1978 will be published in the June or July issue of the Los Angeles Lawyer. All of the officers of your Association also are committed to publishing the annual budgets and financial statements in the future.”
The statements were published in the July issue.
When LACBA refused to provide final information to members under the administration of Paul Kiesel, the 2015-16 president, Taylor aligned himself with reformers who ran a slate of candidates in opposition to those put up by the Nominating Committee, grabbing each of the contested offices for officer and trustee positions.
Taylor was a financial contributor to the Pasadena Playhouse.
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