End of the Month

Status Conference Continued in Disgraced Attorney Tamman’s Suit Against Nixon Peabody for Aiding SEC Investigation...Preliminary Hearing Setting Nov. 15 for Lawyer Accused of Sex With Teen Boy...Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barry Silverman Takes Senior Status

Judicial Elections

There will be four contests for open seats on the Los Angeles Superior Court in the Nov. 8 general election.
•Office No. 11—Debra R. Archuleta (Violent Crimes Prosecutor) faces Steven Schreiner (Gang Murder Prosecutor) for the seat being vacated by Judge Michelle Rosenblatt.
•Office No. 42—Alicia Molina (Domestic Violence Attorney) faces E. Matthew Aceves (Child Molestation Prosecutor) for the seat being vacated by Judge Alan Rosenfield.
•Office No. 84—Susan Jung Townsend (Criminal Fraud Prosecutor) and Javier Perez (Supervising Criminal Prosecutor) are in the runoff for the seat being vacated by Judge Kathleen Diesman.
•Office No. 158—Kim L. Nguyen (Deputy Attorney General) and David A. Berger (Violent Crimes Prosecutor) will square off for the seat being vacated by Judge Elden Fox.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Edmund W. Clarke Jr.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Clarke was publicly admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance Sept. 29. His attorney said he would seek review in the California Supreme Court.

David Tamman.
Suspended Attorney

A status conference scheduled for this month in Tamman’s suit against Nixon Peabody LLP, where he used to be a partner, was continued to Nov. 17.
Tamman is serving a seven-year sentence at Lompoc federal prison, according to Bureau of Prisons records. He was convicted of 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 Securities and Exchange Commission.
He left the firm while under investigation by the SEC, and contends in his Los Angeles Superior Court 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.
The State Bar Court Review Department on Aug. 3 recommended that Tamman, who is currently on interim suspension, be summarily disbarred based upon his conviction of crimes involving moral turpitude. The court said in its order that Tamman did not contest disbarment.
Tamman’s client, former fund manager and radio personality John Farahi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for running an investment 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.

Benjamin Lawson Adams.
Entertainment Attorney

Adams, 31, is scheduled for preliminary hearing setting Nov. 15 in Dept. 4 in Torrance. Adams pled not guilty Aug. 26 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
He faces three counts each of lewd acts upon a child, oral copulation of a person under 16, two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object and one count of sodomy of a person under 16.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

A vacancy occurred when Judge Barry Silverman took senior status Oct. 11.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on July 13 held a confirmation hearing for U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh of the Northern District of California. President Obama on Feb. 25 nominated Koh to fill the vacancy created when Judge Harry Pregerson took senior status on Dec. 11, the day he completed 44 years of active service on the federal courts.
Further vacancies will occur when Judges Richard Clifton and Diarmuid O’Scannlain take senior status Dec. 31.

Judge Christina A. Snyder will take senior status Nov. 23.
The nomination of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Young was reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee Nov. 5. He was nominated by President Obama on July 16 to succeed Judge Audrey B. Collins, who retired Aug. 1, 2014 to join the state Court of Appeal.
Judge Margaret Morrow took senior status Oct. 29 and subsequently left the bench to become president and chief executive of Public Counsel. Judge Dean Pregerson took senior status Jan. 28.
Magistrate Judge Paul Abrams was nominated Dec. 16 for Pregerson’s seat.

There are no vacancies.

Second District

There are vacancies in Div. Three, due to the Oct. 5 retirement of Justice Patti S. Kitching; Div. Five, due to the retirement of Justice Richard Mosk, who left the court March 30 and died 18 days later; and Div. Seven, due to the retirement of Justice Fred Woods on March 31 of last year.
Among those whose names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are Los Angeles attorneys Kent Richland and Bradley Phillips; Ventura Superior Court Judge Tari Cody; Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Gail Ruderman Feuer, Ann H. Egerton, Rita Miller, Richard Rico, Helen Bendix, Ann Jones, and Sanjay Kumar; and Southwestern Law School professor Christopher Cameron.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maria Stratton’s assignment to Div. Three has been extended through November. Judge Sanjay T. Kumar is on assignment to Div. Five through Nov. 20.
Retired Superior Court Judge Allan Goodman has been assigned to Div. Two through November. Judge Virginia Keeny has been assigned to Div. Seven, also through November.

Fourth District

Justice James McIntyre retired June 30 from Div. One. Justice Alex McDonald died Sept. 8.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Judge John Henning retired Sept. 8.
Vacancies were created earlier this year when Michelle Rosenblatt retired June 2, Judge Peter Espinoza retired May 31, Judge Jane Johnson retired May 23, Judge Emilie Elias retired May 9, Judge Robert Willett retired March 9, Judge Daniel Brenner died Feb. 15, and Judge Russell Kussman retired Feb. 18.
Vacancies remaining to be filled from last year occurred as a result of the retirements of Judges Alan Goodman July 30, Thomas McKnew July 31, Tia Fisher Aug. 1, Richard Stone Aug. 28, and Reva Goetz Sept. 21, as well as the resignation of Judge Jeffrey Winikow Dec. 4 and the death of Judge Ellen DeShazer Nov. 22.
Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible appointees to judgeships are Deputy Alternate Public Defender Tracee May-Brewster; Altadena attorney Cynthia Cannady; Deputy Public Defenders Jose Colon, Ruben Garcia, and Lisa Brackelmanns; Bakersfield attorney Bernard Barrman Jr.; Century City attorney Jonathan Rosenbloom; Deputy District Attorneys Kerry White, Candace Foy Smith, Leonard Torrealba, and Kathleen Tuttle; retired Deputy District Attorney Brentford Ferreira; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney—and former city attorney candidate—Michael Amerian; attorney/mediator Michael Diliberto; former Superior Court Referee Stephanie Davis; Los Angeles attorneys Angel Navarro and Lisa Mattern; Superior Court counsel Brett Bianco; Beverly Hills attorney Edward Tabash; South Pasadena attorney Mark S. Priver; Court of Appeal staff attorney Kenneth E. Roberson; Deputy Attorney General Kim Nguyen; Superior Court Commissioners Karin Borzakian, Timothy Martella, Pamela Davis, 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; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature is out of session until December.