End of the Month

Contested Judicial Races on March 2 Ballot....Disbarment Recommended for Former Judge Patrick B. Murphy....Dale Fischer Sworn In as U.S. District Court Judge....
Six Named to Los Angeles Superior Court

Judicial Elections

There will be nine contested judicial races on the March 2 ballot in Los Angeles County:

Office No. 18-Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Miguel A. Dager filed nomination papers for for the seat being vacated by Judge Marcus Tucker. Deputy District Attorneys Patrick David Campbell and Daniel Feldstern and Superior Court Referee Mildred Escobedo were issued nomination papers for the seat, but had not finalized their candidacies by filing those documents, as of close of business Tuesday, the registrar's office reported. Campbell also took out nomination papers for Office No. 53. The deadline for filing nomination papers is 5 p.m. next Friday.

Office No. 29-Acton attorney Larry H. Layton, who operates an unaccredited law school, filed nomination papers for the seat being vacated by Judge Richard Hubbell. Deputy Attorney General Gus Gomez; Deputy District Attorneys Jeffrey Gootman, Edward Nison, and Lori-Ann Jones; and Deputy Public Defender C. Edward Mack have not yet returned their papers. Nison has also taken out papers to run for

Office No. 52-Gomez has retained Parke Skelton as his campaign consultant, while Jones' campaign is being run by Fred Huebscher.

Office No. 52-Workers' Compensation Judge John Gutierrez has filed nomination papers to succeed Judge Nancy Brown. Nison and Deputy District Attorneys Larry Diamond and Laura Priver have also taken out papers to run for the seat. Huebscher is Priver's consultant.

Office No. 53-Deputy Attorney General Robert Henry and Superior Court Referee D. Zeke Zeidler have finalized their candidacies for the seat being vacated by Judge Rosemary Shumsky. Deputy District Attorneys David Lopez, Craig Mitchell and Craig Renetzky; former Superior Court Commissioner Richard Espinoza, and Torrance attorney Michael Shook have taken out nomination papers. Lopez also filed a declaration of intention to run for Office No. 72, but has not taken out nomination papers for that seat. Henry has retained Huebscher as his consultant.

Office No. 67-Century City attorney Daniel K. Dik has taken out nomination papers to challenge Judge Richard Van Dusen, who has filed his documents.

Office No. 69-Deputy District Attorneys Judith L. Meyer and Carol Najera have filed nomination papers. Department of Industrial Relations attorney P. Michael Erwin, Superior Court Commissioner Donna Groman, and Sherman Oaks attorney Mitchelll W. Roth also took out papers for the seat now held by Judge James Wright. Meyer's consultant is Cerrell Associates, Inc.

Office No. 72-Judge David Wesley has filed his papers for re-election. Potential challengers Deputy District Attorney Daniel Bershin, retired Deputy District Attorney Herb Lapin, and Los Angeles Police Dept. Sgt. Kevin Burke, a former Orange County prosecutor, have had their papers issued. Wesley's consultant is Cerrell Associates.

Office No. 95-Judge Daniel T. Oki has filed his nomination papers. Six potential challengers have taken out papers: Deputy District Attorneys Mark Debbaut, Kenneth Kahn, Bradford Stone, and Hillary Rhonan; Superior Court Research Attorney Kevin Notre; and Encino attorney Eugene Salute. Oki has retained Huebscher to serve as campaign consultant.

Office No. 111-Judge Chesley McKay has filed for re-election. A potential challenger, Stella Owens-Murrell, an attorney with the Department of Industrial Relations, has not returned her nomination documents.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Patrick B. Murphy
Attorney and former Superior Court judge

State Bar Court Judge Robert Talcott recommended Monday that Murphy, who resigned from the Los Angeles Superior Court in May 2001 while on the verge of being removed from office, be disbarred.

Talcott found that Murphy engaged in "egregious" misconduct by taking 120 weeks of paid leave between 1996 and the date of his resignation, and by falsely claiming to have been ill during that time.

Murphy had asked to enter the State Bar Court's diversion program for lawyers with mental health or substance abuse problems but failed to appear at hearings on Aug. 5 and 6 to determine his eligibility for that program. His default was entered and as a result he was placed on involuntary inactive status Aug. 9.

He was also suspended Sept. 16 for failure to pay his bar dues.

Talcott's findings largely track those of the Commission on Judicial Performance, which censured Murphy and barred him "from receiving any assignment, appointment, or reference of work from any California state court." The commission found Murphy had excessive absenteeism, engaged in outside activities when he should have been on the bench, exhibited a lack of candor with the presiding judge of the Citrus Municipal Court (on which he sat prior to unification), created administrative problems by virtue of his absences, and was guilty of malingering.

Talcott found, as did the commission, that Murphy engaged in a number of outside activities when he wassupposedly too sick to work: teaching one or two night law classes a week, completing pre-med physics and chemistry courses at Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles, and attending classes at a school of medicine on the island of Dominica in the West Indies from January to April of 2000.

Murphy had claimed in his response that he was indeed ill, suffering from various maladies including a "phobia" regarding judicial service. His outside activities were a diversion he hoped would eventually enable him to return to the bench, he said.

Murphy also denied lying about his state of health to Rolf Treu, then the presiding judge of the Citrus court.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are two vacancies on the 28-judge court.

Republican senators this month tried to move the nomination of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, but a cloture vote failed by 53-43, seven shy of the necessary 60-vote majority.

The Judiciary Committee on May 8 approved Kuhl, who was rated well-qualified by at least two-thirds of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, by a party-line vote of 10-9. Kuhl was tapped by Bush in 2001 to succeed Judge James Browning, who took senior status Sept. 1, 2000.

President Bush on May 15 nominated William G. Myers III of Idaho to succeed Judge Thomas G. Nelson, who took senior status Nov. 14. Myers resigned Oct. 10 as solicitor of the Department of the Interior. A majority of the ABA committee found Myers qualified, with at least six members voting him not qualified.

Judge Dale Fischer, formerly of the Los Angeles Superior Court, was sworn in Nov. 17, bringing the court to full strength.

Judge Lourdes G. Baird has given notice she intends to take senior status next May, and Judge Robert J. Timlin is to take senior status in January 2005.

There are no vacancies, but one would be created if the Senate confirms Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to which she was nominated July 25. Brown cleared the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 10-9, but an attempt to invoke cloture and force an up-or-down vote on her nomination failed on Nov. 14 by a vote of 53-43, seven short of the required majority.

A majority of the American Bar Association's evaluating committee rated Brown "qualified" for the position, with at least six of the 15 members voting her "not qualified."

Third District

Justice Daniel Kolkey resigned Nov. 17 to return to private practice.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has one vacancy to fill, in the seat held by Judge Dale Fischer prior to her joining the U.S. District Court of Appeal for the Central District of California on Nov. 17.

Six judges were named by then-Gov. Gray Davis Nov. 11 and sworn in soon thereafter.

Burt Pines, who served as judicial appointments secretary to Davis, succeeded Laurie Zelon, elevated to the Court of Appeal Sept. 25. David Latin, who was a deputy district attorney, replaced Judge Warren G. Greene, who died Oct. 7.

Michael Carter was a deputy district attorney before filling the seat from which Judge Karl Jaeger retired on Oct. 15. Michael Linfield, who was a plaintiffs' tort lawyer, takes the seat from which Madeleine Flier was elevated to the Court of Appeal on Sept. 25.

Wendy Kohn, previously a full-time arbitrator, was tapped by Davis to succeed Judge John Martinez, who retired Oct. 3. Jan G. Levine, previously a civil trial and appellate lawyer, was named to the seat of Judge William C. Beverly Jr., who retired Aug. 3.

Commissioner Lonzo Lucas is retiring Tuesday. Ballots for the election of his successor are expected to be sent out the same day.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature and governor did not act upon legislation directly relating to the legal community in November.