Jim Hussey appointed to the board of governors

Jim Hussey may be the newest public member of the State Bar Board of Governors, but he probably knows more about the inner workings of the bar than many of the board’s elected lawyer members. Having served the past 14 years on the State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners, Hussey decided it was “time for me to leave.”

Hussey

But Gov. Schwarzenegger had different ideas. When Hussey, 71, left the committee responsible for bar admissions, the governor simply elevated him to the board of governors. He hit the ground running last month at the board’s annual planning meeting and immediately was appointed to the committees responsible for the areas of the bar he knows best — Regulation, Admissions & Discipline as well as Member Oversight.

Hussey, who has been in banking most of his life and has been part of the startup of four different banks, currently serves as board chair of Western Commercial Bank in Wood-land Hills. He has been a community leader in the San Fernando Valley and has a park he helped develop in San Pedro dedicated in his honor.

Hussey and his wife of 45 years, Marguerite, live in Palos Verdes.