California Bar Journal
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA — JUNE 2002
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AN IMAGE OF FREEDOM
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Photo entry
"Celebrate Your Freedom: Assuring Equal Justice for All" -- Photo by Declan Murphy

Declan Murphy, a senior at Corona High School in Riverside County, won top honors in the ABA's sixth annual "Images of Freedom" student photography contest with this stylized rendition of the scales of justice. "Celebrate Your Freedom: Assuring Equal Justice for All" was the theme of this year's contest, conducted in conjunction with Law Day.

In describing his entry, 17-year-old Murphy said, "I am trying to depict that people of different races will receive equal treatment under the law." Students from his photography class posed for the picture.

Murphy, who hopes to become a professional photographer and will enroll next month at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, won an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., where he appeared on C-Span, a $1,000 U.S. savings bond and a plaque.


Budget squeeze imperils county law libraries
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By KRISTINA HORTON-FLAHERTY
Staff Writer
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They need to prepare for divorce and custody battles without an attorney's help. Or they are facing eviction with no legal representation. Or they have legal questions about government benefits or elder abuse. These days, such non-lawyers are just as likely as lawyers to be found hunched over legal research in a local county law library.

But as a broader slice of the public turns to county law libraries for assistance and as California's pool of self-represented litigants expands, many such libraries are cutting hours and whittling away their collections in the face of a decade-long funding crisis.

"It's been a creeping crisis," said Charles Dyer, director of the San Diego County Public Law Library and legislative committee chair for the Council of California County Law Librarians (CCCLL). "We're teetering on the brink."

See FINANCIALLY


Bar board OKs separation from conference
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By NANCY McCARTHY
Staff Writer
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The State Bar Board of Governors took a formal first step last month toward placing itself at arm's length from its sometimes-controversial Conference of Delegates by authorizing the conference to incorporate as a separate nonprofit entity.

With one vote in opposition and one abstention, the board also agreed to seek legislation to enable the bar to continue collecting voluntary contributions for the conference on the annual State Bar billing statement

See SEPARATION


Friends who respect one another toss their hats into the State Bar presidential election ring
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By NANCY McCARTHY
Staff Writer
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Three lawyers who want to be president of the State Bar have tossed their hats into the ring, each offering a distinctly different package. One has devoted his career to legal services and dreams of promoting pro bono work to bar members, another works in a two-person firm and knows well the business challenges facing the many lawyers like her, and the third is sticking to a straightforward promise to use dues responsibly to promote the bar's core values.

Herman
Herman

Villa
Villa

Wylie
Wylie

The candidates, who clearly like and respect one another, are James Herman, 56, of Santa Barbara, Maria Villa, 42, of Los Angeles, and Scott Wylie, 38, of Costa Mesa. Each has a long history of bar involvement but broadly divergent interests.

Herman, who steered the board to adopt the bar's first strategic plan ever this year, has several goals if he becomes the bar's 77th president: educate lawyers about what the bar does for them; educate the public about the good lawyers do; recognize the value of the bar's educational sections, which represent 40 percent of the membership; and stabilize the bar's financing through a multi-year fee bill.

In determining the dues level, Herman said, the staff and board "are disciplined to ask, 'What result, at what price?' But we also need to take a much closer look at non-dues revenue sources to help with our mandatory programs." He said the bar can only win a multi-year fee bill by building trust, both in Sacramento and with bar members, "trust that we are good stewards of the bar's resources."

Herman said the bar is developing several initiatives to help its members, including the new lawyer assistance program for alcoholic and drug-addicted attorneys and a soon-to-be-introduced member services center, and he would like to add low-cost online MCLE and an improved insurance program as priorities.

If elected, Herman, a civil commercial litigator with Reicker, Pfau, Pyle, McRoy & Herman, would follow in the footsteps of Dale Hanst, a retired partner on Herman's firm let-

See THREE CANDIDATES