| Five new members of the State Bar Board of Gover-nors took their seats
early this month, beginning three-year terms. Three were unopposed, and two were
victorious in contested elections. Taking a one-year seat on the board was San Diego
attorney Paul W. Smigliani, who will represent the California Young Lawyers Associa-tion.
The new members of the board are:
  District 4 (San Francisco and Marin counties): Scott
H. McNutt, an insolvency attorney with Severson & Werson in San Francisco.
McNutt, who ran unopposed, is co-chair of the bar’s business law section.
District 6 (Santa Barbara, San Bernardino,
Riverside, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties): James Herman, former
president of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association, defeated Brian Brandt, president of
the San Bernardino County Bar Association, by 227 votes. A trial lawyer who concentrates
on complex business disputes and commercial litigation, Herman is a partner in Rogers,
Sheffield & Herman in Santa Barbara.
 District 7, Office 1 (Los Angeles): Patrick
R. Dixon, assistant head of the Los Angeles district attorney’s major crimes
division, defeated sole practitioner Joseph Federowsky by more than 2,000 votes. Dixon is
special counsel to the bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners.
District 7, Office 2 (Los Angeles): Maria
Villa, a business litigator who practices with her husband, will take the second
seat representing Los Angeles. Villa, who was unopposed, has a long record of involvement
with a variety of bar activities, including the presidency of the Mexican American Bar
Association of Los Angeles.
District 8 (Orange County): Robert Scott
Wylie, executive director of the Orange County Public Law Center, also was
unopposed. He currently serves as chair of the bar’s legal services section.
CYLA representative Paul Smigliani
practices with Ault, Davis & Schon-feld in San Diego. He was admitted to the bar in
1994. |
