Sentencing Postponed for Immigration Lawyer Philip Abramowitz... Judge Charles Peven Retires...Hearing on Courthouse Bond Proposal Scheduled for Next Month by Assembly Committee

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Richard I. Fine
Beverly Hills Attorney

On Dec. 10, Fine, an attorney since 1973, petitioned the state Supreme Court for rehearing of its denial of his earlier petition to stay a hearing judge's order placing him on involuntary inactive status pending review of the judge's recommendation that he be disbarred.

Judge Richard Honn recommended that Fine lose his license as a consequence of what the judge said was a concerted campaign of harassing litigation targeting judicial officers who had ruled against him, in particular Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Bruce Mitchell.

In a statement, Fine said the high court was guilty of "a refusal to... uphold the integrity of the judicial system." He has charged that Los Angeles County judicial officers have an inherent conflict in hearing cases to which the county is a party because the county pays them benefits that supplement their state salaries.

He has also told the MetNews he believes he is being targeted because he and former State Bar President Sheldon Sloan have been on opposite sides of litigation concerning leases in Marina del Rey, and because Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick, a public member of the State Bar Board of Governors, has received contributions from lobbyists for the developers of Playa Vista, who are involved in litigation with citizen's groups represented by Fine..

Mervyn H. Wolf
Encino Attorney

Wolf, a lawyer for 40 years, faces a Jan. 15 pretrial hearing after being arraigned on five felony embezzlement counts. The hearing was continued from Nov. 28.

He was held to answer following a preliminary hearing in September.

Wolf is accused of having taken settlement funds from his clients in multiple personal injury, workers' compensation, and wrongful termination cases between June 2003 and June 2004. He allegedly deposited settlement checks into his clients' trust accounts, and then embezzled the funds.

Wolf was placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court July 10 of last year and faces discipline in connection with several matters. He has had extensive contacts with the disciplinary system, having been placed on three years' probation in 1995 for misconduct in three matters, suspended 45 days in 1998 for failing to comply with a condition of the earlier probation, placed on inactive status for a month in 2002 for failure to comply with MCLE requirements, and served a month on suspension in 2004 for nonpayment of bar dues.

He is also the subject of a $25,000 sanctions award-much of which remains unpaid, opposing counsel told the MetNews-for failing to disclose a prior settlement with a joint tortfeasor that should have been credited towards his client's recovery in a personal injury case.

Daniel E. Korenberg, Steven James Rodriguez, and Philip Abramowitz
Immigration Lawyers

Abramowitz, 53, who was a partner at the large immigration law firm formerly known as Korenberg, Abramowitz & Feldun, pled guilty last year to conspiracy and visa fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 7. The sentencing was continued from Dec. 17. He tendered his resignation from the State Bar Sept. 28 rather than contest disciplinary charges.

Korenberg, who was a founder of the firm, and Rodriguez, who was a senior associate, face sentencing Jan. 18 after pleading guilty to charges arising from a federal investigation into charges related to the filing of fraudulent employment visa applications on behalf of foreign nationals, including at least 14 of the law firm's own workers.

Korenberg, 58, pled guilty Oct. 4 to two counts of visa fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Rodriguez, 40, pled guilty Oct. 5 to one count of making false statements to federal agents.
The firm, which is now known as ASK Law Group, is based in Sherman Oaks, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas.

The government alleges that the attorneys, along with a paralegal, hired undocumented workers for various jobs at the firm, then filed fraudulent employment-based visa petitions for temporary work authorization or permanent residency in the United States and paid them "off the books" in cash until the visas were approved.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

A vacancy was created when Judge Stephen S. Trott took senior status Dec. 31, 2004. The omnibus appropriations bill awaiting the president's signature would create a second vacancy.

There is one vacancy on the court.

Orange Superior Court Judge James E. Rogan a former congressman and Commerce Department official, was nominated Nov. 15 of last year to succeed Judge Nora Manella, who resigned to become a justice of this district's Court of Appeal May 22. The nomination was returned to the president when Congress adjourned last year, but was resubmitted in January.

Rogan has been unable to secure a confirmation hearing because Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has a "blue slip" policy under which a hearing will be held only if both of the nominee's home state senators approve. Sen. Barbara Boxer's spokesman recently said the senator opposes Rogan's nomination, in part because of his role as one of the prosecutors at the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.

There are no vacancies.

First District

Justice Joanne C. Parrilli retired July 31

Second District

Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer of Div. One retired Sept. 1 after 27 years on the court and a total of 46 years on the bench; Justice Robert Mallano is serving as acting presiding justice. Justice Paul Boland of Div. Eight died Sept. 5 after more than 25 years of judicial service. Justice Earl Johnson Jr. retired from Div. Seven Oct. 17 after nearly 25 years on the court.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Andria K. Richey retired at the end of September, Judge Haley Fromholz retired Nov. 29, and Judge Charles Peven retired Dec. 15, leaving three vacancies on the court.

Judge Barry Taylor said he intends to retire sometime in February. Judge Dzintra Janavs will sit retire March 4; her last day on the bench is expected to be at the end of January, a court official said.

Judge S. Patricia Spear is retiring June 3.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are former Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, now in private practice; former Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Vaughn, now a managing director of the litigation and consulting firm FTI Consulting, Inc.; criminal defense specialist Steven Cron of Santa Monica; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorneys Richard Kraft and Edward J. Perez; state Deputy Attorneys General Steven D. Matthews, E. Eugene Varanini IV, Victoria Wilson, Paul Roadarmel Jr., Robert S. Henry and Kenneth Byrne, Administrative Law Judge Robert Helfand, Deputy District Attorneys Shellie Samuels, Jeffrey Gootman, Karla Kerlin, Ricardo Ocampo, and Laura Laesecke; Commissioners Michael Convey, Tamila Ipema, Victor Greenberg, Amy Pellman, Maren Nelson, Dennis Mulcahy, Harvey Silberman, Ronald Rose, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Mary Lou Katz Byrne, and Loren DiFrank; Referee Steven Berman; U.S. District Court attorney Amy L. Lew; Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown; Deputy Federal Public Defender Angel Navarro; Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome J. Haig; Los Angeles attorneys John L. Carlton, Adrienne Krikorian, Mark A. Borenstein, Eulanda Matthews and Lawrence P. Brennan Jr.; Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman, Pasadena attorney Warren Gilbert and Westlake Village attorney Michael Nebenzahl.

Commissioners Martin L. Goestch, James Copelan, and Gerald Richardson are on long-term medical leave.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The following bills of interest to the legal community were introduced in December:

•AB 1340, by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, which would enact the Safe and Secure Court Facility Bond Act of 2008. A hearing before the Assembly Judiciary Committee was scheduled for Jan. 15.

•AB 1648, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which would abrogate the holding in Copley v. Superior Court (2006)39 Cal.4th 1272, allowing a peace officer's civil service disciplinary hearing and the records thereof to be closed from public view. The bill was scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Public Safety Committee Jan. 15.

•SB 110, by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, which, as amended, would establish a 20-member sentencing commission chaired by the chief justice, with power to determine the sentences for various crimes, subject to rejection by the Legislature. The bill, which passed the Senate June 6 by a vote of 24-15, was amended in the Assembly Aug. 31 to change the vote required to reject the commission's decisions from two-thirds to a simple majority. The bill as amended failed on Sept. 7 by a vote of 34-38, but has been scheduled for reconsideration Jan. 7.

•SB 256, by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, which would add a number of sex crimes to the list of offenses for which there is no statute of limitations. The bill was scheduled for hearing in the Senate Committee on Public Safety Jan. 15.