Sac LawNOV/DEC04 - Sacramento County Bar Association

Transcription

March/April
2011
SACRAMENTO
COUNTY BAR
ASSOCIATION
MAGAZINE
Law Trends
Spotlight on
Social Media
SCBA Annual
Meeting
www.sacbar.org
Justices
Scotland and Sims’
Farewell Luncheons
Editor’s Message
Keeping you Current on
Trends and Events
By Jack Laufenberg
T
his month’s issue focuses on trends in the law. As
you might imagine, costs and the economy have
dominated most of the changes we’ve seen in the last several years as illustrated in our cover story, “Trends in the
Practice of Law: The Voices of Experience Speak,” by Steve
Sphar. On the lighter side, we have a heart-warming story
about some really hard working kids from Cristo Rey High
School by Amanda Gimbel and, for you technophiles, some
thoughts on the art of legal blogging by Jessica Grigsby.
We also have a fine assortment of articles on the legal
goings-on-about town, including coverage of the Unity Dinner,
SacLEGAL’s 15th Anniversary Celebration and the SCBA’s
Annual Meeting, where this year’s officers were introduced and
sworn into office. And if you are at all interested in State Bar
issues, you won’t want to miss Mike Levy’s President’s Message
on the State Bar’s “Governance in the Public Interest Task
Force.” The Task Force, which was recently formed by legislative mandate, must report to the Supreme Court, the Governor
and the Judiciary Committees with its recommendations for
“enhancing and insuring the protection of the public” (presumably from you and I) every three years beginning in May
of this year. I think you will find Mike’s message informative.
And then we have a somewhat bitter-sweet account
about the passing of the torch and the recent valedictory
luncheons for Justices Rick Sims and Arthur G. Scotland.
As most of you know, Justice Scotland retired after 21
years on the Third District Court of Appeal, the last 12 of
which were as Presiding Justice, in October of last year.
Justice Scotland was a tireless contributor to the community
and a great friend of the Sacramento County Bar, having
been named the SCBA’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2002
and Judge of the Year in 2004. I remember my first introduction to Justice Scotland when I was a first-year member
of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court at
McGeorge and he was the Inn’s President about 12 years ago.
Justice Scotland could not have been kinder or more gracious in welcoming a slightly over-awed “young” attorney.
Although I had the pleasure of working with Justice Scotland
in various capacities as a member of the Sacramento County
Bar Council (now Board of Directors) and then as SCBA
President, my favorite memories of Justice Scotland are from
those days at the Inn when we would gather after dinner in
the Courtroom of the Future for our monthly presentations
and discussions of hypothetical cases. It is not often you get
to see a sitting Appellate Court Justice dust off their robes
and revert to the role of advocate, but I had the pleasure of
watching Justice Scotland argue his point to the assemblage
on more than one occasion.
Justice Scotland was as smooth and classy an orator as
he was a judicial officer. He will be sorely missed on the
bench, and we hope he continues his long-time active participation in SCBA activities.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Carol Prosser
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jack Laufenberg
editor@sacbar.org
STAFF EDITORS
Larry Duran
Heather Cline Hoganson
SACRAMENTO LAWYER POLICY COMMITTEE
Larry Duran
Helene Friedman
David Graulich
Coral Henning
Yoshinori H.T. Himel
Jack Laufenberg
2
SACRAMENTO LAWYER MARCH/APRIL 2011
COURTHOUSE STEPS
steps@sacbar.org
SURFING FROM RIVER CITY
Coral Henning (916) 874-6013
chenning@saclaw.org
ADVERTISING - EVENTS
MEMBER CLASSIFIED ADS
Michelle Bender (916) 564-3780 x200
reception@sacbar.org
DESIGN AND LAYOUT
MaryBurroughsStudio.com
MJBgraphicdesign@aol.com
OFFICERS
Michael Levy - President
June Coleman - 1st Vice President
Stephen Acquisto - 2nd Vice President
Jean-Pierre Francillette - Secretary
Treasurer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTORS AT LARGE
Carrie Bushman
Roberta Carson
Sonia Fernandes
Theresa LaVoie
Richard Miadach
Lori Okun
William Schuez
Sabrina Thomas
Michael Wise
SACRAMENTO LAW FOUNDATION
Kimberly Lewellen,
saclawfoundation.org
AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVES
Asian Bar Association (ABAS)
Grace Arupo
Barristers’ Club
Dan Stouder
Capitol City Trial Lawyers
Kerri Webb
Federal Bar Association
Jean Hobler
Hellenic Law Association of
Sacramento (HELLAS)
Vasilios Spyridakis
LaRaza
Michael Terhorst
Leonard M. Friedman Bar Association
Avi Glikman
Saint Thomas More Society
of Sacramento (STMS)
Herb Bolz
Sacramento Lawyers for
the Equality of
Gays and Lesbians (SacLegal)
Patrick Hostine
South Asian Bar Association
Gaurav Bobby Kalra
SACRAMENTO
COUNTY BAR
ASSOCIATION
MAGAZINE
Table of Contents
V O L U M E
1 1 1 ,
N U M B E R
2
•
M A R C H / A P R I L
2 0 1 1
COVER STORY
18 Trends in the Practice of Law: The Voices of Experience Speak
LITIGATION
7
View from the Civil Bench - Writ Practice in the Superior Court: Where Medieval
History Illuminates the Law
LAW FIRM TRENDS
26 Cristo Rey High School: The School that Works – Literally
29 Legal Blogging in the 21st Century – One Practitioner’s Perspective
NEW JUDGES
24 Multi-talented Judge Geoff Goodman a Great Addition to the Bench
EVENTS
12 Unity Dinner 2010: A Celebration of Community
16 SacLEGAL Marks 15th Anniversary In Veteran’s Day Bash
22 An Annual Legal Rite – SCBA Convenes Is 2010 Annual Meeting
32 Fifth Annual “Legal Research in the Real World”
Workshop – May 25
33 Justices Scotland and Sims Honored for their
Exemplary Service
18
COMMUNITY SERVICE
30 Karal Broussard-Boyd Named VLSP’s 2010 June
Black Pro Bono Award Winner
DEPARTMENTS
2
Editor’s Message
4
President’s Message
10 Law Library News
11
35
35
Surfing from River City
Calendar
Index to Advertisers
22
Sacramento Lawyer welcomes letters and article suggestions from readers. Please e-mail them to editor@sacbar.org. The Sacramento County Bar Association reserves the right to edit
articles and letters sent in for publication. Please contact SCBA 916-564-3780 x200 for deadline information, fax 916-564-3737, or e-mail reception@sacbar.org. Web page: www.sacbar.org.
Caveat: Articles and other work submitted to Sacramento Lawyer become the copyrighted property of the Sacramento County Bar Association.
Returns of tangible items such as photographs are by permission of the Executive Director only, by pickup at the SCBA office only.
Wiley Manuel Bar Association
Jean-Pierre Francillette
Women Lawyers of Sacramento
Jamie Errecart
COMMITTEE / SECTION
REPRESENTATIVES
Lawyer Referral and Information
Service (LRIS)
Don Hansen
Conference of Delegates
Andi Liebenbaum
Indigent Defense Panel (IDP)
Kevin Adamson
Section Representative
Daniel Yamshon
Voluntary Legal Services
Program (VLSP)
Victoria Jacobs
SECTIONS
Administrative Law
Tim Morgan
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Ken Malovos
Appellate Law
Brendon Begley
Bankruptcy &
Commercial Law
Megan Lewis
Business Law
Sarah Ham
Children’s Counsel
Diane Wasznicky
Constitutional Law & Civil Rights
Carrie Frederickson
Corporate & Securities
BJ Susich
Environmental Law
Mary Akens
Family Law
Jeff Posner
Health Care
Brian Taylor
Intellectual Property
Glen Gross
Labor & Employment Law
Julie Raney
Probate & Estate Planning
Mauriah Conway-Spatola
Real Property
Leslie Walker
Tax Law
Jeb Burton
Worker’s Compensation
Martin Beaver
Membership
Heather Candy
Pictorial Directory
Helene Friedman
Sacramento Lawyer Policy
Jack Laufenberg
COMMITTEES
Bylaws
BJ Susich
Continuing Education of the Bar
Daniel Yamshon
Diversity Hiring and Retention
Linda Partmann
Electronic Media
Coral Henning / Heather Hoganson
Fee Arbitration
Jan Karowsky
Judicial Review
Philip R. Birney
Judiciary
Diane W. Wasznicky
Long Range Planning
Shama Mesiwala
Sacramento Lawyer (USPS 0981-300) is
published bi-monthly by the Sacramento
County Bar Association, 1329 Howe Avenue,
#100,Sacramento, CA 95825. Issn 1087-8771.
Annual subscription rate: $6.00 included in
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Periodicals postage paid at Sacramento,
California. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Sacramento Lawyer, 1329 Howe Avenue, #100,
Sacramento, CA 95825. Copyright 1999 by the
Sacramento County Bar Association.
Each author’s commentary reflects his/her
individual opinion only and not that of
his/her employer, organization with which
he/she is affiliated, or Sacramento Lawyer
magazine, unless otherwise stated.
MARCH/APRIL 2011 SACRAMENTO LAWYER
3
President's Message
Protecting the Public Interest –
The State Bar Going About
it the Wrong Way
Is the State Bar
Governance Task Force
Poised to Recommend
Transferring Attorney
Governance to
Non-Lawyers?
L
ast December, the State Bar’s
“Governance in the Public
Interest Task Force” circulated an
eight question survey to approximately 20,000 of California’s quarter million attorneys. The Task Force is a
committee mandated by the 2011
State Bar fee bill (AB 2764, codified at
Bus. & Prof. C., § 6001.2), and it is
charged with submitting a report containing
“recommendations
for
enhancing the protection of the public and ensuring that protection of the
public is the highest priority in the
licensing, regulation, and discipline of
attorneys.” The survey will provide
information for the Task Force’s
report, which must be submitted to
the Governor, the Legislature, and the
Supreme Court, by May 15, 2011,
and every three years thereafter.
The first of the eight survey questions asks: “What do you understand
‘protection of the public’ to mean in
the context of governance of the State
Bar?” That is a great question that definitely deserves considerable thought.
However, rather than fleshing out
perspectives about the extent to
which public protection is achieved,
questions two through eight shift
entirely to the composition and manner of selection of the members of the
State Bar Board of Governors and its
officers. In case you’re interested, the
complete survey is posted at:
4
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx
?sm=kTLjDx1GRjai%2f%2bUik7NQ
4mmY4JZIpo0st9iKaBbz1XA%3d.
The survey’s overwhelming focus
on governance structure rather than
public protection is concerning for a
number of reasons. Most importantly, it appears the Task Force has predetermined that changes in governance will result in public protection
before determining what, if any, failures by the State Bar to protect the
public exist in the first place. The
survey demonstrates no analytical
link between public protection -- or
the lack thereof -- and the current
governance structure of the State Bar.
Notably, Business and Professions
Code section 6001.2 does not mandate a change in the State Bar’s governance structure. In fact, the legislation has far greater breadth.
Nevertheless, according to the
October 28, 2010 subcommittee
report on drafting the charge of the
Task Force, the Task Force has apparently determined that a review of the
State Bar’s governance structure is
“central to” its statutory obligations,
having adopted the following as one
of its core functions: “The
Governance Task Force shall review
the policy setting and governance
model of the current State Bar of
California Board of Governors. The
Governance Task Force shall make
recommendations as to whether the
structure of the Board, including its
composition and the election process
for the lawyer members, best
advances the goals of ensuring public
protection and assisting the California
Supreme Court in the exercise of its
statutory and inherent authority over
the admission and discipline of attor-
By Michael J. Levy
neys of California.” (http://www.calbar.ca.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=CitveH6pme0%3d&tabid=2973.)
The Sacramento County Bar Board
of Directors believes that before analyzing the State Bar’s governance
structure, and only after defining what
"protection of the public" means, the
Task Force must necessarily assess
whether, and to what extent, if any,
California's attorneys and the State Bar
actually fail to meet that standard.
Moreover, the Task Force must distinguish between legitimate criticism and
that which is based on misperception
and a lack of understanding of our
adversarial system of justice. The Task
Force must then assess the cause of
any problems it identifies. Only after
such an inquiry can the Task Force
legitimately entertain an educated dialogue about what changes in governance structure would be remedial
since structure may not even be relevant to the discussion.
Although it is early in the process,
there are rumblings that there may be
an effort to eliminate attorneys altogether from the State Bar’s governance structure on the ostensible
basis that lawyers are ill-equipped or
ill-motivated to self-police their own.
The Center for the Public Interest
Law is one such group that advocates
for the elimination of lawyer-elected
Board members, rationalizing that
lawyers have an inherent conflicted
of interest in serving the public while
still representing California lawyers.
To the extent that this is their belief,
I could not disagree more. I fully
believe in the integrity of our profession. I believe that most of our colleagues are honest, ethical attorneys
who conduct themselves as profes-
sionals; and who represent their
clients consistent with the principles
underlying the Legislature’s use of the
term “protection of the public.” I also
believe that those among us who fail
to honor our ethical obligations
should be called to task promptly and
appropriately. California’s lawyers
have every interest in maintaining a
highly respected profession whose
members faithfully abide by their ethical responsibilities and their oath to,
among other things, “support and
defend the Constitution.” An integrated Bar has proven to be a workable structure for achieving public
protection and enhancing the quality
of the legal profession.
The State Bar discipline system, the
Rules of Professional Conduct (already
in the process of being reformed), the
State Bar Act and other State Bar functions may be in need of reform.
Committing California courts to
addressing unethical behavior of
lawyers during active litigation would
be a tremendous start in improving the
public’s perception of lawyers.
However, revamping the Board of
Governors' selection processes without
a thorough and deliberative process for
assessing the real problems that plague
us, rather than the imagined ones, may
have far reaching, unanticipated and
detrimental ramifications to the practice
of law and, ultimately, to the protection
of the public’s interest in California.
The Sacramento County Bar
Association has fully engaged in this
process. We timely filed a response to the
survey, which you can view at
http://www.sacbar.org/pdfs/Gov%20in%
20Pub%20Int%20TF2.pdf. In addition, I
will be testifying at one of two public
hearings that the Task Force has arranged
to seek public comment. Through this
journal and on the Sacramento County
Bar Association’s website (sacbar.org)
we will provide more information as it
becomes available.
Not every person who comes in
contact with the justice system believes
it to be just. And not every attorney
licensed to practice law in California
exercises good judgment or high standards of ethical professional behavior.
Nevertheless, I believe our profession
to be peopled with an intelligent,
thoughtful and deliberative majority of
practitioners who not only care deeply
about the work they do for their
clients, but more broadly about the
profession and its value and importance in our lives. In thinking about
what’s going on, the best analogy I can
come up with came to me when my
friend’s car was “totaled” by the insurance company after a fender bender.
The State Bar might need a tune-up,
but the adjuster hasn’t examined it, it
hasn’t even been taken to the shop, and
already we’re contemplating a total loss
and the need for something new. It’s
time to apply the brakes and some legal
reasoning to problem solving.
For
more
information
visit:
www.sacbar.org
5
3620 American River Drive
Suite 260
Sacramento, CA 95864
(916) 974-8600
Business, Commercial,
Construction Claims and
Defects, Employment,
Insurance, Intellectual
Property, Malpractice,
Probate, Product Liability
and Real Estate Disputes.
Calendar and further
information online at:
www.malovoslaw.com.
6
Litigation
VIEW FROM THE CIVIL TRIAL BENCH: Writ
Practice in the Superior Court: Where Medieval
History Illuminates the Law
By Judge Judy
Holzer Hersher
This article represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and should not be considered court policy
or the opinion of other trial judges. Comments should be addressed to hershej@saccourt.ca.gov
“To say truth, although it is not necessary for counsel to know what the history of a point is,
but to know how it now stands resolved, yet it is a wonderful accomplishment, and without it,
a lawyer cannot be accounted learned in the law.”
Roger North (1653-1734)
English lawyer, biographer, writer and Solicitor-General to the Duke of York
A
ttorneys and judges who venture into the law of ordinary
and administrative writs find themselves in a legal arena vastly different
from the typical civil trial. Some of
the key terms and phrases seem
arcane and inscrutable. For example,
what is a “high” or “prerogative” writ,
and what is the difference between an
“alternative” and “peremptory writ”?
There are trial anomalies as well.
Although provision is made for juries
in writ trials in our California statutes,
they are rarely if ever used, as writ trials typically are conducted with few if
any live witnesses. Often trial evidence is limited to a pre-established
record, discovery is vastly constricted,
and the proof at trial is governed by
unique burdens of producing evidence and proof.
Writs are written orders from the
Court commanding a person or entity
to perform or cease performing a particular act, or to restore someone to a
right that has been taken or withheld
from them. Much of the language
used in writ proceedings and orders
reflects the vestiges of medieval
England, when monarchy was the recognized form of government, political
and social unrest was the norm, and
disobedience was dealt with harshly.
Modern California writ law, codified
at Code of Civ. Proc. sections 10631110(b), has responded to the challenges and changes of the 21st century, but its roots are firmly in the
Middle Ages.1 Understanding some
of the history is helpful to making
sense of this unique practice area.
Legal scholars opine that the
first evidence of the use of writs
appeared around the time of the
first or earliest Magna Carta, in the
13th century in England.2 Formal
royal power over the lords and
barons in England was exercised
chiefly by the issuance of writs and
the instruments often addressed
feudal manor administration.
The combination of taxes, unsuccessful wars and conflict with the
Pope made England’s King John
unpopular with his barons, who conspired against him. With no other
apparent alternative to assume the
monarchy if John was deposed, the
barons negotiated a compromise,
originally known as the Charter of
Liberties and later the Magna Carta.
Under the Magna Carta, the barons
established their right to challenge the
authority of the monarch where he or
she acted in an arbitrary or capricious
manner (italics added) and deprived
the barons of their lands, money, or
These early writ petitions
rights.3
directed to the monarch were called
“high” or “prerogatory” writs, which
resulted in an order to perform some
act or refrain from it immediately
upon receipt and without further
hearing. This kind of writ order is
embodied today, although rarely used
by California judges, through the
issuance of a ‘peremptory’ writ, which
commands that a party do something,
also immediately and without an
opportunity to show cause why it
shouldn’t have to perform. (See Code
of Civ. Proc. Section 10874)
By the 17th century, the right to
challenge the actions of those in
power was extended to men of property and business or “free men.” (James
Bagg’s (1615) 11 Coke’s Rep. 93b, 77
E.R. 1271 (K.B.)) Apparently one
James Bagg had a somewhat salty
tongue and had been ‘disenfranchised’
from certain offices for repeatedly
uttering words of contempt against
city officials. He petitioned the
English court to have his offices
returned to him because he didn’t
know where else to turn. Recognizing
a need to provide a speedy remedy for
free men engaged in the everyday
business of commerce and politics, the
courts expanded English common law
to provide a remedy through the writ
process. The Bagg’s Court found:
7
Litigation
…that to this Court of King’s Bench
belongs authority, not only to correct
errors in judicial proceedings, but other
errors and misdemeanors extra-judicial,
tending to the breach of the peace, or
oppression of the subjects, or to the raising of faction, controversy, debate, or to
any manner of misgovernment, so that
no wrong or injury, either public or private can be done, but that it shall be
(here) reformed or punished by due
course of law. (James Bagg’s Case, Id, n.
7, 98a and 1277-1278.)
Thus, by the early 17th century
the doors of the English courthouse
were thrown open to free men, as well
as persons of title, to utilize the writ
petition to challenge the acts of the
sovereign, as well as the acts of lesser
tribunals or officers who held power
over them.5 The use of the petition
practice was premised on the need for
quick and effective action by someone
of greater authority than the bad
actor. And in so doing, it also provided an opportunity in the commercial
or public arena for the parties to present evidence of their alleged rights
and harms. This also was the beginning of the ‘alternative’ writ referenced in Code of Civ. Proc. Section
1087. (See fn. 4, supra.)
With this history in mind, the
statutory language enacted in
California in 1872, which remains
unchanged today and which appears
in Code of Civ. Proc. 1085, begins to
make sense. It provides for a writ of
mandate to any inferior tribunal, corporation, board or person, to compel
it to perform an act which the law
specifically enjoins, as a duty resulting
from an office, trust, or station, or to
compel the admission of a party to the
use and enjoyment of a right or office
to which the party is entitled, and
from which the party is unlawfully
precluded by such inferior tribunal,
corporation, board or person.
As a prerequisite to any applica-
8
tion, 17th century English petitioners
had to show two things. First, that
there was no plain, speedy, available
remedy, and second, that the petitioner was in fact entitled to the use or
enjoyment of a particular station or office
or benefit.6 The same phraseology is
used today. (See, e.g., Code of Civil
Procedure sections 1068 (power to
grant writs), 1085 (power to issue a
writ when the party is entitled to the
use and enjoyment of a right or office
to which they are entitled and prevented from holding), and 1086
(mandatory duty to issue). The
requirement to prove that one is in
fact “beneficially interested” in a particular right or station remains today
in California writ practice and is
referred to as standing.7
The earliest evidence of the use of
mandamus in the American colonies
occurred during our colonial period,
beginning in 1608. However, the
nature, extent and power of a nonsovereign (i.e., the courts) to issue
writs of mandamus in the colonies
remained inconsistent for almost
two centuries, and despite the
English embrace of a court process
for free men, there was no consensus
among the colonial governors, the
judiciary and local governing bodies
that the judiciary had the power to
issue writs.8
For example, in the case of the
New Meeting House in Malden,
Massachusetts in 1727, a local committee was authorized by the City
Council to select the physical location
for a new community building. It
chose a particular site (the northern
site), however, the town administrators ignored their selection, and start
to build on another site (the southern
site). The committee went to the City
Council and got an order saying that
the town administrators had to move
the meeting house to the northern
site, consistent with the power of the
local committee to decide its location.
When the order to move was ignored,
the local committee went to the
Superior Court in Massachusetts seeking a “suitable remedy.” The Superior
Court penned a draft writ of mandamus, but then declined to issue it,
unsure of its legal ability to do so. The
writ draft read: “Wherefore minding to
Provide them due & Speedy Relief in their
behalf as Justice requires, We Command
you [to record and erect] ye Same with out
delay, or Signify to us ye Reason why you
don’t, and make due return of this Writ…”
(198 Suffolk County Court Files, July
1729-August 1729, No. 23117 (Office
of the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial
Court, Boston)).
Unhappy with the Court’s failure to
issue the writ, the local committee petitioned the governor, asking him to
force the Superior Court to issue the
writ. He so ordered. However, the
town administrators, believing that
neither the court nor the governor had
the power to issue writs, petitioned for
a writ from the state legislature, specifically to set aside the orders of the governor and any court.
The
Massachusetts state legislature ultimately issued its own writ, declaring
that since there was no statute granting
any power to the superior courts to
issue a writ of any kind, and since the
parties should otherwise be entitled to
a trial by jury, the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed.9
California enacted a series of
statutes in 1872, governing writs of
review, mandamus and probation. The
earliest decisions confirmed that
California was codifying its understanding of the common law of writs
and provided for a local state court’s
authority to hear and decide writs of
mandate, at least with respect to cases
dealing with the performance or failure
to perform certain acts by lesser tribunals. (See, e.g., Kimball v. Union
Water Co., (1872) 44 Cal. 173, 175.)
These early statutes and cases, however, continued to reflect the tensions
of the New Meeting House case.
Thus, the 1872 statutes leave open
the possible use of juries10 and don’t
directly tackle when, and under what
circumstances, a court can direct a
government agency to set aside its
decisions or orders.
It was not until after 1944, more
than 200 years after the Meeting
House case in Malden, Massachusetts,
that a California court’s ability to issue
writs directed to government agencies
without benefit of a jury in certain
circumstances was codified. After a
study by the Judicial Council, the
California state legislature adopted
three major pieces of legislation.
It created a Department of
Administrative Procedure, enacted
the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA)(Govt C section 11340-11529)
and Code of Civ. Proc. section 1094.5,
the codification of procedures related
to court review by administrative
mandamus of government agency
By 1944, the
hearing decisions.11
ability of California trial courts to hear
and issue writs, with or without benefit of order to show cause hearings and
juries, was solidified.
The rest, as they say, is history.
1. This article is based on the introduction
to a writ course taught by the author at the
2008 California Judicial Civil Law Institute,
San Diego, California.
2. For an in depth study of the historical rise
of writs, see “An Historical Account of the
Rise and Fall of Mandamus,” by Robert H.
Howell, Assistant Professor of Law, Univ. of
Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, 15
Victoria U. Welling L. Rev 127 (1985);
Holdsworth, Sir William, “A History of
English Law in Sixteen Volumes”, Published
by Methuen & Co., LTD, London (1964).
3. There are many interesting books/articles
on this subject. See, e.g., Poole, A.L., From
Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216,
Oxford University Press, 2nd ed (1992);
Holt, J.C., The Northerners: A Study in the
Reign of King John, Oxford University Press,
New edition (1992); Clanchy, M.T., A
History of England: Early Medieval England,
Folio Edition. (1997).
4. CCP section 1087 provides that a writ
“may be either alternative or peremptory.
The alternative writ must command the
party to whom it is directed immediately
after the receipt of the writ, or at some other
specified time, to do the act required to be
performed, or to show cause before the
court at a time and place then or thereafter
specified by court order why he has not
done so. The peremptory writ must be in a
similar form, except that the words requiring
the party to show cause why he has not done
as commanded must be omitted.”
5. For further historical information on the
rise of mandamus in England and the British
Colonies, see “An Historical Account of the
Rise and Fall of Mandamus,” by Robert H.
Howell, Assistant Professor of Law, University
of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, 15
Victoria U. Wellington L. Rev. 127 (1985);
Holdsworth, Sir William, A History of English
Law in Sixteen Volumes, Published by
Methuen & Co., LTD, London (1964).
6. “There is no doubt that where a party,
who has a right, has no other specific legal
remedy, the court will assist him by issuing
this prerogative writ in order to his obtaining such right.”--Chief Justice of the King’s
Bench, 1756-1788, Lord Mansfield (R. v.
Doctor Askew (1768) 4 Burr. 2186, 98 E.R.
139, 141 (K.B.).
7. A series of California cases have addressed
the meaning of beneficial interest. (See, e.g.,
Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc., v.
County of Alameda (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th
1223.) Various statutes also now confer
standing.
8. Goodman, Leonard S., “Mandamus in the
Colonies—The Rise of the Superintending
Power of American Courts, 1 Am. J. Legal
History. 308 (1957).
9. The history of the Malden, Mass., case is
taken from:
Goodman, Leonard S.,
“Mandamus in the Colonies—The Rise of the
Superintending Power of American Courts”,
1 Am. J. Legal Hist. 308, 328-332 (1957).
10. See CCP section 1090, providing for the
use of jury trials on disputed facts. In
today’s courtroom, jury trials are rarely used.
11. Section 1094.5 provides for writ review
of the validity of any final administrative
order or decision made as a result of an
administrative proceeding in which by law a
hearing is required to be given, evidence is
required to be taken, and discretion in the
determination of facts is vested in the inferior tribunal, corporation, board or officer.
Reach A
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9
Law Library News
Spotlight on the Law Library Collection: Social Media for Lawyers
Kate Fitz, Public Services Librarian, Sacramento County Public Law Library
O
ne of the strongest recent
trends has been the widespread adoption of social media tools
like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and
more. The Law Library has a collection of books, MCLE recordings, and
webinar recordings to help you get
started in social media, or take your
social media efforts to the next level.
Using Social Media to Build Your
Professional Reputation
Facebook for Lawyers
(KF316.5.A75 B36 2009)
LinkedIn for Lawyers
(KF316.5.A75 B37 2009)
Twitter for Lawyers
(KF316.5.A75 B38 2009)
Each of these recordings presents a
“webinar” (slideshow with audio narration) of approximately an hour’s length.
They can be viewed on any computer
with the capability of playing .wmv
(video) format videos and audio. They
are presented by David Barrett, who
blogs as “The LinkedIn Lawyer” at
http://linkedinlawyer.blogspot.com/.
Out of the many “introduction to
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter”
resources available, these are particularly valuable to attorneys. While
Main Library
813 Sixth Street, First Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814-2403
916-874-6011
www.saclaw.org
www.facebook/saclawlib
www.twitter/saclawlibrarian
NEW ACQUISITIONS
California Criminal Motions
Thomson West
KFC1155.A15 C34
Employee Benefits and Executive
Compensation in Corporate Bankruptcy
LexisNexis
KF1526 .E45 2010
10
Barrett summarizes the services and
presents techniques and suggestions
for getting started, it is his discussion
of issues specific to lawyers that make
his presentations particularly useful.
These issues include ethical questions
raised by this new form of marketing,
potential confidentiality problems, and
suggestions on how best to implement
the tools in a law firm environment.
LinkedIn, Twitter and Social Media
Basics for Lawyers and Busy
Professionals (KF316.5 .B37 2009)
Also by David Barrett, this slender
book is a collection of “best posts”
from Barrett’s blog, The LinkedIn
Lawyer. It contains a mix of introductory information about social media,
“best practices,” and anecdotes illustrating tips and lessons learned in
social media.
Social Media for Lawyers: The Next
Frontier (KF320.A9 E44 2010)
This very recent book by Carolyn
Elefant and Nicole Black covers all the
bases for lawyers interested in using
social media. Chapters range from why
lawyers should consider using social
media to the different social media
Contracts: The Essential Business
Desk Reference
Nolo
KF801.Z9 S75 2010
Deduct It!: Lower Your Small Business Taxes
Nolo
KF6491 .F57 2011
LLC or Corporation?: How to Choose the Right
Form for Your Business
Nolo
KF1380 .M364 2010
Quicken Willmaker Plus 2011
Nolo
KF750 .W55 2010
Tax Savvy for Small Business
Nolo
KF6491 .D35 2010
tools and platforms available and how
to use them. They also cover social
media concerns unique to large firms
and to trial lawyers, ethical issues, and
legal issues such as copyright, defamation, and FTC disclosures.
The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the
Internet (3rd Ed.) (KF316.5 .S57
2007)
Alas, this book was published in
2007, a bygone era by Internet standards. Hence, it does not discuss
social media or “Web 2.0” as such.
However, authors Gregory Siskind,
Deborah McMurray, and Richard Klau
include much useful content for an
attorney considering integrating social
media into his or her marketing practices.
Suggestions on using websites to
foster two-way communication and
informal content publishing are presented in chapters on interactive tools,
blogs, podcasts, and web seminars.
More general suggestions on types of
content to use and etiquette and best
practices in communication are also
useful. Many tools have changed since
this book was written, but the suggestions on content and strategy are
sound. We look forward to adding the
fourth edition of this book if and
when it is available.
Using Social Media for Research,
Investigation, Work, and
Collaboration
Internet Investigative Research 2010:
Strategies and Technology Tips (KF240
.I58 2010)
Social networking sites and social
media are a rich source of potential
evidence and background information
on witnesses, parties, and more. This
three-hour MCLE audio presentation
by Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch
delves deeply into using the sites to
obtain background information,
Surfing From River City
Compiled by Mary Pinard Johnson, Public Services Librarian, Sacramento County Public Law Library
Law Practice Today
http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/home.s
html
This monthly “webzine” of the ABA Law
Practice Management Section offers full-text
articles on a variety of developments in law
practice management. Common topics include
trends in marketing, management, technology, and finance.
Hubbard One Innovation
http://www.hubbardone.com/innovation/
Hubbard One is a marketing and business
development consulting firm for the legal
industry. The firm hosts an annual Innovation
Forum, a three-day conference where attendees discuss forward-thinking marketing
strategies, new technologies, and new
approaches for business development and law
firm growth. Speakers address predicted challenges and trends in the legal industry. Slides
and videos of this year’s presentations are
available online.
The State of the Legal Industry
http://www.lexisnexis.com/document/St
ate_of_the_Legal_Industry_Survey_Find
ings.pdf
This study, commissioned by LexisNexis,
surveyed 550 legal professionals and law
school students. The study sought to gauge
impeach witnesses, find missing people, and going "Wayback" to unearth
deleted web pages you may need to
prove your case. The speakers also
cover Google apps, Adobe Acrobat
and Outlook functions that can boost
efficiency, save money and help you
collaborate with clients and co-counsel. The presentation is good for 3
hours of California MCLE credit,
including 0.5 hour of Legal Ethics.
Google for Lawyers: Essential Search
Tips and Productivity Tools (KF240.
L48 2010)
In this 500+ page book, Rosch and
Levitt go into detail on how to become
a Google power user. They present
step-by-step descriptions of search
techniques and specialized tools, illus-
perceptions of the current state of the legal
industry, attitudes toward the legal profession
in today’s economy, and to identify future
trends for the law firm business model.
The Hildebrandt Baker Robbins
http://www.hbrconsulting.com/
Hildebrandt Baker Robbins is a leading
legal industry consulting firm. HBR publishes
numerous books, articles, and surveys on law
firm management, profitability, and business
practices. The HBR website offers access to
many of these substantive articles, as well as
a blog sharing recent developments and current trends in the legal profession.
Technology Trends from LLRX
http://www.llrx.com/category/930
LLRX is a website dedicated to providing
legal, library, and technology professionals
with up-to-date information on a variety of
research and technology resources and tools.
The “Technology Trends” section of this website offers links to articles on developments
of interest to legal professionals.
Future Trends in State Courts, 2010
http://contentdm.ncsconline.org/cgibin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/ctadmin&CISOPTR=1605
Trends in the State Courts may have a big
impact on law firms. This collection of articles
trated by hundreds of screenshots.
They also offer “Practice Tips,” “Ethics
Alerts,” and various “war stories” from
legal professionals. Also covered are
various free and low-cost Google communication and collaboration services
such as Google Voice, Google
Translate, Gmail, Google Docs, and
Google Calendar.
The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration
Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to
Work Together (KF320.A9 K46 2008
& 2009 supp)
This book details how to use various Web 2.0 tools to streamline and
improve collaboration between lawyers
and support staff, clients, experts, and
even opposing counsel. The authors,
Dennis Kennedy and Thomas Mighell,
focuses on ideas for redesigning court operations to improve service and reduce costs
over the long term. The articles cover discussions of problems faced by the courts, a variety of proposed improvements, and reports
from the field regarding the implementation
of changes.
Legal Current
http://legalcurrent.com/
Legal Current is the blog for the lawrelated businesses of Thomson Reuters,
including West and FindLaw. Posts cover
industry trends, business practices, client
development, technology innovations, and
other topics. Also available are podcasts and
videos of experts discussing a variety of legal
and law practice-related topics.
Law Firm Leaders Survey 2010: The
New Normal
http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleT
AL.jsp?id=1202475032294 (survey
results available to subscribers)
This article summarizes the results of a
survey of 453 corporate chief legal officers
and general counsel. Those surveyed indicated that many of the changes made during
the economic downturn, such as reduced
associate classes, delayed start dates for new
hires, and scaled-back profit expectations, are
the “new normal.”
both blog on legal technology and have
been using Google Docs to collaborate
with each other for years. This book
covers collaboration technologies available to lawyers, practical tips for using
collaboration tools in common settings, how to select the right tools and
understand the issues involved in
using collaboration technologies,
trends and developments in collaboration tools, and how to make decisions
about what collaboration tools to use
in a variety of settings.
Although the book was originally
published in 2008, a 2009 supplemental CD-ROM brings it relatively
up-to-date. Of course, on the Internet,
things constantly change. If and when
a new supplement or edition is available, we’ll be looking for it!
11
Events
Unity Dinner 2010: A Celebration of Community
On
Article and Photographs by Larry Duran
October 28, 2010, nearly 250 lawyers,
judges, law students, and other guests
came together at the Doubletree Hotel for the annual Unity
Bar Dinner. This annual dinner event provides an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the Sacramento legal
community and to recognize and honor the achievements
of people in the community.
The Unity Bar Association of Sacramento is a coalition of
the minority bar associations and other affiliates of the
Arnulfo Hernandez, Judge Emily
Vasquez and Larry Duran
12
bility for organizing the dinner event and selecting a speaker,
and this time SacLEGAL was in charge. In light of the many
issues facing the gay and lesbian community today—samesex marriage, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the military,
and the cyberbullying incidents that recently led to two suicides—there were plenty of topics to choose from. While
these issues affect us all, they are especially pertinent for the
gay and lesbian community. Accordingly, SacLEGAL selected
a speaker who could address these issues—the renowned
Keynote Speaker Professor
Pamela Karlan
Judge Jim Mize, Niti Gupta and Public
Defender Paulino Duran
Judge Raymond Cadei and Curtis Namba
Judge Renard Shepared (Rtd), Judge Darrel Lewis
(Rtd), Luis Cespedes and Professor Fred Galves
Sacramento County Bar, comprised of the following bar
associations: Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento
(ABAS), La Raza Lawyers Association of Sacramento (La
Raza); Sacramento Lawyers for the Equality of Gays and
Lesbians (SacLEGAL), South Asian Bar Association of
Sacramento (SABA), Wiley Manuel Bar Association (WMBA),
and Women Lawyers of Sacramento (WLS).
Each year a different organization takes primary responsi-
Stanford University Law Professor Pamela Karlan.
A Yale graduate and Stanford faculty member since
1998, Professor Karlan is co-director of the law school’s
Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where students litigate live
cases before the Court.
Prior to her academic career,
Karlan served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of
the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
Events
York. Professor Karlan has also been involved in voting
rights issues since the mid-1980s, when she took a job as
assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense &
Educational Fund. Today, she works on pro bono cases for a
variety of national civil rights organizations, including the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
With game two of the World Series underway that
evening, Karlan presented a very entertaining speech about
two of her passions—baseball and law practice, particularly in the areas of racial justice and sexual orientation. She
said that for many white baseball players and fans, their
first real contact with black Americans came at the ballpark.
In her view, Jackie Robinson forced white America to begin
Court declared the state’s ban on interracial marriage to be
unconstitutional (Perez v. Sharpe). Then in 1954, the U.S.
Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education; and in
1964, we saw passage of the Civil Rights Act.
In comparing baseball rules with the law, Karlan
likened the baseball rulebook—with its arcane, byzantine
rules and regulations—to provisions of the tax code, or to
an explanation of how to avoid procedural default under
the new habeas statute. But, she said, the point of baseball and the law is both simpler and more important. She
went on to say that judges are like umpires, whose job is
to apply rules involving balls and strikes. However, she
pointed out, first, the strike zone is relative; it’s tailored to
Judge Sumner,
Judge Hersher,
Judge Hight,
Judge Earl,
Jody Cooperman,
Judge BoulwareEurie and
Judge Mize
McGeorge Law Students
Judge Boulware-Eurie (center) with 2010 SCBA President
Todd Vlaanderen (right) and Todd’s husband, Ed Vlaanderen.
the process of re-examining its deeply held prejudices.
Karlan saw a parallel between when Jackie Robinson was
signed as a Dodger minor leaguer in 1946 and the beginning
of other advances in the area of civil rights. For example,
that same year a federal district court ruled that a California
school district’s practice of segregating Mexican American
schoolchildren was unconstitutional (Mendez v. Westminister
School District). Two years later, the Californian Supreme
the individual player. So if judges are really going to be
like umpires, they need to look at the people in front of
them. Second, umpires’ strike zones can differ. “Diversity
exists in the world, and it should exist on the bench as
well,” she said.
As for applying the rules, Karlan pointed out that while
some of baseball’s rules have precision, others call on the
umpires to do justice. For example, MLB Rule 7.06(a) directs
13
Events
umpires to award runners “the bases they would have
reached, in the umpire’s judgment, if there had been no
obstruction” in the base paths. “This is equity if I’ve ever seen
it,” she said.
Karlan also mused on changes that have occurred in the
area of baseball recruitment. Perhaps one reason that
minorities were historically excluded from professional
baseball, she said, is because of how talent scouts rated
players. Traditionally, baseball insiders mistakenly rated
players based on “how they looked,” rather than how they
performed. It was not until Billy Beane made the Oakland
Athletics one of the most successful teams in baseball using
performance data to hire players, that this new method
“Marriage has always meant a relationship between one man
and one woman; and raising children—same-sex couples
either aren’t raising children or can’t do it as well as oppositesex couples.” But baseball teaches us that we need to rethink
these traditions, Karlan said.
When tradition barred black Americans from majorleague teams, they did not stop trying; they still played a
spirited, excellent brand of baseball. And, so too, it is with
gay couples, Karlan said. Even when denied the tangible
rights, the social approval, and the reinforcement that formal marriages provide, millions of same-sex couples have
nonetheless spent their lives together, forming bonds every
bit as strong and valuable to themselves, their families, and
La Raza President Jose Borrego and
Professor Fred Galves
Kimberly Reyes and
Augustine Jimenez
WLS President Jeffifer
Rouse and CWL
President Jennifer
2010 SCBA President Todd Vlaanderen
and Judge Thadd Blizzard
became acceptable. Later followers of this data-driven
approach became general managers in other cities—most
notably, Toronto and Boston.
Karlan posited that, here too, the law can learn something
from baseball. The Bay Area, Canada, and Massachusetts are
not only outposts of new thinking in baseball; they’re also outposts of new thinking abut same-sex marriage as well. Just as
discriminatory recruitment for baseball was tied to tradition,
so too, the two most widespread arguments against same-sex
marriage rest on tradition, she said. That is, traditionally,
14
Tony Lewis, Nancy Sheehan and Sophia Kwan
their communities as the bonds formed by their straight relatives and neighbors.
As for gays raising children, Karlan said, as with baseball,
here too, we need to look at the “hard data” versus stereotypes. She says all the evidence shows that two-parent, stable households are best for children; and that’s just as true
of loving, two-parent gay or lesbian households as well. The
most reliable long-term studies indicate that children raised
by gay or lesbian parents do as well as their counterparts
raised in straight households when it comes to school and
Events
employment. They also report similar levels of subjective
well-being and have an equal ability as adults to build their
own marriages and partnerships.
Karlan concluded her speech with another baseball
analogy. “Just as baseball is played better when we respect
the diverse talents that contribute to the game and go
beyond stereotypes about who can play well, so too,
America is made stronger if we respect the many kinds of
families that make up our nation.” She went on to say that
when the courts seem increasingly hostile to claims by poor
people, institutionalized persons, children, and members of
racial and other minorities, it’s important to not just complain about it; instead, we should be working hard to cre-
ic job keeping the program moving and finishing the program right on schedule—leaving time for everyone to mingle and enjoy the art work on display. We also thank
Marguerite Schaffron for providing the outstanding collection of her art work for the silent auction. Finally, we thank
the jazz quartet, Attractive Nuisance, for providing the music
that set the mellow mood for everyone to enjoy.
The Unity Bar planning committee members for 2010 were
Jeff Bedell, Chairperson (SacLEGAL), Kara Ueda (ABAS),
Michael Terhorst (La Raza), Sarah Asplin (SacLEGAL), Jamie
Errecart (WLS), Shama Mesiwala (SABA), Endy UkohaAjike (WMBA), and Patricia Tsubokawa Reeves, Amilia
Glikman, and Larry Duran (Unity Bar).
2010 Unity Dinner Planning Committee with Keynote Speaker Professor Pamela Karlan:
(L-R): Endy Ukoha-Ajike, Amilia Glikman, Jeff Bedell, Kara Ueda, Michael Terhorts, Larry Duran, Professor Karlan,
Judge Laurie Earl, Patty Reeves, Sarah Asplin, and Jamie Errecart. (Not shown: Shama Mesiwala)
ate more justice—and not just more law.
The program concluded with the Unity Bar organizations presenting their student scholarships and community
service awards to deserving recipients from their respective
communities. The evening ended with many happy silentauction winners leaving with their treasures in tow.
The Unity Bar thanks Professor Karlan for taking the
time out of her busy schedule to be our keynote speaker.
We also thank this year’s Master of Ceremonies, Sacramento
Superior Court Judge Laurie Earl. Judge Earl did a terrif-
The Unity Bar thanks all of its sponsors and everyone
who attended the dinner event. Without your support, the
Unity Dinner would not have been such a success. The committee hopes that all those in attendance enjoyed the evening
and will join us again next year for Unity Dinner 2011.
Larry Duran is a Senior Deputy City Attorney with the
Sacramento City Attorney’s Office, and a staff editor for the
Sacramento Lawyer. He also serves on the Unity Bar planning
committee.
15
Events
SacLEGAL Marks 15th Anniversary in
Veteran’s Day Bash
Patrick Holstine, SacLEGAL Co-Chair
Professor Larry Levine and SacLEGAL
Co-Chair Patricia Eichar
Jinnifer Pitcher and 2010 SCBA President Todd Vlaanderen
S
acramento Lawyers for the Equality of Gays and
Lesbians (SacLEGAL) celebrated its 15th Anniversary
in November by hosting a dinner at the Casa Garden
Restaurant in Sacramento on Veterans Day. The special
guest speaker for the event was Ty Redhouse, President of
the Sacramento Valley Veterans, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) veterans group.
Redhouse spoke about serving in the military under the
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the difficulties the policy
caused for him as an LGBT individual who had to hide his
identity in order to keep his job. Redhouse was honored at
the event with an award for his military service and his
work with LGBT veterans. SacLEGAL chose Redhouse as
the guest speaker and Veterans Day as the date of the celebration to bring attention to the efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell.” Little did they know that the United States
Congress would do just that the following month.
More than 80 people attended the celebration, making
this the largest event in SacLEGAL’s 15-year history.
Attendees included SacLEGAL members, members of other
Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA) affiliates, local
law students, and several LGBT veterans including some
currently on active duty.
16
SacLEGAL Co-Chairs Patricia Eichar and Patrick Holstine
One of the founders of SacLEGAL, Pacific McGeorge
Professor Larry Levine, was also honored at the celebration
for his role in bringing the group into existence. Besides
marking the 15th anniversary of the group, SacLEGAL was
also in a mood to celebrate after successfully taking the lead
in hosting the recent Unity Bar dinner. From its humble
beginnings, the group now has 50 active members and is a
voting member of the SCBA board.
Cover Story
Trends in the Practice of Law:
The Voices of Experience Speak
By Steve Sphar
In
the Fall of 2010, Sacramento Lawyer interviewed managing partners and senior attorneys
at eleven major law firms in Sacramento about trends that
have influenced the practice of law over the last decade.
Their responses revealed several interesting themes about
the economy, technology and the changing demographics
of the work force.
The single most significant impact noted by all of the
interviewees was the economic downturn of the last two
18
years. Because the Sacramento economy relies heavily on
the real estate market, the local economy has suffered disproportionately during the recession. And, because much
of the local legal practice depends on real estate and the
related areas of land use, government regulatory work,
construction, finance, and litigation, those practice areas
have also suffered.
Space does not allow us to capture all of the insights and
ideas discussed. This article will briefly touch on five major
Cover Story
themes that emerged. These themes represent overlapping
trends with interdependent effects: client demands to manage costs, hiring trends, more sophisticated legal work, generational attitudes, and technology.
The Demand to Manage Costs
All firms are addressing client demands to manage
costs. The recent recession has caused contraction or
slower growth for many businesses. This slow down has
accelerated a trend that started years before: a growing
pressure from clients to reduce and manage legal costs.
While the majority of legal work is still done by hourly
rate, a growing number of clients are requesting alternative fee arrangements. In some cases, a monthly retainer
fee to cover all routine business advice has been negotiated. In others, where a firm has had a long history of handling litigation or other particular types of transactions,
flat fees or phased fees are becoming more common
because they help clients predict costs and cash flow.
Even where the standard hourly rate is used, clients often
request discounted fees or blended fees (one rate for all
attorneys, or for all categories of attorneys).
“Clients are sophisticated,” said Gene Tanaka of Best
Best & Kreiger LLP. “They see the difference between complex work and routine work and they want the rates to
reflect this.”
Adding to this downward pressure on legal costs in
Sacramento are firms in other cities that are commoditizing transactions and charging low flat rates, such as $7500
for a commercial lease with standardized forms and
processes. Clients see these examples elsewhere and want
Sacramento firms to adjust to these practices.
Hiring Trends
Law firm expansion has slowed from the rate of a
decade ago. During this earlier period of growth, large
firms were hiring many new graduates and salaries
increased to what became unsustainable levels.
Immediately after 2008-09 recession, firms pulled back
on hiring and in some cases withdrew offers. Hiring
has not risen to those pre-2008 levels and may not for
some time.
The slow hiring market for attorneys had a related
effect on the traditional career path. While the traditional partnership track still predominates, many attorneys are
exploring alternatives. Even the traditional partnership
track has changed and can take longer than the historic 57 years. This change has been caused, in part, by lower
revenues, but also because many associates are asking for
a slower track to take time for home life, children or other
personal reasons. Another option to the partnership track
has been an increase in attorneys becoming career associates or “of counsel.”
The recession has also created a pool of experienced
mid-career attorneys, who might not have considered
Sacramento in the past, but who are now available and
will consider a move to pursue their career. This has
allowed Sacramento firms with specific needs to fill targeted slots with top drawer talent.
More Sophisticated Work
“Historically, local area firms serviced local businesses,” said Jeff Koewler of Downey Brand. “But increasingly, Sacramento law firms are being recognized for their
deep expertise and their experience in handling large
complex transactions.” Fortune 500 companies now routinely use local firms for work that is national in scope.
Interestingly, this has allowed rates and revenues for
local firms to increase in some cases because Sacramento
firms now compete with large firms in San Francisco, Los
Angeles or New York for this work. As these large clients
look to reduce costs, the billable rates of Sacramento firms
look more attractive. An additional benefit to the increase
in complex work has been an increase in the willingness of
top law school graduates from national schools to come to
Sacramento because the area is seen as supporting a premier practice.
Generational Attitudes
More so than in previous generations, younger attorneys have a different perspective on what they want out of
a legal career. For the baby boomers, gaining expertise
and advancing in their careers was paramount. While
these goals are still important to new lawyers, they place a
greater emphasis on work-life balance and on personal
development and fulfillment.
This change creates real tensions and new conversations in many law firms. Managing partners realize that
these new preferences must be accommodated but struggle to balance the demands of a new generation with the
realities of running a law practice and meeting the needs
of their clients.
These new preferences may force changes in old
assumptions, and the old economics, of large firm practice.
In any given firm, there might be the traditional mix of
associates and partners, as well as career associates, of counsel, associates on a slow track to partnership, and partners
who want to work fewer hours for less remuneration.
“Juggling the revenue requirements and compensation
levels for this mix is a real challenge,” says Mike Kvarme
of Weintraub Genshlea Chediak. “We have to remain economically viable as a business while maintaining a sense
19
Cover Story
of fairness. We opt for being transparent and open about
our finances and try to work out the numbers to each person’s satisfaction.”
Technology
As everyone knows, technological advances have
exploded in the last 10 years. Smart phones, laptops and
internet capabilities have created client expectations of
constant availability and immediate document review and
response. Electronic filing and e-discovery make the practice of law both more complex and more organized.
One noteworthy aspect of the technology boom is the change
in staffing ratios. In previous generations, one secretary supported one attorney by typing, filing, scheduling, and screening telephone calls. Technology has allowed much of this work to shift
to attorneys, who create and manage many of their own documents, handle their own calendars and take their own client
calls. A secretary now often supports three or more attorneys.
New attorneys are more comfortable in this brave new
digital world. As Blair Shahbazian of Murphy Austin put it:
“The younger attorneys are very tech savvy and often mentor
the older generation of lawyers in navigating technology.”
Advice to young lawyers
We asked all the interviewees what advice they would
give to young lawyers starting out in their careers. Here are
their top responses.
1. Specialize
Law is too complex now to allow a general practice in
all areas. Differentiate yourself by picking an area to focus
on and become recognized as an expert. Select something
for which you have passion, something that fuels you as a
person as well as an attorney, because you will be working
hard at it for a long time. (See #2 below)
2. Work hard
It may sound like advice from your grandmother, but
this old saw is true. Becoming an excellent attorney requires
a steep learning curve. It will take two to three years of hard
work just to become minimally competent and perhaps ten
years to master your field. Take courses, read books and
study cases related to your practice area. “I can’t stress this
enough to young lawyers,” said Mark Harrison of
Diepenbrock Harrison. “It is vital that you put in the effort to
achieve excellence. The rewards will be there because there
is an unending thirst for excellence in the legal profession.”
3. Network and develop business
This is a critical skill for every attorney. One way to
develop your networking skills is to be active in bar groups,
Inns of Court, Barristers Club, chambers of commerce, and
other civic groups. Consider everyone you meet a potential
20
contact, even opposing lawyers. “Everyone you meet will be
in charge of some piece of the world someday,” opined
Norm Hile of Orrick. “Rainmakers are even more valuable
now than in the past,” advises Bruce Scheidt of the Kronick
firm. “The ability to develop business is your best career
security, and that means building relationships.”
4. Don’t be afraid to “go analog”
“Touch a file, touch a book, touch a person,” was the
advice of Nancy Sheehan of Porter Scott, echoed by several other interviewees. “If you do all your research and file
review online, you miss the greater context and subtle
clues you get when you read the handwritten notes of a
case file or thumb through an annotated code. Online
research is great but don’t ignore other resources. And
don’t over rely on email. Sometimes the best course is to
call an opponent and offer to discuss a discovery dispute
over coffee. Law is still a relational profession.”
5. Develop a skill outside of law
This can be formal education, such as an MBA or broker’s license, or informal, such as learning a foreign language or becoming an expert at spreadsheets and financial
statements. “Adding a skill outside of the law increases
your value and gives you a greater scope of experience
from which to draw,” said John DiGiusto of Boutin Jones.
6. Be of service
Many of the interviewees offered this bit of wisdom: Be
of service to be happy. “Find ways to give something
back,” said Norm Hile. “Our education and experience as
lawyers suit us uniquely to give back to the world at large,
whether it is taking on pro bono work or volunteering on
the board of a nonprofit. It makes the world better and it
makes life richer and more meaningful.”
Sacramento Lawyer wants to thank the following attorneys and firms who agreed to be interviewed for this article.
Jeff Koewler – Downey Brand
Bruce Scheidt – Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard
Mike Kvarme – Weintraub Genshlea Chediak
Nancy Sheehan – Porter Scott
Norm Hile – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Blari Shahbazian – Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP
Mike Polis – Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney
Mark Harrison – Diepenbrock Harrison
Gene Tanaka – Best Best & Krieger LLP
John DiGiusto – Boutin Jones
Carol Livingston – Greenberg Traurig
Steve Sphar, an executive coach, organization development consultant and former attorney, helps businesses optimize their performance and potential. He can be reached at steve@stevesphar.com.
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21
Events
An Annual Legal Rite – SCBA
Convenes Its 2010 Annual Meeting
On
December 3, 2010,
the
Sacramento
County Bar Association (SCBA) held
its Annual Meeting at the Sheraton
Hotel. Todd Vlaanderen, the outgoing SCBA President, began the meeting with his year-end remarks followed by recognition of Sacramento
Paula Lee, Sacramento Law Foundation
President Stephen M. Duvernay, 2011
Barrister’s Club President Jason Schaff,
Natalie Vance, and SCBA Vice-President
June Coleman.
By Helene Friedman
Photographs by Ken Rabiroff
law firms that are 100% SCBA member firms. A presentation of awards to
those acknowledged as having provided significant service to the local legal
community followed. Among them
was Karla Yvette Broussand-Boyd, to
whom the Voluntary Legal Services
Program (VLSP) awarded the June
Black Pro Bono Award, highlighting
her outstanding work providing free
legal services to indigent clients.
Todd presented the President’s
Joan Stone and Megan Lewis
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye swearing in the 2011 SCBA
Board of Directors
Barbara O’Hearn, La Raza President
Michael Terhorst, 2011 SCBA President
Michael Levy, and SCBA Board Member
Lori Okun.
22
Award to Daniel Yamshon, an SCBA
Board member who has demonstrated
his dedication and creativity by
expanding the SCBA Mandatory
Continuing Legal Education program
(MCLE). In particular, Dan arranged
brief MCLE presentations at the
monthly meetings of SCBA Section
representatives, attended Section meetings to report on SCBA activities, and
organized the free MCLE event held on
the morning of the Annual Meeting.
On behalf of SCBA, Lori Okun
presented the 2010 Distinguished
Attorney of the Year Award to Vicki
Jacobs, Managing Attorney for VLSP.
Sac City Unified
School District
Superintendent
Jonathan Raymond.
Heather Hoganson,
Editor, Sacramento
Lawyer, 2006-2010
2011 SCBA President Michael Levy, 2010
SCBA President Todd Vlaanderen, 2010 SCBA
Distinguished Attorney Award-Winner Vicki
Jacobs, and SCBA Board Member Lori Okun.
Todd Vlaanderen presenting Daniel
Yamshon with the 2010 SCBA
President's Award for exceptional service to the Board and legal community.
Sacramento County
Law Library
Director Coral
Henning
Events
Vicki’s profile appeared in the
November/December 2010 issue of
this magazine. Vicki was also the
recipient of the Fay Stender Award
given earlier this year by the California
Women Lawyers. The award is given
to a feminist attorney committed to
the representation of disadvantaged
groups and unpopular causes.
Todd introduced Michael Levy,
the 2011 SCBA President, who conveyed his goals for the upcoming
year. Michael then informed the
audience that the new Chief Justice
of the California Supreme Court, the
Honorable Tani Cantil-Sakauye,
had just been sworn into office within the past hour and was coming
over directly from the Capitol to
attend the Annual Meeting and
deliver the keynote speech.
Warm, outgoing, and inspira-
tional, Justice Cantil-Sakauye brings
the values of a humble upbringing to
California's top judicial job. She
made clear her unwavering support
of the legal community in
Sacramento, her home town, and her
conviction that some of the best legal
talent in California can be found
right here in Sacramento.
After Michael introduced next year’s
Officers, Directors, Section and
Committee Chairs, Justice CantilSakauye administered the oath of office
to all of them. There being no further
business, the meeting was adjourned.
Support Services, was co-editor of
Sacramento Lawyer from 2006-2008.
She served on the Sacramento County
Bar Association Board of Directors from
2004 through 2010 and edited the
2010-2011 and 2009-2010 SCBA
Pictorial Directory. Helene served on
the Boards of Legal Services of Northern
California, Voluntary Legal Services
Program, the Sacramento Superior
Court Bench/Bar Media Committee, the
Sacramento Law Foundation and
Women Lawyers of Sacramento.
Helene Friedman, Senior Staff Counsel,
California Department of Child
Michael Levy presents Todd Vlaanderen a
plaque commemorating Todd's service as
outgoing SCBA President.
Jay-Allen Eisen and Charity Kenyon
Chief Justice of the California Supreme
Court Tani Cantil-Sakauye presenting the
keynote speech the same day she was
sworn in as Chief Justice!
Jean McEvoy with friends Barry Matulich
and Brian McClay
Karla Yvette Broussard-Boyd received the
June Black Pro Bono Award from the
Voluntary Legal Services Program.
Windie Scott and Victoria Cline
Dr. Robert Jacobs
Ann Kanter
Michael Levy, 2011 President, SCBA, Vicki
Jacobs, 2010 SCBA Distinguished Attorney of
the Year, Dr. Robert Jacobs and Roy Gardner
23
New Judges
Multi-talented Judge Geoff Goodman
a Great Addition to the Bench
J
By Nicole M. De
Santis
udge Geoff Goodman is a man of many talents, and
Office, where he served from 1984 to 1991.
colleagues are quick to contribute to his accolades.
From 1992 to 1998, he was an assistant U.S. attorney
Some of you may already be familiar with him for many reafor the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California,
sons. As a Master Calendar Judge throughout 2010 in
where he was Chief of the White Collar Crime Unit. During
Sacramento Superior Court, he displayed both patience and
this time, federal prosecutors were dealing with ramificahumor as he interacted with dozens of attorneys each day,
tions of the savings and loan debacle and the increasing
using his experience to assign criminal trial times and
incidents of health care fraud. Federal prosecutors began to
courtrooms, and handling a few pleas, continuances and
use the power of parallel proceedings and criminal prosedismissals along the way.
cutors like Goodman began to work
In September of 2010, the Daily
closely with the civil lawyers in the
Journal newspaper published a feature
office who pursued targets with coordipiece on him, mentioning that when he
nated and powerful civil allegations
presided over his first trial, he inadverunder the False Claims Act.
tently played “matchmaker” as well as
Upon leaving the U.S. Attorney’s
referee, as it was later discovered that a
Office, he then put his experience to use
defense attorney and Deputy District
in the private sector, joining the former
Attorney began dating soon after their
Sacramento law firm Diepenbrock, Wulff,
trial before him was over. The pair
Plant & Hannegan in 1998, and shortly
came to him several months later with
after moved to the Sacramento law firm
Judge Goodman’s most unique request
Murphy Austin Adams Shoenfeld
as Judge thus far: they asked him to
(“Murphy Austin”), where he worked
marry them!
Judge Geoff Goodman
from 1999 to 2008. At Murphy Austin,
Judge Goodman was appointed by
is a man of many
he focussed on the defense of both
former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
talents, and colleagues
criminal and civil fraud matters and also
in March of 2009. According to the
are quick to contribute
handled complex civil disputes.
Sacramento Business Journal article which
to his accolades.
Murphy Austin Managing Partner V.
discussed the difficult path many lawyers
Blair Shabazian commended Judge
encounter when seeking a judicial career,
Goodman’s years of service to the firm,
only about 20% of the more than 2000 lawyers who applied
stating: “Murphy Austin is proud of our friend and former
for appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger by the end of
partner Geoff Goodman's appointment to the Superior
2008 got appointed. Judge Goodman was one of these lucky
Court bench in 2009. Geoff is the second founding partner
few, and the Sacramento legal community is lucky as well, as
of Murphy Austin in the 12 year history of our firm, the first
his professional background is a perfect fit for the bench.
being Raymond Cadei, to be appointed as a judge to the
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University
Sacramento Superior Court. Geoff brings extensive trial
of Southern California, and a Juris Doctorate degree from
experience as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and then more
the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
than 10 years litigation experience in private practice to his
With ambitions of being a trial lawyer, he served as a
position as a judge. We are confident that Geoff's temperaDeputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County
ment, experience and legal acumen will serve him well on
District Attorney’s Office from 1977 to 1981, after which he
the bench”.
continued his public service by accepting a Staff Counsel
In 2008, Judge Goodman left Murphy Austin to join the
position for the Committee on Criminal Justice at the
national law firm Nossaman, LLP as partner. But his tenure
California State Assembly from 1981 to 1984. He then prothere was cut short due to his appointment to the bench in
gressed to Deputy Attorney General, then Senior Assistant
2009. Nonetheless, he left a very favorable impression
Attorney General, for the California Attorney General’s
upon his colleagues there. His former partner Robert J.
24
Sullivan expressed grateful sentiments. “He is a great addition to the bench, not only because he is smart, but because
he has the ability, through experience, to preside over both
complex criminal and civil suits”, said Mr. Sullivan, who
added: “He is absolutely without prejudice” and, in his
opinion, a “rare man”.
Judge Goodman said that he has made the transition
from advocate to the judicial ranks smoothly because he is
motivated to make sure that in his courtroom, everyone is
heard, and that everyone gets a fair hearing, through a fair
process.
Throughout his busy career and even after his appointment to the bench, Judge Goodman still makes time for
rowing and playing the harmonica in a blues band.
Congratulations and welcome, Judge Goodman!
Nicole M. De Santis is a Vice President with Deutsche Bank in
New York City specializing in 1031 tax deferred property
exchanges. She is a member of the California State Bar, travels
frequently to Sacramento and is a regular contributor to the
Sacramento Lawyer magazine.
The Asian Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento
cordially invites you to its 30 Year Anniversary Dinner Celebration
Keynote Speaker:
California Supreme Court Chief Justice
Tani Cantil-Sakauye
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Please join us as we celebrate and honor our past presidents for
30 years of exemplary leadership and service.
5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Registration & Hosted Bar
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Dinner Buffet, keynote speaker, awards & presentations
California Automobile Museum, 2200 Front Street, Sacramento, California 95818
************************************************** Detach here and return as instructed below *********************************************************
Name: _______________________________________________________
____ ABAS Member discount @ $65 each = __________
Organization: __________________________________________________
____ Non-ABAS Member @ $80 each = __________
Seating Preference: _____________________________________________
____ Student discount @ $50 each = __________
Address:_______________________________________________________
____ Group Table (10) @ $650 = __________
Phone: ________________________________________________________
TICKETS WILL BE $85 AT THE DOOR FOR EVERYONE
Email: ________________________________________________________
SO PLEASE RSVP by March 4, 2011
PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO “ABAS” AND SEND TO P.O. BOX 2215, METRO STATION, SACRAMENTO, CA 95812-2215
CONTACT INFORMATION: GRACE ARUPO, EMAIL: garupo@caiso.com
25
Law Firm Trends
Cristo Rey High School: The School That
Works—Literally
By Amanda R.
Gimbel
What is Cristo Rey?
at or below the poverty level. Thus, Cristo Rey students
have great potential but limited financial means. While the
school has Catholic roots, there is no requirement that attenristo Rey High School of Sacramento opened in
dees be Catholic.
2006. Last year’s graduating class was the first to
Cristo Rey students are not only expected to graduate
attend all four high school grades at the facility. All 53 of the
from high school, they are expected to go to and successful2010 graduating seniors were accepted into four-year colly complete college. Many of these students are on their way
leges; and every single one of them is currently in college. The
to being the first in their family to graduate from high school
valedictorian received a full-ride scholarship to the University
and advance to college. High expectations, a rigorous curof the Pacific’s Pharmacology Program and the salutatorian
riculum, and a college-bound culture prepare students for a
received a full-ride scholarship to Loyola of Chicago.
future full of possibilities and success. The campus includes
These are impressive statistics for any high school, but
a college counseling office which takes students on college
even more so when you
visits, assists them in fillunderstand what Cristo
ing out college applicaRey is. An innovative
tions and the FAFSA, and
high school designed for
prepares them for the SAT
students from economiand ACT tests.
The
cally disadvantaged backschool also offers aftergrounds, Cristo Rey is a
school extracurricular
private, college-preparaprograms, including foottory school that assists
ball, boys and girls soccer,
students with their
boys and girls basketball,
tuition costs by sending
study hall, student counthem to work in the corcil, choir, fine arts and
porate world. Indeed,
yearbook staff.
Cristo Rey is not a charter
The competitive acaschool which takes pubdemic curriculum at
lic funding and is thus
Cristo Rey has been
tied to public strings.
enhanced to maximize
Rather, the school’s inno- A Cristo Rey student receives an assignment from Daniel C. Kim,
academic achievement.
vative financing structure associate attorney at Matheny Sears Linkert & Jaime LLP
Longer school days and
serves the dual purposes
smaller class sizes mean
of enabling disadvantaged students to attend a private colthe students don’t miss instruction time to go to work, givlege-preparatory school while simultaneously exposing
ing students as much classroom time as other collegethem to the corporate world where they can gain valuable
preparatory schools. Students attend school from 7:50 a.m.
skills and marketable job experience.
to 3:45 p.m. Five days a month, students are bussed to their
There are 24 Cristo Rey High Schools across the country
respective jobs where they complete a wide variety of entryand all target economically disadvantaged students, many of
level tasks, including faxing, copying, inter-office mailing,
whom test far below the reading level for their grade. Cristo
back-up reception duties, data entry, professional shadowRey recruits students who have a willingness to work hard,
ing, and records management. In addition to the legal proare motivated to succeed, have a desire to attend college,
fession, Cristo Rey students also work in industries such as
have good behavior and attendance, and meet the school’s
information technology, arts and entertainment, sales, confinancial guidelines – i.e. most come from families who are
struction, finance, civil service, medical, government and
C
26
Law Firm Trends
nonprofit. Working in these corporate settings empowers
these determined students with professional skills.
How Does it Work?
Cristo Rey’s Corporate Work-Study program connects
students with entry-level professional jobs throughout the
Sacramento area. In order to prepare students for their jobs,
Cristo Rey conducts a four-week summer institute for
incoming freshman each year. Here, students learn valuable
skills such as how to dress appropriately for work, how to
tie a tie and give a firm handshake, the importance of making eye contact, goal setting, filing techniques, payroll
duties, records management, phone etiquette, computer
programs (such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and basic typing
Study, Inc., a separately incorporated, nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation, acts as a placement agency and thus bears all
administrative costs, taxes, Social Security, state disability,
unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation benefits.
Through the Corporate Work-Study program, students
earn wages to offset tuition costs, but more importantly, they
work with adults who demonstrate the importance of a college education and strong work ethic—something to which
many of these students may have never been exposed.
According to Ward Fansler, president of Cristo Rey High
School, “meeting the high expectations of their employers
gives students the confidence and stamina to persevere
through college.” The work-study program, together with
Cristo Rey students hard at work
skills), communication skills, math, language arts and study
skills. The students are even taken on a mock business
lunch where they learn everything from use of the salad fork
to appropriate conversation.
The Corporate Work Study program is the only way the
school exists and its only source of funding beyond voluntary donations. Employers, or corporate sponsors, sponsor
one or more Cristo Rey students to work at their business at
a competitive rate. The employer pays no benefits or taxes
on the student employees. Cristo Rey High School Work-
Cristo Rey’s rigorous and challenging academic program,
prepares students not only for college, but for work in a professional environment beyond college, adds W. David
Brown, Cristo Rey’s Work-Study Director.
What’s in it for the Sponsor?
Understandably, employers may be hesitant to sponsor
high school students to fill positions that may normally be
filled by someone with far more education and experience.
However, sponsoring Cristo Rey students is not a simple act
27
Law Firm Trends
of charity by employers. To the contrary, since opening its
doors in 2006, more and more local businesses are realizing
the value of sponsoring Cristo Rey students. The program
offers an easy way to sponsor trained and motivated young
enthusiasts at a competitive salary, while simultaneously
investing in the region’s future workforce. The program is
successful because students do real jobs. It’s not a community service project for employers, as Cristo Rey students fill
employers’ needs in a cost-effective manner.
According to Brown, employers in the Sacramento legal
Cristo Rey's 2010 Graduating Class
community should strongly consider sponsoring Cristo Rey
students to help meet their firms’ needs. Administration is
simple and inexpensive. Not only will employers save on
payroll taxes and benefits, Brown said, but students have
reliable transportation and are sent to work every day with a
lunch. Students are required to be in business attire when
they go to work and many students are bilingual -- an added
advantage for any business.
Matthew C. Jaime, a partner at Matheny Sears Linkert &
Jaime LLP, has been a corporate sponsor of Cristo Rey since
2007 and is one of Cristo Rey’s biggest advocates. “On a personal level, having been involved with Sacramento’s Cristo
Rey Program since early on, our firm has had the opportunity to see these students grow from quiet and shy children
to accomplished and confident young adults by the end of
the school year. The transformation the students undergo is
remarkable; and to be a part of the process is rewarding on
many levels. As an employer, we also get the benefit of having youthful enthusiasm coupled with drive and determination to succeed. The students’ minds are like sponges, and
28
after a brief learning curve, they are providing a reliable and
consistent work product that is an essential service to our
firm.”
David A. Melton, a shareholder at Porter Scott, echoes
Mr. Jaime’s sentiments. “The Cristo Rey business model program provides a fantastic opportunity for high school students to gain valuable work experience and to further their
educational goals. Our Cristo Rey students are extremely
hard-working and routinely exceed our expectations. Our
students have helped out in all aspects of the operation of
our law firm. Our goal is to help the
student learn skills to help him or her
in their future employment, but in
return we have an energetic and hardworking employee.”
Many firms find sponsoring Cristo
Rey students not only a smart investment, but an inspirational experience
as well.
“They are already trained,
very dependable, and come ready to
work,” Jamie said. “But watching
them succeed against such overwhelming odds is really a rewarding
experience for the whole office.”
Cristo Rey students are a tremendous yet cost-effective asset to any
business, Melton said. But beyond
that, he said, the students provide
companies an opportunity to help
make a difference, not only in their
communities, but by helping these highly motivated, yet
economically disadvantaged students gain confidence and
self-respect. Companies who sponsor Cristo Rey students,
Melton explained, are not only investing in the economic
future of the community, but helping to empower young
people to exceed expectations and realize their full potential.
Cristo Rey is truly the
school that works.
For more information on Cristo Rey’s Corporate WorkStudy program, or to become a corporate sponsor,
interested members can contract David Brown, Cristo Rey’s
Work-Study Director at (916) 400-3478 or
DBrown@CristoReySacramento.org.
Amanda R. Gimbel is an associate with the Sacramento law firm
of Matheny Sears Linkert & Jaime LLP and practices in the areas
of employment law, personal injury and business litigation. She
is a graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of
Law, and has been practicing since 2008.
Law Firm Trends
Legal Blogging in the 21st Century –
One Practitioner’s Perspective
By Jessica S. Grigsby
MY
idea for blogging sprung from a personal
injury attorney television commercial I
had seen as a child - a very lawyerly looking man in an
expensive suit explaining how insurance companies had
lawyers working hard on their side, and so should the accident victim.
I was struck by how unlike that guy I was...and still am.
First off, I’m a female personal injury attorney. Secondly, I
haven’t been fighting insurance companies for the entirety
of my adult life. And finally and perhaps most importantly,
the concept of the personal injury attorney on T.V. seemed
so stilted to me. That man in the commercial was to be the
accident victim’s voice, but he resembled a sort of attorneyrobot without a real voice of his own. That man wasn’t
going to listen to a client’s injuries and personal woes, kindly explain the litigation process and what happens at a deposition, or frame interrogatory numbers 150 to 307 in plain
and understandable English. I secretly believed that man
on T.V. had a button on his back that made his arms move
when he spoke. And so it is with so many lawyer websites;
they are flush with statistics of their results and impressive
qualifications, but not once do they ever enlighten the
client/consumer as to what it is they actually do!
My blog started as just that: a telling of what I do
throughout my day with a mix of information on personal
injury topics that are commonly asked or misunderstood.
Blogging is not eloquent or over-edited. Blogging is freeflowing, creative and often messy - going deep into those
places we lawyers fear to tread. As a logical, rule-based and
organized bunch, it can be hard for us to appear....well,
human. Those framed diplomas on our walls have become
our safety-blanket, acting to insulate us from the world of
non-lawyers around us. This is both a blessing and curse.
I noticed through my blogging that clients have reached
out to me more and eye me less suspiciously with the
advice I provide.
Soon after I began blogging I discovered another of its
unexpected benefits. Not only was I reaching my client
community, but I was also communicating with other
lawyers. In a profession where contention and litigation are
goals, not behavior-modification aids, lawyering can be a
lonely enterprise. Through my blog I found others who had
similar experiences, failures and triumphs. Blogging is net-
working in a way that provides valuable and “real” information. For example, I can hand someone my card and tell
them to call me if they ever need a personal injury attorney.
But what does that card tell them? Nothing more than I
work for a firm that has a nice sense of style and color
palate. However, they can read my blog and in a few minutes have a true sense of who I am and the services I provide. The referential impact of blogging is limitless. I frequently read legal blogs of all different practice backgrounds and I learn about trends in the practice area, but
also about the lawyer’s actual experiences - something we all
know was never taught in law school.
In a profession with an astounding 18% incidence of
drug and alcohol abuse, blogging can also be a cathartic and
stress relieving venture. Although every week or so I wander around the office grumbling about having to set aside
the time to blog when I have pressing (if not looming) litigation deadlines, I find once I commit to the writing I
achieve a sense of personal satisfaction unparalleled in my
day-to-day practice. Being able to blog about that petty,
underhanded motion to compel just served upon me by
opposing counsel allows me to blow off steam and refocus
my energies on more important matters. Invariably I
receive an email or a call from someone who has had an
identical experience - sometimes even with the same opposing counsel.
The simple truth is that undertaking the task of finding
something to blog about forces me to focus my energies
upon that particular subject. The chaos of the day is distilled into a one-page entry and I have to make myself a
specialist on that particular topic. The real work and the
healing property of blogging lies not in what is actually
written, but in the thought and care it takes to decide what
it is that is worth writing about. So, even though I began
my blog to provide my client’s information about what it is
I actually do for them, along the way I discovered that my
blog reminds me that there is meaning behind what I do in
the day-to-day grind.
Jessica S. Grisby is an associate with the Sacramento personal
injury firm of Demas & Rosenthal. She is a graduate of the
University of California, Davis, School of Law and has been
practicing law since 2006.
29
Community Service
Karla Broussard-Boyd Named VLSP’s 2010
June Black Pro Bono Award Winner
By Vicki Jacobs, VLSP
Managing Attorney
Karla Yvette Broussard-Boyd received the June Black Pro Bono Award from
the Voluntary Legal Services Program.
E
ach year, the Voluntary Legal
Services Program presents the
June Black Pro Bono Award to an
attorney volunteer who has made an
outstanding contribution of time and
expertise to our low-income clients.
The award is called the “June Black
Pro Bono Award” in memory of June
Black, VLSP’s founding Pro Bono
Program Coordinator, who spent 17
years working to assure that Sacramento
area low-income clients received free
IS GAMBLING LEADING YOU DOWN
THE WRONG ROAD?
30
legal services from volunteer attorneys.
During her years of service, many members of the Sacramento legal community came to know and admire June for
her commitment to seeking justice for
our indigent clients.
The 2010 June Black Pro Bono
Award was given to Karla BroussardBoyd at the SCBA Annual Luncheon
on December 3, 2010. Karla has volunteered for 8 years at VLSP’s Debt
Collection Defense and Bankruptcy
Clinic. She tries to volunteer at our
Clinic every month. She has assisted
over 125 clients with their debt-related
problems and has developed considerable expertise in evaluating her clients’
problems and providing legal assistance to them during a very difficult
time in their lives. Karla not only provides valuable legal help, but she is a
pragmatic person who dispenses good
advice to our clients about how to deal
with their current circumstances.
Karla has the unique ability to tailor her approach and presentation of
legal advice to fit each client’s individual personality and needs. The staff at
VLSP’s Debt and Bankruptcy Clinic is
continually amazed at and appreciative of Karla’s professional and common sense approach to assisting the
poor in our community.
Karla is an Administrative Law Judge
with the State of California’s Department
of Personnel Administration. The staff
at VLSP is grateful to Karla for her dedication to our clients and to VLSP for the
last 8 years. We are fortunate to have
such a caring and generous volunteer in
our program.
Events
Fifth Annual “Legal Research in the Real World”
Workshop – May 25
T
he University of California –
Davis, Mabie Law Library will
be presenting the fifth annual
“Research in the Real World” work-
32
shop on May 25, 2011 for summer
associates. This free workshop will be
held at the UC Davis School of Law
and is open to students from any law
school who will be working in the
Sacramento area during the summer.
The half-day morning program
provides legal research training in
online and print sources covering a
wide array of topics. Past workshops
have included sessions on civil litigation, criminal procedure, business
transactions, researching California
legislative history, administrative
law/litigation, and the California Style
Manual. Each session will be centered
around a fact pattern, moving into the
research strategies and sources a student would find most effective and relevant. Sessions are offered concurrently to allow attendees to select the
topics that are of most interest to them.
More than ever in the current economic climate, employers need to get
the most value from their summer
associates. Law schools may teach
students to think like a lawyer but
students are frequently lacking in the
ability to research like a lawyer. Past
attendees have commented that the
program was “fantastic and helpful”
and that the topics “were extremely
on point.”
The past four programs were very
successful with over 100 students in
attendance. Employers represented
have included large and small law
firms, the California Attorney
General’s office and other state agencies,
the
Sacramento
Public
Defender’s Office, as well as the
Sacramento, Yolo, and Placer County
District Attorneys’ Offices. Each year
we have had more people interested
than could be accommodated, so
contact Erin Murphy at (530) 7523327 or eemurphy@ucdavis.edu to
make sure your summer associates
and clerks are included.
Events
Justices Scotland and Sims Honored
for their Exemplary Service
By Brendan J. Begley
Photography by Ken Rabiroff
Chief Justice Tani Cantil Sakauye
introducing Justice Arthur Scotland
Scott Cameron, Gyongyi Szabo, Judge
Connie Callahan, Chief Justice Tani Cantil
Sakauye, and Ric Schickele
Justice Arthur Scotland
Presiding Justice Vance Raye and
Ric Schickele
Past SCBA Appellate Section
Presidents Judge Thadd Blizzard
and Brendon lshikawa
T
he Hon. Arthur G. Scotland
shared insightful recollections
about his time on the bench, as well
as promising predictions for the
future, at a valedictory luncheon in
the Grand Ballroom of the downtown
Holiday Inn on November 8, 2010.
The SCBA’s Appellate Law Section
organized the event to celebrate
Justice Scotland’s distinguished legal
career and his exemplary community
service. He retired in October 2010
after serving twenty-one years on the
California Court of Appeal, the last
twelve of which was as Presiding
Justice of the Third Appellate District.
A month later, on December 14,
2010, the Appellate Law Section held
another valedictory luncheon in the
Presiding Justice Vance Raye, Judge
Larry Brown, Justice Kathleen Butz,
and Ric Schickele
same downtown ballroom for the Hon.
Rick Sims in commemoration of his
esteemed legal career (twenty-eight
years on the Court of Appeal) and his
active involvement in the legal community.
Roughly 100 well-wishers
(including appellate court justices, trial
court judges, lawyers, and others) were
in attendance at each of the events.
The Hon. Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who
statewide voters had just confirmed to
become Chief Justice of California,
introduced Justice Scotland at his valedictory. In December, the Hon. Cole
Blease (who is the longest serving
Associate Justice at the Third Appellate
District) introduced Justice Sims. The
Hon. Vance W. Raye, who succeeded
Justice Scotland as Presiding Justice of
SCBA Appellate Section President
Brendan Begley introducing Chief Justice
Tani Cantil Sakauye
Justice Louis Mauro, Justice George
Nicholson, and Justice Cole Blease pondering Justice Arthur Scotland's comments
Justice Arthur Scotland
33
Events
George Bond and Judge Emily Vasquez
Judge Kimberly Mueller and Peg Toledo
the Third Appellate District, was present at both events.
California’s Third Appellate
District saw five of its eleven justices
depart over the last two years. Despite
these transitions, Justice Scotland
confidently predicted a continuity of
solid decisions and community outreach from the Third Appellate
District under Presiding Justice Raye’s
capable leadership. During his valedictory address, Justice Scotland also
predicted sound jurisprudence being
developed and favorable progress for
courts in the Golden State with Chief
Justice Cantil-Sakauye at the helm.
At his December valedictory,
Justice Sims regaled the crowd with
humorous recollections of and praise
for his colleagues. Additionally, he
expressed frank criticisms concerning
recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme
Court and questioned that court’s
fidelity to stare decisis. Justice Sims
specifically called into question rulings by the high court that negated
limits on corporate contributions to
political campaigns and narrowed the
types of conduct that violate federal
antitrust laws.
One of the event attendees, the
Hon. Consuelo Callahan, worked at
the state appellate court with both of
the valedictorians before she was
appointed to the federal bench in
2003. “Their commitment to the legal
community and their sense of public
service runs deep,” Judge Callahan
observed. “While they may not be
deciding cases anymore, you can bet
that each of them will continue to have
a positive impact on our legal system
Chief Justice Tani Cantil Sakauye and
Justice Rick Sims enjoying Justice Arthur
Scotland's remarks
Justice Arthur Scotland, Theresa LaVoie,
Bobbi Larson, and Louinda Lacey
Justice Arthur Scotland and Ric Schickele
34
Attendees dining at Justice Arthur Scotland's valedictory on November 8, 2010
C
through their work in educating the
public on the role of the courts, promoting access to justice, and supporting the independence of the judiciary.”
The Appellate Law Section and,
indeed, the broader legal community
in Sacramento will miss having Justice
Scotland and Justice Sims on the Court
of Appeal. We thank them for their
valuable contributions and wish them
continued success in their future
endeavors.
Mr. Brendan J. Begley is Chair of the
SCBA Appellate Law Section and head of
the Appeals and Writs group at
Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Law
Corporation in Sacramento. He is also
certified as an Appellate Law Specialist by
The State Bar of California Board of Legal
Specialization.
A
L
E
N
D
A
R
Second Wednesdays - SCBA Barristers serve at St. John’s Shelter for Women. Contact
Stacy Moak at moaks@beutlercorp.com
March 1 - Submission deadline for May/June issue of Sacramento Lawyer
March 1 - Family Law Section Luncheon: Hon. James Mize on "Moveaways, the End or
Just the Beginning" at the Dante Club, noon. Contact Lindie@divorcewithrespect.com
March 9 - Workers’ Compensation Section meeting. Dante Club, noon. Contact Jason
Marcus at 916-552-2810 or jason.marcus@mrlawoffice.com
March 10 - Asian Bar Association’s 30th Anniversary Gala with keynote speaker Chief
Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, California Automobile Museum, 5:30pm. Contact Grace
Arupo at abassacramento@yahoo.com
March 28 - Tax Section presents Ken Ruthenberg on "Tax Aspects of Health Care Reform"
at Mulvaney’s, noon. Contact De Anna Moore at dmoore@lawburton.com or fax 570-2744
April 13 - St. Thomas More Society gathering. Contact stms.sacramento@yahoo.com
April 15 - Tax Section presents Dave Fogel on "The Income Tax Consequences of Debt
Discharged in Bankruptcy" " at Mulvaney’s, noon. Contact De Anna Moore at
dmoore@lawburton.com or fax 570-2744
May 1 - Submission deadline for July/August issue of Sacramento Lawyer
May 12 - ABAS Law Foundation’s 9th Annual Wine & Food Tasting at Pavilions, 6-8pm
(back cover)
Index of Advertisers
Asian Pacific Bar Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 25
Buzz Wiesenfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 25
Darrel W. Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
Family Law Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 21
JAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 32
Jay-Allen Eisen Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 5
Ken Malovos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
MaryBurroughsStudio.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 21
Northern CA Collection Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 31
Penstein Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 9
Sacramento Law Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 10
ABAS Law Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back Cover
Thomson Reuters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 17
Tom Wagner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 21
Ueltzen & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
35
SACRAMENTO COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE
1329 Howe Ave., #100 • Sacramento, CA 95825
ABAS Law Foundation
9th Annual
Wine & Food Tasting at Pavilions
An evening of fine wines, good food and fellowship
Thursday, May 12, 2011, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
at the Pavilions Courtyard
Fair Oaks Blvd., East of Howe Avenue
Sponsor: ABAS Law Foundation
Host: Pavilions Shopping Plaza
$30 if received by May 6
$35 at the door
Interested in Being a Sponsor?
Check to:
ABAS Law Foundation
555 University Ave., Ste. 235
Contact: Brian J. Lim
(916) 520-5485
BLim@DowneyBrand.com
The ABAS Law Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Tax ID Number 91-1859906

Sac LawNOV/DEC04 - Sacramento County Bar Association

Transcription

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