Alumni in the News

October 2003

Letter of the Law: John Poswall Draws on his Life as a Crusading Attorney for his First Novel
Sacramento Bee, 10/27/03

Leon Goldman, one of the characters in John Poswall's ['69] first novel, "The Lawyers: Class of '69," is a successful attorney who grapples with being a rich lawyer and also a Marxist.

Rather than enjoying his towering success as a class-action trial lawyer winning huge verdicts for injured parties, his conscience takes a painful and perennial flogging from his socialist father.

Goldman's angst is believable and could be shared by Poswall--who started out as a civil liberties lawyer.

Today, with his own law firm, he is one of the three or four most-successful civil attorneys in Sacramento. …

Boalt Hall law professor Herma Hill Kay, who taught Poswall in two of her classes, says women in law have come a long way since the 1960s, making up 60 percent of this year's freshman class at Boalt. But as in Poswall's book, women are "still treated differently in the classroom and in the courtroom," she says.

She remembers Poswall as an excellent student who she believed would pursue a career representing the disenfranchised. …

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Locating Local Counsel
New York Law Journal, 10/27/03

The need to have good local counsel cannot be overstated. Local counsel know the neighborhood, so to speak, and are familiar with the attitudes and philosophies of the folks who make up the juries, and even the bench. While finding the right local lawyer to handle your case is time-consuming, it is worth the effort as your company's reputation, and sometimes huge awards, are at stake. …

Credit Lyonnais senior vice counsel and co-general counsel Ronald N. Finn ['67], who works out of the company's Manhattan office, at times will go as far as to call old friends from his alma mater, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, for referrals.

"There is always the law school alumni directory," Mr. Stewart remarked. He will also call acquaintances from other firms he has worked with, such as Chicago-based Bell, Boyd & Lloyd.

As with Mr. Abramson, Mr. Finn has legal contacts throughout the United States. Once his company was working on a finance deal for construction work in Alabama. The builder filed a manufacturer's lien and "sued everyone, including us as the lender," he remembers. Mr. Finn contacted an Alabama attorney he had used for local filings and was able to get a referral. "There is usually only one or two degrees of separation," Mr. Finn said. …

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Making the List
The Recorder, 10/27/03

Call it a Sally Field moment.

That was when Eva Paterson ['75] learned she landed on Black Enterprise magazine's list of top black lawyers.

"I like to be liked," Paterson said. "It's probably evidence of neurosis."

Paterson, executive director of San Francisco's Equal Justice Society, was one of 13 California lawyers to be named in the magazine's first list of leading lawyers.

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Tom Gill: A Key Figure in Social Revolution of '50s, Early '60s
The Honolulu Advertiser, 10/19/03

Who is Tom Gill ['51]? The question is fair enough as a Nov. 2 testimonial approaches for the 81-year old Democrat who was one of Hawai'i's most important and inspirational political figures in the decades before and after statehood.

Those in today's younger generations may have no memory that tells them he once served in the Legislature, in Congress and as lieutenant governor.

Aging baby boomers who lived through the turmoil of the 1960s and '70s may have mixed memories. Gill inspired many of them with his liberal ideas and independence. He was the bright and often acerbic young leader who challenged the emerging status quo as his Democratic Party, which had ousted the long-ruling Republican oligarchy starting in 1954, itself turned into a ruling and increasingly selfserving establishment. …

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Judicial Profile: Tchaikovsky Hits the High Notes in Bankruptcy Court
The Recorder, 10/7/03

Leslie Tchaikovsky ['76] may or may not be related to the famed 19th-century Russian composer who shares her last name. She likes to believe there's a relation, she says, though she's never actually run any kind of genealogy check to find out.

But whatever her pedigree, the Northern District of California Bankruptcy Court judge has got an ear for the fine points of insolvency law, say attorneys that have appeared in her Oakland courtroom. And she has devoted herself to the profession with an artist's zeal.

"She's very good at what she does and she clearly enjoys it," says Foley & Lardner attorney Andrea Porter.

Bankruptcy lawyers throughout the Bay Area hold Tchaikovsky in high regard, citing her impressive knowledge of the subject, her fairness and her willingness to listen.

For Tchaikovsky, listening is a key part of the job. …

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The Power Issue: Colbert Matsumoto
Hawaii Business, 10/1/03

Colbert Matsumoto ['78] has received oodles of accolades for successfully leading an effort to free the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii from $9 million worth of debt in less than two months. But according to friend and business colleague Bill Kaneko, the significance of the accomplishment is not the amount of money raised or the short amount of time it took to raise it. "Those are achievements, but what he's really done is enabled a rejuvenation of Japanese-American culture and heritage," explains Kaneko, president of the Hawaii Institute of Public Affairs. "The Japanese-American community is beginning to think again about the importance of our history and culture. And to accomplish something like that - a large public mission - really requires strong leadership, focus and vision."

It also requires a fat Rolodex. And Matsumoto has been quietly filling his with a wide range of lofty names for a few decades. Since the '70s, the former attorney and current Island Holdings Inc. president has been nurturing relationships with Hawaii's movers and shakers by serving on some notable boards. Among them: City Bank and its parent company, CB Bancshares Inc.; National Mortgage & Finance Co. Ltd.; Oahu Publications Inc.; the state Employees' Retirement System, with more than 100,000 beneficiaries; and Island Insurance Company Ltd., of which he is chairman. …

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Judge in Case Earns Accolades from all Sides; Leopoldo Dorado has a Reputation as No-Nonsense, Fair
San Francisco Chronicle, 10/1/03

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Leopoldo "Leo" Dorado's ['74] control of his courtroom during the "Riders" trial reflects his reputation for poise, fairness and preparation, attorneys say.

The Oakland judge, who oversaw the marathon trial of the three former Oakland officers accused of corruption, has earned high marks from prosecutors and defense attorneys in his 15 years on the bench.

"I think that we expect him to treat us with respect, and he does. He expects that we treat him with respect, and we do," said Philip Schnayerson, a Hayward defense attorney. "He calls balls and strikes fairly."

The sports analogy is an appropriate one, attorneys say, as Dorado is widely known among the county bar for having played on the UC Berkeley basketball team and professionally in Europe for the Waterloo-Baluchi Wolves of Amsterdam.

"When I knew him in law school, he was a great ball handler," said Robert Berring ['74], interim dean at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, from which both the judge and Berring graduated in 1974. …

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