CAL-ABOTA e-NEWS

| WINTER 2021
Dear CAL-ABOTA Members,

I know you have been holding your breath so here is my last newsletter…..As 2021 comes to an end, it has been my privilege and pleasure to serve as your President. I wish to thank my fellow Officers, incoming President Don Carlson, Vice President Frank Pitre, Treasurer, Greg Rizio, and Immediate Past President, Chris Wesierski, and the Board of Directors for their dedication and hard work this year. 

2021 was a pivotal year for CAL-ABOTA in which we were actively engaged in discussions and actions with our fellow Bar organizations, including the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and the California Defense Counsel (CDC) on important issues affecting the practice of law. Along with these Bar organizations and many others, CAL-ABOTA received the California Civility Task Force’s Initial Report entitled Beyond the Oath: Recommendations for Improving Civility. The response to the report was prepared as a Resolution, circulated to CAL-ABOTA members on October 26, 2021 and can be found by clicking HERE.

CAL-ABOTA was also invited to comment on the Judicial Council’s proposed Rule ITC SP21-08 relating to Civil Practice and Procedure: Remote Appearances. The joint letter from CAOC, CDC and CAL-ABOTA can be found by clicking HERE.

The CAL-ABOTA Chapter leaders were contacted regarding the above two items, and I wish to thank them for their promptness in reviewing and responding to my communications.

Other issues that remain on our radar include the State Bar of California’s Paraprofessional Program Working Group. The Working Group is endorsing a plan to permit nonlawyers to practice law unsupervised by attorneys, including court appearances, and to own up to 49 percent of a law firm. The Paraprofessional Working Group has put its report out for public comment, and public comments are due by January 12, 2022 and can be submitted HERE. 

The second State Bar working group to be aware of is the Closing the Justice Gap Working Group. This group’s goal is to adopt a regulatory “sandbox” to allow nonlawyers–specifically technology companies and artificial intelligence–to practice law and share fees with lawyers. As we learn more about the efforts of this Working Group, we will keep you informed. Many thanks to CAL-ABOTA’s Civil Justice Committee Chair, Frank Pitre, for keeping CAL-ABOTA at the forefront of these important issues.
The local Chapters were very busy this year re-engaging their members while still dealing with the logistical challenges relating to the pandemic. I was honored to visit most of the Chapters in person this year. Chapters were able to hold in-person events, albeit on a smaller scale, and from golf tournaments, member mixers, Chapter meetings and gala events, it was good to see so many members; thank you for participating in your local Chapter activities. Please see the summary of Chapter reports in this E-News.

The Hawaii Conference was held on November 1-6, 2021 at the beautiful Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui and it was a huge success! Attended by over two hundred members and guests, the Conference offered great continuing education programs, social events, recreation, and the important opportunity to reconnect with fellow members. It was also a special time to honor the 2021 Trial Lawyer of the Year, John Howard, from the California Coast Chapter. Many thanks to Don Carlson, Jenny Blevins, and Carrousel Travel for planning a great Conference! Please CLICK HERE to view the photo gallery. Please mark your calendar for next year’s Conference which will be held on October 31 – November 5, 2022 back at the Mauna Kea.

Finally, I would like to share the following message I received from a friend and fellow ABOTA member reflecting on his own personal journey to civility...

It wasn't until I started practicing law as a civil trial lawyer that I encountered ad hominem attacks on a regular basis and found myself responding in kind once again. My personal epiphany occurred when I realized that the daily antagonistic letters, angry phone calls, and near-physical confrontations at depositions, was making me more miserable than effective, more depressed than happy, both at work and at home. So, I changed my approach. I vowed to avoid ad hominem attacks, to think better of my opponents, and to act as if my children were in the room with me. I stopped calling our trial room a "war room," and prohibited any military references. What we do shouldn't be equated with war, killing, or destruction. What we do should be equated with the opposite.
 
I'm glad I had that epiphany so many years ago. It's allowed me to be both happy and successful in the profession I'm so lucky to have stumbled into.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the 2021 CAL-ABOTA President. I wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Walter M. Yoka
CAL-ABOTA 2021 President
CONGRATULATIONS
2022 CAL-ABOTA OFFICERS

The following Officers were installed at the recent Hawaii Conference:
  • President – Donald Carlson, San Francisco
  • President-Elect – Frank Pitre, San Francisco
  • Vice President – Greg Rizio, San Bernardino/Riverside
  • Treasurer – Joseph McMonigle, San Francisco
2022 CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

  • California Coast – Roger Frederickson
  • Los Angeles – Deborah Chang
  • Orange County – William Haggerty
  • Sacramento Valley – Daniel Kohls
  • San Bernardino/Riverside – Hon. John Pacheco
  • San Diego – Stephen Grebing
  • San Francisco – Niall McCarthy
  • San Joaquin Valley – David Moeck
2021 HAWAII CONFERENCE RECAP

Thank you to the many members and guests who attended this year’s Conference; it was so good to be back together again! 

Please CLICK HERE to view the photo gallery.

Many thanks to our Conference sponsors whose support allows us to hold outstanding programs and keep registration fees low.
“AROUND THE STATE”
In no particular order, this is what has occurred since the last eNEWS with the CAL-ABOTA Chapters.

CALIFORNIA COAST
Hon. Ben Coats, President

The Chapter has been busy over the past few months. On September 17 (Constitution Day), we were fortunate to hold our first in-person meeting since the beginning of the COVID era at the historic Pierpont Inn in Ventura. Our guest speaker was Dr. Scott Fraser, of the University of Southern California, who gave an interesting presentation about human memory and how it can affect witness testimony. There was a great turnout with members and guests from all three counties of the Central Coast, including Justice Martin Tangeman of Div. 6 of the 2nd District California Court of Appeal.
 
Also on Constitution Day, our Treasurer, Brian O’Connor, gave a James Otis presentation at St.
Louis de Monfort Middle School in Northern Santa Barbara County. As part of our effort to further promote the James Otis program, the California Coast Chapter sponsored an essay contest for middle school students in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The theme of the essay was “The Importance of the Seventh Amendment in America.” We received over 150 entries that our executive committee will review and select three winners from each county. The winners and their teachers will each receive a $100 award from our Chapter.
 
On September 27th, four of our members presented a Civility Matters program to the first-year students at Pepperdine University School of Law. Past Presidents Dan Carobini and Greg
Ramirez were joined by current Chapter President Ben Coats and member Armando Berriz for the program. It was well-attended and received, and we have been invited to return next year.

Past President and current San Luis Obispo County Liaison Jay Hieatt is currently working with the SLO County Bar Association on presenting another Civility Matters program in SLO County.
 
Our Chapter has launched a new Twitter account “CalCoastABOTA” and we are working on presenting some content. Follow us @AbotaCal on Twitter.
 
Our Holiday Gala was December 3, 2021 at the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara. We
honored our Civility Award winners for the past two years, Ray Mattison and Brad
Ginder, as well as our own John Howard the 2021 CAL-ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year.
 
LOS ANGELES
Deborah Chang, President

On September 22, 2021, the Chapter held a live Executive Committee Meeting at the Jonathan Club, followed by a live Chapter meeting consisting of a reception and dinner held outside on the Great Lawn. The 2022 Executive Committee election results for our Chapter were announced, and Chris Faenza is our President Elect 2022 (will be President in 2023) and James Rosen is our Vice President 2022 (will be President in 2024). Those elected to our Executive Committee for a three-year term are Dana Fox, Linda Hurevitz, Jesse Marr, and Chris Aumais. Our National Board representatives for 2022 to 2024 are Jake Courtney, Moses Lebovitz, and James Rosen. Our guest speaker at the Chapter meeting dinner was the Honorable Ruth Kwan, who gave a remarkable and inspiring speech, “Breaking Barriers,” about her life and the obstacles she had to overcome.
 
The Chapter’s four-week virtual MIT program, headed by Co-Chairs Linda Hurevitz and John
Blumberg on Demonstrative Evidence began in October and wrapped up in mid-November. 
Four different parts of a trial were presented by different lawyers in front of different judges. The program has been recorded and sponsors have enabled us to offer the program free of charge.
 
The Executive Committee held their last meeting of the year in person on December 15, 2021 which was followed by our Holiday Event, featuring a silent auction, reception, and dinner. Over 150 ABOTA members, their guests, and our sponsors enjoyed seeing each other, the holiday season, and the beautiful décor of the California Club. Also in attendance were the Chapter Fellows who received their Certificates of Participation in the 2021 Hon. Victor E. Chavez ABOTA Fellowship Program. Many thanks to Steve Glickman and the law firm hosts, judges, and mediators who hosted Fellows this year.
 
We are planning our 2022 Installation Dinner Dance scheduled for Friday, January 21, 2022 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

ORANGE COUNTY
Jeff Braun, President 
 
Recently, the Chapter reached the unprecedented level of donating $100,000 to the National Foundation. This established Orange County ABOTA as a Signer, a first accomplishment for any ABOTA Chapter in the country. The Chapter also supported the National Teacher’s Law School and the Constitutional Rights Foundation Mock Trial Competition. We are also pleased to report that our Chapter’s percentage of Fellows of the Foundation ranks in the top 5 in the nation. The Chapter has made a commitment that every new member should also join the Foundation. We have nearly 65% Foundation participation by the Chapter. Additionally, Deborah Tropp was elected this year as a Trustee to the National Foundation.
 
The Chapter continues its work in the Community Outreach Program. Links have been posted on the OC-ABOTA website for worthy local charities, such as Operation Helping Hands and Wells for Life, charities run by our two most recent Volunteers of the Year, Kim Valentine and Pete Callahan.
 
Despite the limitations imposed because of the pandemic, our efforts remain focused on diversity in both gender and race. Our Executive Committee is currently attending other Bar organizations with a focus of championing ABOTA as a companion, and not a competitor, in the promotion of civility and in educating others on the 7th Amendment. In 2022 we will be installing Jennifer Russell to the Member-at-Large position on the Executive Committee which brings the total to six women on the Executive Committee.
 
This year, the Orange County Chapter produced and recorded a Masters in Trial program. The MIT, coordinated through the ABOTA Foundation, was delivered at no charge to more than 80 members. It was produced in four installments for those seeking to learn from the best and earn MCLE credits.
 
In October, we honored our local Judiciary at the Chapter’s annual Judges' Night at the Center Club where we hosted more than 30 members of the Judiciary and more than 100 members of our Chapter. We bestowed an award on the Orange County Superior Court for navigating us through the pandemic while ensuring that litigants still had access to the courts in a safe environment. The award was accepted by Past Presiding Judge Kirk Nakamura, Court Executive Officer David Yamasaki, Current Presiding Judge Erick Larsh and Assistant Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez. Also recognized that evening were our very own Judge Nancy Zeltzer for Judge of the Year and Judge Melissa McCormick for the George Francis Judicial Civility Award. The coveted Clerk of the Year Award was also presented to Becky Chumpitazi.
 
Last month we conducted our annual Holiday Dinner at Muldoon’s Irish Pub. Our members gathered for food and cocktails under beautiful holiday lights while reminiscing about the events of the past year.
 
We are planning our 2022 Installation Dinner Dance scheduled for Saturday, January 22, 2022 at the Newport Beach Country Club.

SAN DIEGO
Frederick Schenk, President 
 
After a long hiatus, we were able to have our Summer Party at the home of ABOTA member, Charlie Grebing. It was good to have so many of our members present for an outdoor evening cocktail and dinner event.
 
On October 28th, we hosted our final membership dinner meeting of the year and our guest speaker was CAL-ABOTA President, Wally Yoka.
 
In October, we were able to bring back our Chapter’s golf tournament which, due to the great effort of our Chapter’s VP, Steve Grebing, was a big success.
 
We had reserved several dates for our Judicial Reception, but each date had a calendar conflict so we are re‐scheduling the event which will honor Hon. Lorne Alksne, Presiding Judge of the San Diego Superior Court. We will have the event honoring her and court staff in the Spring of 2022.
 
Our Adopt-a-School program at Samuel Morse High School in San Diego serves a predominantly socioeconomically disadvantaged student population in southeast San Diego. Our first meeting with interested students and parents took place in August during which time the program was explained. It was to be followed by the first in‐person presentation taking place on September 7th at Morse High School, however, the program had to be moved to 2022. Our mentors will include not just lawyers and judges but also court reporters, videographers, paralegals, investigators, and other professionals whose careers and occupations are supportive of the legal profession. It is our intent to introduce students to the entire field of work and expose them to careers that they might not have considered or knew about. The program will allow students to observe what lawyers and others do by shadowing them, visiting their offices, and attend court hearings.
 
On December 11, 2021, we held our annual Holiday Party and honored Charlie Grebing
with the Hughes McClenahan Award, our Chapter’s highest recognition, bestowed upon an individual member of ABOTA who exemplifies the best of what ABOTA represents. Civility, integrity, and outstanding professionalism are the hallmarks of this award.
 
During our Holiday event, we also swore in our 2022 Executive Committee which includes diverse leadership, and we welcomed Ben Bunn as our new At Large member.
SACRAMENTO
Karen Goodman, President 
 
Chapter members have been busy now that the courts are reopening for trials. We celebrated our Legends of ABOTA in August 2021 at Del Paso Country Club where we honored three well-respected members: Butch Schuering, Brad Thomas and Tom Wagner.
 
Several of our members read the National ABOTA civics books in sessions recorded by one of the Chapter Sponsors. We will make the recordings available to elementary schools.
 
John Demas, our Chapter’s Civility Matters Chair, put on two great Civility Matters programs in September and October this year that addressed the tough issues—how to deal with a difficult opposing counsel, a demanding client or a short-tempered judge with presenters, Judge Tim Fall, Judge Jill Talley, Joe Salazar, Michelle Jenni, Rob Piering and Mary Talmachoff.
 
We had a very well-attended Annual Meeting on October 20th. We had four vetted and qualified applicants for membership, but none received the required 75% approval for admission to membership. The Executive Committee has selected Placer County Judge Michael Jones to be the 2022 membership chair.
 
We had a program earlier this year featuring Judge Shama Mesiwala where the focus was on improving diversity amongst our trial teams. Our Diversity Committee has been busy and prepared, has distributed and is now evaluating the members’ responses to the survey on how to improve diversity in ABOTA. 
 
Judge Dave Abbott, John Demas and Rick Linkert presented a very entertaining and substantive program on November 18th on applying the lessons of People v. Sanchez (which is a Supreme Court case limiting an expert’s opinions which recite case-specific hearsay) into the civil arena.
 
Our Chapter hosted a membership mixer at the Stockton Country Club on September 9th and ended the year with a Holiday Mixer on December 14th to benefit Sharing God’s Bounty, a local organization that provides meals to those in need. Members generously supported the program with over $3,500 made in donations to Sharing God’s Bounty in which the Chapter was able to match the funds.
 
Our Chapter’s incoming President, Dan Kohls, is planning the Annual Installation Dinner for February 5, 2022 at the Del Paso Country Club.
 
SAN BERNARDINO/RIVERSIDE
Margie Warner, President 
 
On September 17, 2021 (Constitution Day), The Honorable John Pacheco spearheaded the James Otis Lecture presentation of this year’s factual scenario. Katelyn Reid, the daughter of Bryan Reid and an 11th grade English teacher at Yucaipa High School, facilitated the presentation to a group of Yucaipa High School students at the high school itself. With the assistance of a professional videographer, the Chapter was able to present the program to students in other schools as well as attorneys via Zoom. The Chapter is hopeful the recording will be of assistance in future presentations. The presentation itself included Judge John Pacheco, Catherine Gayer, Bryan Reid, Jonathan Cloud, and students from Yucaipa High School. Judge Pacheco was able to obtain pre-recorded introductory remarks from California Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins and others.
 
During the September 23, 2021 Executive Committee meeting, the Executive Committee voted on the Chapter’s 2022 Executive Committee members as follows: Judge John Pacheco, President; Steve Geeting, President-Elect; and Charles Mayr, Secretary-Treasurer. After discussion and vote, Associate member Catherine Gayer, was selected to receive the Arthur Kelly Civility Award which will be presented at the 2022 Installation Dinner on January 7. Catherine has practiced in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area as a civil trial attorney for 30 years and has been a member of ABOTA since 2017.
 
Our Chapter’s second in-person meeting since the installation dinner of December, 2019 was the Judges' Night which took place at the Riverside Art Museum in October. Judge John Pacheco presented this year’s Judge of the Year award to The Honorable Irma Poole Asberry. She has been a judge in the Riverside courts since 2007 and the first African American female judge to receive this award by our Chapter. Forty members and judges were in attendance for this Judges' Night.  
 
As previously reported, our Chapter, under the guidance and expertise of past president Jay Korn, and in collaboration with Eric Traut, Cortney Carr, and The Honorable John Pacheco, prepared and presented a program and PowerPoint on expedited jury trials entitled “The Nuts and Bolts of Expedited Jury Trials in California.” It has now been vetted by the CAL-ABOTA Executive Committee and placed on the CAL-ABOTA website.
 
Membership remains an issue. Charles Mayr, our incoming Secretary-Treasurer, is quite interested in being actively involved in the recruitment of new members.
 
The 2022 Installation Dinner is to be held on January 7, 2022 in Riverside.
 
SAN FRANCISCO
Wilma Gray, President 

On September 30th, we hosted our annual Judges Appreciation Reception, in person, at The Lake Chalet in Oakland. Judges from the Alameda County Superior Court and Contra Costa County Superior Court attended. We honored The Honorable Winifred Smith, Alameda County Superior Court and The Honorable Steven Austin, Contra Costa County Superior Court as Trial Judges of the Year. The room overflowed with cheer and ABOTA camaraderie. It was a huge success.
 
We hosted the Jack DeMeo Luncheon for our new members on September 24, 2021. This is an annual event where a handful of our officers and past presidents welcome our new members and educate them on how they could get involved in ABOTA and the importance of supporting the Foundation and being a Fellow Member.
 
We held our first in-person membership meeting/dinner, since the pandemic, on October 28th at The City Club of San Francisco and welcomed our new members, recognized presiding judges in our area and honored Past President John McGuinn as a Legend.
 
We presented our annual James Otis Lecture Series on October 22, 2021. This year we moved to a remote program because the high schools were not allowing field trips this year. The speakers were Justice Martin Jenkins, California Supreme Court and Justice Peter Siggins (Ret.), California Court of Appeal.
 
Our chapter had a remote MCLE program on Expedited Jury Trials: How to Utilize the One Day Trial Program in California and Gain Valuable Civil Trial Experience on September 22, 2021. It was well received by the 100 plus people attending.
 
We presented a remote four-part Masters in Trial Series starting on October 6th with Jury Selection (Wrongful Death), October 13th on Opening Statements (Hostile Work Environment), October 20th on Expert Witness Examinations (Toxic Tort) and October 27th on Closing Arguments (Employment Discrimination).
 
We are excited to have our annual holiday gala in December, in person, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. We will induct our 2022 Officers (President Niall McCarthy, Vice President Amee Mikacich, Treasurer J. Kevin Morrison and Treasurer Dale Allen) and honor our Don E. Bailey Civility & Professionalism Award Winners, Thomas J. Brandi (2020) and Michael P. Bradley (2021).

SAN JOAQUIN
Rayma Church, President 

Our Chapter held a Civility Matters program at the San Joaquin College of Law’s Annual MCLE Fair and are planning a Civility Matters program with the local Federal Bar association in connection with a discovery seminar.
 
The Chapter selected Abigail Leaf as the 2022 Membership Chair.