Alumni in the News

June 2003

Admission Fees?
San Francisco Daily Journal, 6/30/03

Los Angeles—Court fees proposed to help plug the state's budget gap would hit the working poor the hardest, people who earn too much to qualify for waivers but who make too little to absorb legal costs.

The proposals include a $50 to $100 charge for every continuance requested by parties in civil and family law cases, a complex litigation charge of $500, a security fee of $20 and an increase of $95 in filing fees for limited-jurisdiction cases above $100,000. …

Jeff Bleich ['89], president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, said he was generally in favor of some fee increase but said it was important to examine ways to accommodate hardship cases.

"My general view is if we don't get some kind of increase in court fees, the low- and middle-income and working families will have a much more difficult time getting their cases heard than they would if we increased fees across the board," he said. …

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Top 50 Women Litigators
Daily Journal Extra, 6/30/03

Elizabeth Cabraser ['78] says she feels like a defense lawyer.

Cabraser, a partner with San Francisco's Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, long has been known for winning big verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs.

These days, she increasingly defends those verdicts and settlements on appeal. …

Nancy Hersh ['70] wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father, an attorney.

But LeRoy Hersh balked at the thought of having her join his practice because he wanted her to be independent.

She didn't give up.

After graduating Boalt Hall in 1970, she sent him a formal letter of application, listing her qualifications.

He eventually backed down.

Then she had to overcome resistance from judges, some of whom in the 1970s asked her to get coffee for them and the other lawyers during trials. …

Complex international business conflicts are routine for Mary Jo Shartsis ['72], a founding partner of Shartsis, Friese & Ginsburg in San Francisco.

Shartsis represents financial institutions and individuals in securities, real estate and antitrust litigation, and also handles business torts, defending employers in wrongful-termination and discrimination cases. …

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L.A. Bar Swears in New Leader
San Francisco Daily Journal, 6/30/03

Los Angeles—Los Angeles attorney Robin Meadow ['71] has officially taken the helm of the nation's largest voluntary bar organization, which he hopes to steer through its various roles as communicator to the courts, the Legislature and the public.

Attorneys say Meadow, who has been active with the Los Angeles County Bar Association for 25 years and who was sworn in Friday evening, is the right lawyer for the job.

Outgoing bar president Miriam Krinsky, of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, said she was leaving the organization in good hands.

She described Meadow, a partner at Los Angeles' Greines Martin Stein & Richland, as "a very inclusive individual" and said he had "a unique ability to know how to bring people to consensus on issues." …

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State Finds Itself Hemmed In
Los Angeles Times, 6/24/03

California, among the most ethnically diverse states in the nation and long a bellwether on affirmative action, now finds itself with fewer options for diversifying its public universities than nearly all other states.

The predicament stems from Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that banned racial and ethnic preferences in state institutions. The U.S. Supreme Court decisions Monday affirming limited consideration of race in college admissions do not directly apply here.

Some legislators and advocates on both sides of the affirmative action debate say they expect the rulings to prompt reexamination, and perhaps changes, in the interpretation or application of the initiative. Some foresee an effort at repeal, which would require another ballot measure.

Opponents of affirmative action seized on the rulings immediately in arguments against the ban. …

Some constitutional scholars doubted, however, whether UC has the flexibility under Proposition 209 to go beyond current policies.

Maria Blanco ['84], national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said her organization and its allies might push to narrow the reach of Proposition 209. "There may be legislative efforts to say, 'Look, the court upheld' " the acceptability of considering race, " 'so California should be able to do the same thing.' "

Blanco added that Monday's ruling "definitely has made people feel that Proposition 209 is out of step with the rest of the country." …

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Private Universities in State Say Policies Meet Court Guidelines
Mercury News, 6/23/03

Officials at California's private universities—the only colleges in the state allowed to use race in admissions—said Monday they believe their programs meet the legal test on affirmative action laid out by the Supreme Court.

But opponents of using race-based preferences said Monday that the decision did not answer important questions and will spur more lawsuits.

Public universities in California are barred from considering race under Proposition 209. …

The rulings may also have political reverberations. Maria Blanco ['84], national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said she hoped the rulings would convince people that Proposition 209 went too far. …

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Judicial Profile: Marcel Poché; Both Sides Agree on High Marks for Poché
The Recorder, 6/17/03

The last two judges to handle the law and motion and probation violation calendars at Santa Clara County Superior Court felt the brunt of the assignment's contentious nature. Defense attorneys papered Judge Kevin Murphy for alleged bias and complained that Judge Leon Fox Jr.'s decisions were peppered with pro-prosecution sentiments.

In that courtroom, attorneys often use their precious peremptory challenges on what they consider make-or-break decisions for their cases. So for prosecutors and defense attorneys to finally agree on Judge Marcel Poché ['61] is no small thing.

Both sides call the former First District Court of Appeal justice deliberate and thorough. Attorneys describe Poché as a "gentleman jurist" who knows the law and whose even temper plays well. …

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Criminal Past Doesn't Necessarily Limit One's Job Options
Daily Journal, 6/30/03

Randall Britt runs a credit repair business for debt-plagued clients who trust him with their most personal financial information.

He also has a history of burglary, possession of counterfeit currency and distribution of methamphetamine.

Despite his criminal history, Britt cannot be forced as a condition of his probation to tell clients about his checkered past and the risk of doing business with him, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. …

U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii ['73] in Fresno, who sentenced Britt to six months in a halfway house for violation of his probation, also imposed the condition that he tell his clients about his 1976, 1977 and 1991 convictions for burglary, possession of counterfeit currency and possession of stolen goods.

Thursday, the 9th Circuit panel overturned Ishii's order. Judge Wallace Tashima pointed out that the sentencing law allows for limits on a defendant's occupation only if the job is relevant to the offense for which he was convicted. …

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Culture Clash
Daily Journal Extra, 6/23/03

With its high-level partners flying to New York each week, the buzz surrounding Cooley Godward doesn't focus on whether the Palo Alto shop will merge with a New York law firm. It's all about when and with whom. …

Janet Cullum ['82], a partner in Palo Alto and chair of Cooley Godward's litigation group, says the last three lateral hires at the partner level have been women: Roberta Robins and Dahna Pasternak, who came from their own firm, Robins & Pasternak, and Elizabeth Lewis. …

Cullum downplays the losses, adding that she she doesn't believe the firm has lost an abnormal number of women.

"Over the 20 years that I've been here, we have lost women, and I lament that," she says. "In general, I don't sense that we have suffered hugely in that regard."

Cullum says Cooley Godward's culture remains unchanged. The firm offers flexible hours for mothers and encourages younger partners, men and women, to take leading roles in litigation cases, she says. …

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Eva Paterson Heads New Group for Civil Rights
The Recorder, 6/6/03

Local civil rights pioneer and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Eva Paterson ['75], is leaving her longtime post to head up a new organization called the Equal Justice Society.

"It was time for a change. Last September was my 25th anniversary at the Lawyers' Committee and it put things in perspective," said Paterson, who joined the organization as her second job after graduating from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1975.

But Paterson won't be moving far away -- the Equal Justice Society will rent space in the same downtown San Francisco building as the Lawyers' Committee. "When they hire the new person I'll have to give up my great view of the Bay Bridge; that's one of the things that gave me pause," she joked. …

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Judge's handling of pot ruling seen as 'classic Chuck Breyer'; S.F. Federal Jurist Known for Exercising his Own Discretion
San Francisco Chronicle, 6/5/03

The unique, almost tailored sentencing Wednesday of Ed Rosenthal after his conviction on federal marijuana laws was a "perfect example" of the abilities and habits of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ['66], friends and colleagues say.

"Here's a case where everybody's got strong feelings on both sides, and Judge Breyer picks what seems to be a very careful, middle position," said Professor Rory Little, who co-teaches a class with Breyer on federal criminal law at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law.

"He's not afraid to do exactly what he thinks is the right thing to do," Little said. "Sometimes he gets good press; sometimes he gets bad press. He doesn't care."

Another colleague, criminal defense attorney Christina Arguedas of Emeryville, who chaired the Bar Association committee that reviewed Breyer's qualifications when he was nominated for the federal court, also described the judge's handling of the medical marijuana case as "classic Chuck Breyer."

Breyer had no choice but to rule that the jury in Rosenthal's trial could not consider whether he grew marijuana for medicinal purposes—federal law is abundantly clear on that issue, Arguedas said. …

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Two Indicted in McKesson Fraud
San Francisco Chronicle, 6/5/03

A San Francisco grand jury indicted the former chairman of health care giant McKesson Corp. for his role in a huge criminal securities fraud that wiped out $9 billion of shareholder value, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The former general counsel of HBOC, a Georgia medical-software firm that McKesson bought in 1999, also was indicted in the 4-year-old case.

The two, along with other top executives at HBOC, conspired to falsely pump up HBOC's sales and revenues from early 1998 until April 1999, federal officials charged. The executives allegedly booked sales that had not yet happened, back-dated contracts and swapped inventory. …

Helane Morrison ['84], head of the SEC's San Francisco office, said the case sends a message that the SEC will prosecute board members and corporate officers for illegal conduct.

"McCall actively participated in a fraudulent scheme that ultimately cost shareholders over $9 billion, and the SEC is determined to hold him accountable," she said. …

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Double Duty: Who's Covering for the Lawyers Called to Active Duty?
California Lawyer, 6/03

Sitting in his office on the 25th floor of the old U.S. National Bank Building in downtown San Diego, trial attorney Mike I. Neil ['66] ticks off a list of ways that serving in the military helped him become a good lawyer. Neil, 62, joined the marine corps as an infanty officer after obtaining his law degree from Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley in 1966. Deeply offended by the antiwar protests he witnessed on campus, Neil enlisted as a combat Marine as soon as he graduated. In Vietnam, he served first as a platoon commander and later as an air observer controlling air strikes and artillerty. The Navy Cross that he earned there now adorns his office walls, alongside awards for outstanding trial work that together lend credence to his words.

"Being a Marine, you learn discipline, you gain confidence, anf you develop self-assertiveness," Neil observes. "And you realize that you're not the most important person in the world, that there are others around you who you have to take care of. I think that's very important to being a successful lawyer."…

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