End of the Month

Nomination of Milan Smith to Ninth Circuit Looks Strong After Hearing...Judge Philip Gutierrez Nominated to U.S. District Court...Two Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Sworn in, Take Up Assignments

Judicial Elections

The following candidates (with ballot designations in parentheses) are running in the only contested races in the June 6 primary:

• Office No. 8-Alan H. Friedenthal (Court Commissioner/Professor), Bob Henry (California Deputy Attorney-General), Deborah L. Sanchez (Criminal Prosecutor) for the seat now held by Judge Charles Rubin, who is retiring Sunday. Friedenthal has retained Evelyn Jerome of Forman/Jerome Consulting to advise the campaign.

• Office No. 18-David Crawford III (Trial Attorney), Stephen M. Feldman (Attorney at Law), John C. Gutierrez (Administrative Law Judge) Richard H. Loomis (Deputy City Attorney), Daviann L. Mitchell (Criminal Gang Prosecutor), and Richard A. Nixon (Attorney/Business Owner) for the seat vacated by Judge Michael E. Knight, who retired in February. Consultants working in the race are AMAC Information and Graphics of Redondo Beach for Feldman, Cerrell Associates Inc. for Gutierrez, and Jerome for Mitchell.

• Office No. 28-S. Paul Bruguera (Deputy Attorney General), Judith L. Meyer (Criminal Prosecutor/ Professor), and Douglas W. Weitzman (Corporate Attorney/Professor) for the seat being vacated by Judge Stephen Petersen, who is retiring June 26.

• Office No. 95-Richard Kraft (Criminal Prosecutor) and Susan L. Lopez-Giss (Assistant City Attorney) for the seat of Judge Larry S. Knupp, who chose not to seek re-election. Evelyn Jerome is the consultant for Lopez-Giss.

• Office No. 102-C. Edward Mack (Attorney/Counselor), George C. Montgomery (Trial Lawyer/Teacher), and Hayden Zacky (Criminal Gang Prosecutor) for the seat of Judge Marion Johnson, who is not running for re-election. Jerome is working for Zacky.

• Office No. 120, Dzintra I. Janavs (Judge of the Superior Court) and Lynn Diane Olson (Attorney at Law). Janavs has hired the Cerrell firm.

• Office No. 122- Robert Davenport (Disabled Veteran/Attorney) and Daniel Lowenthal (Criminal Prosecutor) for the seat of Judge Barbara Burke, who has applied for disability retirement. Lowenthal has hired the Cerrell firm as well as Parke Skelton as consultants.

• Office No. 144-Janis Levart Barquist (Deputy City Attorney), Stephen H. Beecher (Attorney at Law), Maria Rivas Hamar (Litigation Attorney), Randolph Martin Hammock (Consumer Law Attorney), Larry H. Layton (Law School Professor), Edward J. Nison (Deputy District Attorney) and David W. Stuart (Criminal Prosecutor) for the seat being vacated by Judge Paula Mabrey, who is retiring today. AMAC is working for Beecher, Jerome for Barquist.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Kevin A. Ross
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

The Supreme Court on April 19 denied Ross' petition for review of the Commission on Judicial Performance order removing him from the bench.

Ross, a judge since 1999, resigned Jan. 12, but had the Supreme Court overturned the removal order, it would have secured Ross' right to practice law and make him eligible to seek judicial office again in the future.

In the petition filed by San Francisco attorney James A. Murphy, Ross challenged findings that he engaged in willful misconduct by participating in a pilot for a proposed television series called "Mobile Court" in which the judge arbitrated disputes at the places where they arose, including a strip club; and that the engaged in improper conduct by making prejudicial comments about a Northern California sex offender case during an appearance on public television.

The petition also questioned the commission's unanimous conclusion that the judge was less than candid in his dealings with the commission.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are four vacancies on the court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday held a confirmation hearing for Torrance attorney Milan D. Smith, a former member of the state Fair Employment and Housing Commission nominated by President Bush to the court on Feb. 14. Indications were that Smith, the brother of Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., would be confirmed to succeed Judge A. Wallace Tashima, who took senior status June 30, 2004.

On Feb. 8, the president nominated Sandra S. Ikuta, California Resources Agency deputy director and general counsel, to succeed Judge James Browning. Browning took senior status Sept. 1, 2000.

On Dec. 16, President Bush nominated N. Randy Smith, a trial judge from Pocatello, Idaho and former chairman of his state's Republican Party, to fill the vacancy created when Judge Stephen S. Trott took senior status Dec. 31, 2004. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Judiciary Committee, has placed a hold on the nomination, saying that since both Trott, who moved to Idaho after his appointment, and his predecessor were from California, Trott's successor should come from this state as well.

Judge Thomas G. Nelson took senior status Nov. 14, 2003. The nomination of William G. Myers III to succeed Nelson was sent to the floor by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2004 on a party-line vote of 10-8.

President Bush resubmitted Myers' nomination on Feb. 14 of last year.

Republican senators tried and failed in July of last year to force a floor vote on the nomination of Myers. The vote on the motion to invoke cloture was 53-44, short of the three-fifths required, with both California senators voting against. No agreement concerning Myers was reached when a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise to avert filibusters on several other nominees.

Myers, who was first nominated on May 15, 2003, is a former solicitor of the Department of the Interior and now practices law in Boise, Idaho. He has drawn opposition from native American activists and environmental groups.

His supporters say he holds mainstream, balanced views on environmental and other issues.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Philip Gutierrez was nominated April 24 to replace Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., who took senior status on April 22, 2005. Judge Nora Manella will leave the court May 22 to take up her new duties as a justice of this district's Court of Appeal, Div. Four.

Costa Mesa attorney Andrew Guilford, a former president of the State Bar, was nominated Jan. 25 to succeed Judge Dickran M. Tevrizian, who took senior status on Aug. 5 of last year.

Judge Consuelo Marshall took senior status on Oct. 24 of last year.

Judge Gary Taylor took senior status Dec. 8, 2004 and retired to become a private judge with JAMS on June 30 of last year.

Judge Ronald S.W. Lew will take senior status September 19.

There are no vacancies.

First District

Justice Laurence T. Stevens of Div. Five retired Feb. 28.

Second District

U.S. District Judge Nora Manella of the Central District of California was confirmed April 10 to succeed Justice J. Gary Hastings, who retired from Div. Four. She will take office May 22.

Fourth District

Justice James D. Ward of Div. Two retired Oct. 31. Riverside Superior Court Judge Douglas Miller was nominated on April 20 to succeed him and faces a June 9 confirmation hearing.

Fifth District

Fresno Superior Court Judge Brad R. Hill was confirmed and sworn in April 18 to replace Justice Timothy Buckley, who retired Sept. 26. Justice Nick J. Dibiaso will retire Sunday.
Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Judge Richard Kemalyan, formerly in private practice, was sworn in April 1 to succeed Judge Michael Farrell, who retired last month. Kemalyan is Judge Richard M. Goul, a former deputy district attorney, was sworn in April 17 to succeed Judge Robert Sandoval, who died Feb. 28, and is hearing misdemeanors in Downey.

The governor made four appointments to the court on April 20. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board Administrative Law Judge Mary Lou Villar, civil litigators Steven D. Blades and Juan Carlos Dominguez, and former federal prosecutor Ray G. Jurado, now with the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, succeed Judge Jean Matusinka, who died, and Judges David I. Doi, Rodney Nelson, and Richard Denner, who retired.

There are vacancies on the court resulting from the retirements of Judge Michael Knight Feb. 21 and Judge T.K. Herman April 21. Additional vacancies will occur today when Judge Paula A. Mabrey retires and Sunday when Judge Charles Rubin departs.

Judge John Sandoz is due to retire May 15 and Judge Stephen Petersen June 26.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Edward J. Perez; Deputy District Attorneys David Stuart, David Gelfound and Laura Louise Laesecke; Commissioners Amy Pellman, Maren Nelson, Dennis Mulcahy, Harvey Silberman, and Loren DiFrank; Referee Steven Berman; U.S. District Court attorney Amy L. Lew; Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown; Los Angeles attorney Adrienne Krikorian; and Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman.

Robert Harrison, formerly a civil attorney with a Mid-Wilshire practice, was sworn in Tuesday to succeed Commissioner Mark Weiss, who retired Feb. 22. Harrison and Stephen Marpet were elected in balloting that ended the last week in March, with Marpet having been sworn in March 30 to succeed Thomas Parrott, who retired Feb. 4. Results are expected today in balloting to succeed Commissioners H. Ronald Hauptmann, who retired March 21; Paul Enright, who retired March 30; and Richard Hughes, who retired March 31.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The following legislation of interest to the legal community was acted on in April:

•AB 2927, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which, as amended, would require any state agency that publishes an Internet Web site to include on the site certain information, including the terms of litigation settlements, and would authorize any person to bring an action to enforce the duty of a state agency to post this information and would provide for penalties including monetary awards to be paid by agency officers or employees in specified circumstances. The bill passed the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization by a vote of 12-0 April 19.

•SB 1015 , by Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Los Angeles, which, as amended, would require that certain financial information in divorce cases be "redacted." The provisions would replace provisions of a two-year-old law held unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds by Div. Seven of this district's Court of Appeal in its Jan. 20 ruling in Burkle v. Burkle. The bill was amended in the Assembly April 25.

•SB 1521, by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, which, was amended, would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, upon reasonable notice, to permit representatives of the news media to interview prisoners in person and would forbid retaliation against an inmate for participating in a visit by, or communicating with, a representative of the news media. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee April 24 by a vote of 7-2 and is awaiting third reading.