Six new members to join bar board

Six new members will join the State Bar board of governors at the annual meeting this month. Five lawyers were elected in summer balloting to three-year terms, and the sixth was chosen by the California Young Lawyers Association directors to take the one-year CYLA seat on the bar board.

The new board members are:

• Valerie Ann Miller of Chico, District 1.
• Palmer B. Madden of Walnut Creek, District 3.
• Paul S. Hokokian of Fresno, District 5.
• Clara L. Slifkin of Los Angeles, District 7.
• Thomas J. Warwick Jr. of San Diego, District 9.
• Stephen M. Levine of San Francisco, CYLA member.

Miller, 41, a Chico family law attorney, has been a bar activist throughout the 1990s. She is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara law school and practices with her husband, Bob Persons. She has been a member of the executive committee of the Conference of Delegates since 1994, was president for two years of the Butte County Bar Association, has served on the board of California Women Lawyers and is active in a variety of civic organizations.

Madden, 51, is a partner in the Walnut Creek office of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen. A commercial litigator, he graduated from Stanford University and received his law degree at Boalt Hall. He was president last year of the Contra Costa County Bar Association and has been president of the Contra Costa Council and the Kennedy King Foundation. He is married to Susan Paulus, manager of litigation for the McKesson Corp.

Hokokian, 45, is a deputy district attorney in Fresno, working in the family support division for 12 years. A graduate of McGeorge School of Law, he served last year as president of the Fresno County Bar Association. He also has been president of the District Attorneys Association, the Fresno County Prosecutors Association and Criminal Justice Alternatives Inc. He has been a member of the bar's Conference of Delegates for four years.

A major in the California National Guard and commander of a security unit, Hokkian and his wife are the parents of a 2-year-old son.

Slifkin, 48, a deputy attorney general in the land law section, where she represents agencies such as the Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission, is the first public lawyer to represent Los Angeles on the board of governors.

A graduate of Loyola Law School, she and her husband, Peter Kaplan, a sole practitioner in west Los Angeles, are the parents of a 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. Slifkin has a long list of bar and community activities on her resume.

Warwick, 50, a criminal defense attorney, has served as president of Legal Aid Society, the San Diego Trial Lawyers Association and Appellate Defenders, Federal Defenders and Defenders Inc., as well as vice president of the San Diego County Bar Association.

He received his law degree from the University of San Diego and is the owner of Grimes & Warwick. He also coaches his 7-year-old son's soccer and basketball teams.

Levine, 33, an attorney since 1988, will serve the one-year term as CYLA representative. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law.

The terms of two public members also come to a close this month. Wendy Borcherdt, a Los Angeles political consultant, and Peter Kaye, a San Diego journalist, both were appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

Kaye, who ran for bar president this year but withdrew and threw his support to the eventual winner, Marc Adelman of San Diego, has indicated that he does not want to be reappointed to a third term.

At press time, the governor had made no announcement on the two vacant positions.

Adelman and the new board members will be sworn in during the bar's annual meeting in San Diego, Sept. 11-14.