Three public members appointed to bar board

By NANCY McCARTHY
Staff Writer

Three members of the public, two college professors and a police psychologist, were reappointed to the board of governors last month.

Gov. Davis named Janet M. Green and John D. Snetsinger, whose terms began in March 2001, and Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson appointed Dr. Dorothy Tucker, who had served on the board for eight of the last 12 years.

Green

Since 1993, Green has been the director of health services at San Bernardino Valley College, where she also is a professor of business administration, marketing and management. A resident of Riverside, she has an extensive list of civic appointments on her resume.

She was appointed by Chief Justice Ronald George to serve as a public member of the Jury Instruction Task Force, is president of the League of Women Voters of Northwest Riverside County, and serves on the boards of directors of the Foundation of the State Bar and the Civic Center for Education.

She also chairs Catholic Charities of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the Youth Justice Center Community Action Council of San Bernardino and the Sexual Assault Agency board in San Bernardino.

Green, 68, is a registered nurse.

"I think the main focus for public member should be as ambassadors to public on behalf of attorneys and to de-escalate the myth of negative thoughts about attorneys," she says of her role on the bar board.

Snetsinger

Snetsinger, 61, a history professor for more than 30 years, teaches at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). He received Cal Poly's Distinguished Teacher Award in 1992.

Snetsinger has written widely about the Middle East, particularly U.S-Israeli relations and has chaired several university, college and department committees. In spring 2001, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and studied in Germany.

Snetsinger said he and the other public members are particularly focused on making sure consumers know they are protected from "lawyers who don't serve the public well," and they want to insure that the discipline system and Client Security Fund work effectively and that people have access to them.

"The public members feel we have to do a better job, all of us, to make sure the public knows they're protected and can file a complaint, knows there's somebody they can talk to and if there's an egregious problem, the bar will respond," he said.

He said he will monitor the new diversion program for alcoholic and drug-addicted lawyers in the coming year, and he would like to see improvements in the response time to the public when they call the bar as well as a service like a 24-hour hotline people can call with problems. Snetsinger and Green will serve three-year terms.

Tucker

Tucker, who holds the record for longest public member service on the board, was first appointed in 1990 by then-Speaker Willie Brown and subsequently appointed by then-Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer.

She ran for president in 1992 and 1995, chaired the board's admissions and competence committee, the youth education task force and the governance committee.

Tucker has been a police psychologist with the Los Angeles Police Department since 1982. In 1985, she founded Families in New Directions, a non-profit organization in East Los Angeles, where she serves as director psychologist.

She is past president of the California Psychologiscal Association and a founding member of the Black Women Forum and One Hundred Black Women.

Tucker, whose term lasts until 2004, replaces Los Angeles Rabbi Gary Greene-baum, who resigned recently due to other time commitments. The board currently has one remaining vacancy for a public member to be filled by the governor.