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18 vie for seat on the bar board

An unusually high number of lawyers — 18 — declared their candidacy for five seats on the State Bar Board of Governors. Among the would-be governors are a deputy district attorney, a deputy public defender, a county counsel, sole practitioners, lawyers for medium-size firms, one with a discipline record and two who like to play guitar in their free time. Just two women are seeking a seat. Several focus their candidacies on the current economic crisis and suggest the bar needs to do more with less; others urge reducing bar dues, reforming MCLE and streamlining the discipline system.

Ballots were mailed April 30 to voters in districts with an opening on the board; they must be returned by June 30. The winners, who will take their seats in September, will serve three-year terms on the 23-member board.

The candidates are:

District 1

CLARK E. GEHLBACH
GEHLBACH

In the current economic client, the State Bar must learn “to do the job with less,” says CLARK E. GEHLBACH, a Placer County deputy district attorney who ran for the board in 2003. Bar dues must be reduced, he says, by focusing on core functions, improving the responsiveness and efficiency of the discipline system, cutting wasteful spending and avoiding divisive issues. In addition, Gehlbach, 42, favors reducing MCLE requirements and reforming the discipline system through both rapid removal of serious offenders and allowing innocent attorneys to clear their names quickly. A board member of both the Auburn Union Elementary School District and the Placer Public Employees Organization, Gehlbach received his law degree from Hastings and his undergraduate degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

MICHAEL W. JONES
JONES

MICHAEL W. JONES is a partner with Hansen Kohls Jones Sommer & Jacob LLP in Roseville, where he practices business litigation, personal injury with a focus on wrongful death and elder abuse, civil rights with a focus on police abuse, and criminal defense with a focus on white collar crimes. Jones, 52, said board members hold “an important public service responsibility” and must serve both the lawyers and the consumers in their district. He said the bar must meet its members’ needs today as well as plan “for the future needs of members, clients and our system of justice.” Prior to receiving his law degree from Western State University, Jones had a career in law enforcement and was a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and Shasta counties and a member of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE Commission). He serves on the board of the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association.

District 3

CHERYL L. HICKS
HICKS

CHERYL L. HICKS is a solo practitioner in Oakland, a status she believes qualifies her to understand “the special needs and concerns of solo practitioners,” who represent the majority of California lawyers. She also believes the bar should have as a primary goal serving its members. A specialist in juvenile dependency, family law and plaintiffs personal injury law, Hicks last year received the Myer J. Sankary Attorney of the Year Award, given to a lawyer who demonstrates service and leadership to the community. She also received an attorney of the year award from the bar’s solo section and the Alameda County Bar Assocation (ACBA) Distinguished Service Award for 2009. Hicks, 50, is past president of ACBA, which endorsed her candidacy, and has chaired its Civil Court Appointed Attorney Program (CCAAP) for many years. She is a graduate of Boalt Hall.

EDWARD M. LAI says the State Bar must cope with decreasing financial resources and increasing demands “by working more efficiently. By increasing our outreach to the community so that we can get more people involved.” He cites Alameda County Meals on Wheels, where he serves on the board, as an organization that has accomplished its goals with limited resources, and says the bar must do the same. Lai, 50, practices with Sellar Hazard Manning Ficence & Lai in Concord, focusing on personal injury defense, construction defects, real estate law, insurance coverage and Americans with Disabilities (ADA) defense. He also is an insurance claims representative. He has degrees in urban studies and psychology from the University of Maryland and received his law degree from Golden Gate University.

JOHN T. NEJEDLY
NEJEDLY

JOHN T. NEJEDLY is a solo practitioner from Walnut Creek, handling construction defects, and construction, criminal defense and personal injury cases. He also owns a general engineering contracting company. A member of a prominent Contra Costa County political family and the eldest son of the late Sen. John Nejedly, he has served for 14 years on the Contra Costa Community College district board, three times as board president. Working with local and state elected officials, Nejedly says he has raised awareness of issues facing the college district. He also worked to secure funding and raise local matching funds to improve college facilities. His experiences will enable him to meet the goals of promoting ethics and fairness in the legal profession, he said. Nejedly, 44, received a degree in construction management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and received his law degree from John F. Kennedy University.

ANTHONY PRINCE
PRINCE

Berkeley sole practitioner ANTHONY PRINCE says that in tough economic times, the State Bar should ask tough questions, particularly about reallocating resources. “Does it make sense for us to continue spending some 80 percent of the State Bar’s $60 million-plus budget on ‘attorney disciplinary services’ when 86 percent of poor and ‘middle class’ Californians have no access to legal representation at all?” he asks. Prince says the bar must find ways to assist younger attorneys who face fewer opportunities to practice, particularly when the need for legal services is so great. And he wants it to take aggressive steps to end the underrepresentation of lawyers of color and other disadvantaged groups. A graduate of the New College of California law school, Prince, 58, was elected at 17 the youngest chief shop steward in the Teamsters Union. He has experience in heavy industry, union and community service and, as a lawyer, handles asbestos cases, race and sexual discrimination and wrongful death cases.

District 5

LOWELL T. CARRUTH
CARRUTH

LOWELL T. CARRUTH says he will bring “a vast amount of legal and practical experience” to the board of governors. An attorney for more than 30 years, Carruth, 71, is of counsel with Fresno’s McCormick Barstow LLP, where he handles business and commercial litigation, products liability, professional malpractice, general negligence, insurance bad faith and wrongful termination. If elected, he says he will focus on developing strict standards of civility for all attorneys. A graduate of Boalt Hall with a BA in economics from Stanford, he has tried more than 200 cases to verdict during his career. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, was president of the San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and is active in the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California.

KONRAD MOORE
MOORE

Kern County chief deputy public defender R. KONRAD MOORE says he is running for the board of governors for two reasons: he wants to see bar dues assessed more equitably and he wants to cut costs and lower fees by returning the bar to its core competencies — admissions and discipline. Konrad, 46, believes lawyers who earn more than $200,000 to $250,000 should shoulder a heavier dues burden than lower-earning attorneys. And he says the bar demonstrates “undeniable symptoms of a burgeoning bureaucracy” that should focus on regulating the legal professional, not “promote collateral programs through mandatory fee assessments.” A CPA as well as an attorney, Bakersfield-based Konrad writes extensively for op-ed pages on topics ranging from marijuana legalization to same sex marriage to prison sentencing. He received his law degree from Boalt.

DAVID A. TORRES
TORRES

Bakersfield criminal defense attorney DAVID A. TORRES touts his extensive bar-related experience as the best reason for election to the board of governors: he was 2008 president of the Kern County Bar Association, belongs to the National Conference of Bar Presidents and serves on several local bar committees. In addition, he represents the San Joaquin Valley on the bench-bar coalition, working with courts and legislators on court funding issues. Torres, 47, is endorsed by State Bar President Holly Fujie and two former bar presidents. He earned his degree in public administration from Fresno State and his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law.

District 7

PATRICK M. KELLY
KELLY

Former Los Angeles County Bar Association President PATRICK M. KELLY, 66, says his extensive experience across the political spectrum enables him to bring the necessary qualifications and sensitivity needed to meet the challenges faced by many California lawyers. He emphasizes his commitment to diversity, improved benefits for lawyers and enhancing the public perception of attorneys through volunteer work as elements of his platform. The western region managing partner for Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, Kelly has experience in insurance defense and complex commercial litigation. He received the endorsement of the powerful Los Angeles Breakfast Club, often influential in picking members of the bar board. A former member of JNE, he also served on the board of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and was president of the Coalition for Justice. A graduate of Pomona College, he received his law degree from Loyola Law School. Kelly is also an avid guitar player who has toured with the Beach Boys.

JEFFREY P. LUSTMAN is still angry about being disciplined by the State Bar in 2006. He was miffed when he ran for the board of governors in 2007 after being publicly reproved for sending a letter protesting a court of appeal decision and then accusing three judges of dishonesty and corruption. As part of the case, he was ordered to pay almost $2,000 in costs, a practice he says has corrupted the bar and results in conflicts of interest for bar court judges. In fact, all triers-of-fact have a professional financial interest in the outcome of discipline cases, Lustman says, and he wants the practice halted. Most of his platform is devoted to eliminating judicial abuses, but he also wants to eliminate MCLE and undertake an internal investigation of the bar to look for financial improprieties. His full platform can be found at jeffreylustman.com. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Lustman, 57, received his law degree from William Howard Taft University in Santa Ana.

JEREMY ROSEN
ROSEN

Encino attorney JEREMY ROSEN offers a three-step plan to refocus the State Bar on its core functions: reduce bar dues, reform the discipline system and eliminate what he calls “Nanny-State Controls.” Included in the last category is the MCLE requirement that Rosen says “does nothing other than enrich certain preferred providers.” He objects to the length of time it takes to complete discipline cases and says it is unacceptable to raise bar dues in the current economic climate. Rosen is a partner in Horvitz & Levy in Encino, practicing primarily appellate law. With an impressive academic resume that includes Order of the Coif from Duke Law School and Phi Beta Kappa membership, Rosen, 37, is president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Federalist Society and has served on the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s appellate courts and judicial evaluations committees.

District 9

STEPHEN C. GREBING
GREBING

As treasurer and vice president of the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Bar Association, STEPHEN C. GREBING says he became aware of issues faced by attorneys practicing in San Diego and Imperial counties, particularly court infrastructure and expansion, diversity and the administration of justice. He says the bar faces a serious problem of unauthorized practice, particularly among nonlawyers who offer loan modification services and help with foreclosures. It also needs to find ways to remain relevant to its members without stepping on the toes of local bars by “intruding on the services traditionally offered by them.” A partner with the law firm of Wingert, Grebing, Brubaker & Goodwin LLP in San Diego, Grebing, 39, ran for the bar board in 2006, served on the board of the San Diego Bar Foundation and was president of Barristers Club of San Diego. He attended the University of Redlands and received his law degree from California Western University.

MICHAEL BEGOVICH offers a three-part platform: improve MCLE training, work with local and specialty bar associations to co-sponsor MCLE training and practice-related publications, and recruit attorneys into volunteer roles in the bar. A longtime public defender in San Diego, Begovich, 49, currently works as deputy director of its Office of Assigned Counsel, a separate division of the public defender’s office that represents indigent criminal defendants. He has represented more than 30 defendants accused of murder and has tried 190 felony trials. Begovich chairs the bar’s Criminal Law Section executive committee and teaches at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He received his law degree from Hastings.

GARRISON KLUECK
KLUECK

La Mesa solo practitioner GARRISON KLUECK says all District 9 candidates are fine lawyers who would serve the board of governors well. His candidacy, however, “is about added value.” In addition to 22 years as a lawyer, litigation experience in family, civil, bankruptcy and criminal cases, and 14 years as a pro tem judge, Klueck says the added value comes through his broadcasting career, status as both a credentialed mediator and a board-certified specialist, and his presidency of the Foothills Bar Association and vice presidency (twice) of the San Diego County Bar Association. He maintains he would bring added sophistication to media and education projects, could serve as a comfortable spokesman, and would be taken seriously by other board members because of his awards and recognition. Klueck, 58, graduated from Wayne State University and received his law degree from the University of San Diego law school.

WELLS B. LYMAN
LYMAN

WELLS B. LYMAN, also of La Mesa, has more than 35 years of bankruptcy and family law experience as a sole practitioner who has been active in the local legal community. Lyman, 66, says he would not only advocate for lawyers in Imperial and San Diego counties but would be a “seasoned advisor” who could benefit the profession. He has served as a mediator for the San Diego Superior Court as well as judge pro tem for more than 20 years and is past president of the San Diego County and Foothills bar associations. He also enjoys playing his guitar, rocking out with his band. He received his law degree from California Western School of Law.

PAULA J. ROACH
ROACH

PAULA J. ROACH says her work in juvenile dependency law, an area both largely misunderstood and unnoticed within the legal profession, prompted her to seek a seat on the board of governors. The senior deputy with the San Diego Office of County Counsel wants “to elevate and more effectively address vital juvenile law matters,” she says. Her goals include improving laws and access to justice for abused and neglected children and their parents with a focus on minority children and parents, advancing diversity within the legal profession and encouraging young lawyers to work and volunteer in the field of juvenile justice. Roach, 56, has extensive trial and appellate experience and received a litigation award last year from the California County Counsel Association. She received her law degree from California Western School of Law.

ADAM VAN SUSTEREN
VAN SUSTEREN

ADAM VAN SUSTEREN has been a lawyer for only five years, but says he will use his experience to “bring the focus of the State Bar back to serving the lawyers it collects $400 a year from.” He objects to any attempt to increase bar dues, particularly if they fund programs “that most lawyers never use and don’t even know exist, including counseling for drug-abusing lawyers.” Van Susteren, 31, also wants to reform the MCLE program and says he would govern with a practitioner’s perspective, keeping in mind the issues of daily practice when drafting policy. A member of the board of the San Diego Federalist Society, Van Susteren received his law degree from California Western School of Law.

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