On April 3, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Tamman’s Nov. 13, 2012 conviction and seven-year prison sentence on one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, five counts of altering documents, one count of being an accessory after the fact to his client’s mail and securities fraud crimes, and three counts of aiding and abetting his client’s false testimony before the SEC.

The panel rejected arguments that Tamman’s jury waiver should not have been accepted because he was under the influence of several psychotropic drugs at the time, that the guidelines sentencing range was erroneously calculated, and that hearsay evidence was improperly admitted at trial.

Tamman’s client, former fund manager and radio personality John Farahi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for running the scheme, which involved false promises that investors’ money—more than $24 million was collected, prosecutors said—would be invested in corporate bonds backed by the Troubled Assets Relief Program. The scheme largely targeted members of Los Angeles’ Iranian-American Jewish community.

A case management conference in Tamman’s suit against Nixon Peabody LLP, where he used to be a partner, has been scheduled for May 20. Tamman, who left the firm while under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, contends in his complaint that he was “thrown under the bus” so that his partners could get their hands on his $1.5 million book of business.

The firm contends it acted properly in cooperating with the agency’s investigation into charges against a Tamman client, and ultimately against the attorney himself.

Tamman’s interim suspension from the State Bar took effect Feb. 18, 2013. An additional suspension for not paying bar dues took effect July 2, 2013.

There are no vacancies.

Judge Audrey B. Collins retired Aug. 1 to join the state Court of Appeal.

There are no vacancies.

Gov. Jerry Brown last month named four new judges to the court—George F. Bird, a criminal defense attorney, to succeed retired Judge Joseph Biderman; Frank Menetrez, a judicial attorney at the Court of Appeal, to replace retired Judge John Meigs; Michael C. Small, senior counsel at Akin Gump, to succeed retired Judge Wendy L. Kohn; and Deputy District Attorney Kevin Stennis to succeed Judge Candace J. Beason.

Stennis began hearing traffic cases at Metropolitan Courthouse April 20. Bird began hearing criminal cases there on April 27.

There remain vacancies as a result of the retirements last year of Judges Antonio Barreto Jr. Sept. 5, Steven Ogden Sept. 24, James Steele Sept. 30, and Leslie A. Dunn Nov. 10; the elevations of Judge Brian Hoffstadt on Aug. 28 of last year and Judge Lee Edmon on Jan. 5 of this year to the Court of Appeal; and the retirements of Judge Thomas White on Feb. 19, Judge Ronald Rose on March 20, and Judges Patrick Hegarty and Patricia Schnegg March 31.

Judges Arthur Jean, Owen Kwong, and Ronald Skyers are retiring today. Judge Leland Harris is retiring May 8.

Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible appointees to judgeships are Century City lawyer Josh Wayser, Superior Court counsel Brett Bianco; Beverly Hills attorney Edward Tabash; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Songhai Miguda-Armsted; Los Angeles attorney Timothy Dillon; South Pasadena attorney Mark S. Priver; Deputy District Attorneys Karen Borzakian, Candace Foy Smith, Leonard Torrealba, Kathleen Tuttle and Brentford Ferreira; Court of Appeal staff attorneys Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Superior Court Commissioners Collette Serio, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Robert Kawahara, Alan Rubin, Emma Castro, Jane Godfrey, Sharon Lewis Miller, Mark Zuckman, Dennis Mulcahy, Terry Truong and Kenneth Taylor; State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn; Deputy County Counsel Julie Ann Silva; Glendale attorney Kenneth Wright; Los Angeles attorneys Timothy Martella and Angel Navarro; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.

Commissioner Marshall Rieger retired March 28. Commissioner Loren DiFrank retired Feb. 28.

Commissioner John Murphy is retiring June 17. Commissioner David Bianchi is retiring July 1.

The Legislature took the following action on bills of interest to the legal community in April.

•AB 29 by Assemblymember Nora Campos, D-San Jose, which, as amended April 6, would provide that in a civil action involving sexual battery of a minor by an adult, it shall not be a defense—nor a factor in mitigation of damages—that the minor consented to the sexual battery “if the adult is in a position of trust, authority, or supervision, or acts as a caretaker, in relation to the minor.” The bill passed the Assembly April 9 by a vote of 78-0.

•AB 60 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, which would permit attorneys to charge fees for assisting immigrants in obtaining relief from deportation under President Obama’s recent executive order. Existing law prohibits such fees from being charged in the absence of federal legislation authorizing such relief. As amended, the bill applies to “any future executive action or order that authorizes an undocumented immigrant who either entered the United States without inspection or who did not depart after the expiration of a nonimmigrant visa, to attain a lawful status under federal law.” The bill passed the Assembly as an urgency measure April 13 by a vote of 77-0 and was sent to the Senate, where it was referred to the Judiciary Committee.

•AB 139 by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, which would authorize the use of revocable transfer-on-death deeds so that real estate may be transferred without probate upon the death of the transferee. The bill passed the Assembly April 9 by a vote of 78-0 and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 182 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, which would broaden the scope of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 by allowing courts to create a remedy for racially polarized voting within local government districts, as well as within jurisdictions that vote at-large. The bill was amended April 9 and re-referred to the Elections and Redistricting Committee.

•AB 202 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, which would grant employee status to cheerleaders for professional sports teams. The bill was amended April 6 and re-referred to the Committee on Labor and Employment.

•AB 249 by Assemblymember Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake, which would bar a criminal defendant from bringing an appeal based solely on an assessment of fines, fees, or other monetary exactions, unless the issue was first raised in the trial court, by post-sentencing motion if necessary. As amended, the bill would permit the motion to be made informally, in writing, and would also permit informal, written motions to correct errors in the calculation of sentencing credits. An amendment specifying that the trial court retains jurisdiction to correct errors in the calculation of monetary assessments after an appeal has been taken was approved April 13. The bill passed the Appropriations Committee April 15 by a vote of 16-0.

•AB 703 by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, which would establish minimum qualifications for the appointment of attorneys in dependency cases. The bill passed the Assembly April 27 by a vote of 78-0 and was sent to the Senate.

•SB 227 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, which, as amended, would bar the use of the grand jury to investigate killings by police officers. The bill was re-referred to the Committee on Public Safety, where it was passed April 21 by a vote of 7-0. It was amended April 27 to permit the use of the grand jury where the investigation is instigated by a member, rather than the district attorney.

•SB 229 by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, which would fund 10 of the 50 superior court judgeships that were previously authorized by the Legislature, including one in Los Angeles County. The bill, which would also create an eighth seat on Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee April 21 by a vote of 7-0, but was re-referred to the Appropriations Committee.

•SB 588 by Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin DeLeon, D-Los Angeles, which would permit the Labor Commissioner to enforce orders for payment of wages as if they were civil judgments of courts. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee April 28 by a vote of 4-1, but was re-referred to the Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations.

•SB 682 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which would limit the authority of trial courts to privatize services being performed by employees. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee April 28 by a vote of 5-1, but was re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations.