REGULARS

Karen S. Nobumoto, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, was elected the first minority woman president of the State Bar of California last month. The longtime bar activist also will be the first government lawyer, and only the second woman, ever to lead the 175,000-member bar.

Nobumoto, who turned 49 on April 1, is a prosecutor in the career criminal unit of the DA's target crimes division. She said she would seek an immediate transfer to a position which will require fewer court appearances and free her to fulfill the time-consuming duties of the presidency.

Elected on the fourth ballot by the 18-member board of governors, Nobumoto bested four other candidates. It was the first election in recent years in which all five members of the third-year class ran for the bar's top post.

Nobumoto will be the 76th president of the California bar, the largest in the country, and will begin a one-year term in September, succeeding East Bay mediator Palmer Madden.

Her election also marks the first time the bar has chosen a president-elect this early, an experiment supported by former bar presidents who felt an extra six months will provide an adequate orientation period for the incoming president.

In a seven-minute speech, Nobumoto called herself a team player, committed to building consensus, and outlined an agenda which includes expanded services to bar members, a review of bar governance and assuring fairness in the discipline system.

See NOBUMOTO

Thanks to an all-absorbing energy crisis and the continuing effects of term limits, the introduction of bills in the California legislature this year more resembled a last-minute deluge than the traditional trickle over a period of months. 

More than 2,100 bills (76 percent of the total) were introduced in the final week preceding the Feb. 23 bill introduction deadline - 1,251 on the final day alone.

Included in this number are many bills that could have a significant impact on the State Bar and/or the practice of law. And, thanks to rule waivers and amendment, more are still being introduced.

See WIDE RANGE

A northern California attorney whose legal career has encompassed multiple areas of law practice has been named chief prosecutor for the State Bar. Mike Nisperos Jr., manager of the Citizen's Police Review Board in Oakland, was named to the post last month by the board of governors after a nationwide search.

In his role as chief trial counsel, Nisperos will oversee the bar's attorney discipline system, which is often lauded as a nationwide model.

Nisperos, 51, replaces Judy Johnson, who served as the bar's chief prosecutor from 1994 until she was named executive director of the State Bar last April. For the past 10 months, assistant chief trial counsel Fran Bassios has headed the office.

Nisperos, who requires state Senate confirmation in his new post, will become the fourth person to head the bar's discipline operation since it was overhauled in 1989.

See NISPEROS

Supported by a $34,000 grant from the Foundation of the State Bar, Kids and the Law has been updated to reflect changes in laws affecting the state's young people. It is also available on the bar's website, www.calbar.org, where it can be downloaded. A limited number of print copies will also be available.

Attorneys convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude, even if the crime was not committed during the practice of law, can be automatically disbarred, the California Supreme Court ruled last month.

And if the offense falls within the statute's criteria, the offending lawyer is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing, the justices said.

In two cases challenging California's summary disbarment statute, a unanimous court upheld the statute, offered new guidance on the meaning of moral turpitude and reasserted its own authority over attorney discipline.

The rulings came in challenges to the statute by Cristeta Paguirigan, convicted in 1997 of forging two declarations in a civil matter, and Stuart K. Lesansky, who pleaded no contest in 1998 to one count of an attempted lewd act upon a child.

Lesansky, 48, had argued that the summary disbarment statute applies only if the underlying offense demonstrates unfitness to practice law. Contending that his criminal offense was "a wholly private act unrelated to the practice of law," Lesansky said he should not be subject to summary disbarment. He also argued that his offense did not constitute moral turpitude.

See COURT UPHOLDS