The CAL-ABOTA Board of Directors met earlier this year at the Rancho Valencia Resort in North San Diego County to conduct association business and to also select the 2022 Trial Lawyer of the Year. We were honored to have our National President, Lewis Sifford, and his wife Nan attend our meeting. There was a spirited discussion on how ABOTA can attract new young and diverse members particularly with trials being sparse in these COVID years. We also had our own Chris Beeman Vice President of the ABOTA Foundation to tell us about the great and important work the Foundation is doing. If you are not a member of the Foundation, this is a good time to join. And if you are, please consider increasing your status.

It is my great honor to congratulate Cynthia McGuinn of the San Francisco Chapter as this year’s Trial Lawyer of the Year! It was a special moment for me as Cynthia was instrumental many years ago with getting me involved in SF Chapter leadership. We will celebrate Cynthia during the Hawaii Conference at the Mauna Kea on Friday November 4th. I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the Trial Lawyer of the Year nominees from the other Chapters: California Coast – Benjamin Engle; Los Angeles – Linda Miller Savitt; Orange County – Eric V. Traut; Sacramento Valley – Dominique Pollara; San Bernardino/Riverside – Michael J. Marlatt; San Diego – David S. Casey, Jr.; and from San Joaquin Valley – Dennis R. Thelen. They were all terrific candidates and were given wonderful nomination presentations. I think most Board members will agree that these presentations are the highlight every year.

The Hawaii Conference will begin on Monday, October 31, 2022 and end on Saturday, November 5, 2022. We are excited to return to the beautiful Mauna Kea Beach Resort on the Big Island. If you haven’t made your plans to attend yet, please contact Carrousel Travel as soon as possible as there is very limited availability at the Mauna Kea. In fact, you may need to get on a waitlist for rooms in our block. Incoming President, Frank Pitre, of the San Francisco Chapter is hard at work planning an outstanding program that will be fun, educational, and allow for ample time to reconnect with your ABOTA family. 

I am also pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has selected The Honorable Barbara Kronlund of the San Joaquin County Superior Court as the 2022 recipient of the William W. Bedsworth Judicial Civility Award. This is only the second time this award has been given since it was given to Justice Bedsworth in 2017. Judge Kronlund has been a real friend to CAL-ABOTA over the years and will be honored during the upcoming Hawaii Conference. If you know Judge Kronlund, please be sure to send her a note of congratulations.

The CAL-ABOTA Membership & Diversity Committee, chaired by Jake Courtney and Greg Rizio has held several meetings so far this year, including a Roundtable Zoom Meeting in May. Diversity Committee Chairs representing the local CAL-ABOTA Chapters met with the purpose of expanding the knowledge of what the Chapters are doing with membership in general but specifically, diversity. Additionally, the Education Committee, chaired by Bob Morgenstern and Bryan Reid has held meetings to offer support to the Chapters in the area of civics education.

CAL-ABOTA remains engaged in conversations relating to remote proceedings. I wish to thank the many members who responded to the recent remote proceedings survey. Your important and valuable feedback was shared with the Judicial Council Ad Hoc Work group on post-Pandemic Initiatives. I also wish to acknowledge Joe McMonigle who represents CAL-ABOTA on the Judicial Fairness Coalition. President Elect Frank Pitre and Vice President Greg Rizio have been working with the staff of the Chief Justice for CAL-ABOTA to have annual meetings with the Chief Justice and the Judicial Council, as do the Consumer Attorneys and the California Defense Counsel, to provide our input and advice on issues of the administration of Justice. As you know, CAL-ABOTA sits in a unique position of having both plaintiff and defense lawyers elected to membership based on their trial skills, experience and professionalism. 

The California Coast Chapter is having a productive year so far and looking forward to the next five months of 2022. ABOTA National Vice President Andrea La’Verne Edney was the featured speaker at our Spring meeting, traveling from her home in Mississippi to join us in Pismo Beach, and providing us with an inciteful and interesting overview of ABOTA nationally. We are very excited to have National Foundation President John Kim join us for our Fall meeting in Ventura. Also, this coming Fall, our chapter will be presenting a Civility Matters forum at Pepperdine Law School and before the Santa Barbara County Bar Association.  We will also be sponsoring our annual essay contest among the area high school students.

On May 6, 2022, the Los Angeles Chapter celebrated their Annual Installation and President’s Dinner Dance. The Chapter was honored to have ABOTA President, Lewis Sifford, and his wife Nan, join us for the evening, and Lewis provided an update to the attendees of ABOTA activities. The evening also honored the Lee B. Wenzel Civility Award recipient, Michael Schonbuch. Also held in May was our “ABOTA Masters” Golf Tournament, held jointly with the San Bernardino/Riverside ABOTA Chapter on May 2, 2022. On July 20, 2022, the Chapter celebrated the return of the Judicial Reception, held outside on The Great Lawn at the Jonathan Town Club. The Honorable Ruth Kwan of the Los Angeles Superior Court was honored as the 2022 Judicial Civility Awardee/Judge of the Year. Additionally, Nicole Payne of the Los Angeles Superior Court was acknowledged as the 2022 Judicial Assistant of the Year. The Chapter’s Committees remain hard at work including the Diversity Committee that is working on a James Otis Lecture to present to under-served schools, the Civility Matters Committee that is planning several programs, and the The Honorable Victor E. Chavez ABOTA Fellowship Program is underway for the Fall. We are pleased to welcome seven new members to the Chapter so far this year, and look forward to a productive last half of 2022 with our Annual Chapter Meeting in September, a Masters In Trial program, and the annual Holiday Dinner and Auction.  

William Haggerty, President 

The Orange County Chapter held its Installation Gala Dinner at the Newport Beach Country Club on May 21. It was a tremendously fun-filled event replete with a bagpiper to introduce our new officers and a band that had everyone up and onto the dance floor. Co-trial lawyers of the year, Jennifer Russell and Steve Rosa, were honored. We also recognized our law student scholarship recipient and new members. National President Lewis Sifford was a featured speaker. On May 16, our Annual Golf Tournament was held at Mission Viejo Country Club. It was a sellout and proved to be the most financially successful golf tournament in our Chapter’s history. On August 10, we will host a summer barbecue at the Newport Beach Marina Park Community and Sailing Center. It will be a shorts and flip flop evening at the beach and a time for our members to reconnect. We are looking forward to our annual Teacher’s Law School on October 6 and our Judge’s Night Dinner on October 19. In addition, our Civility Matters Programs continue to be held for law school students and for young lawyers at interested law firms.

Stephen Grebing, President 

The San Diego Chapter is holding its annual Summer Party at the residence of Ben and Linda Bunn. The theme is “Summer in the Sierras.” We will have our own John Farmer Band who will be providing live music. On October 10th, we will be hosting our 7th annual “Masters of Golf” tournament at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The event is sponsored by Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company. We have continued to grow the event on a year-by-year basis and hope to sell it out this year. We are also hoping to kick start our partnership with Morse High School in the fall to provide exposure to underserved high school students to opportunities in the law. Finally, our year ending Holiday Party will be held on December 10th at La Jolla Country Club. During the event, we will induct our new Executive Board and present our Hughes-McClennahan award to a member for outstanding and recognized professionalism, integrity and civility over the course of her/his career.

The Sacramento Valley Chapter has been in full swing this year. Our Diversity Committee’s outstanding webinar on April 22 had over 125 virtual attendees. The Chapter held its annual Judicial Reception at the home of Treasurer John Demas on May 11. The Honorable Emily Vasquez was the well-deserved recipient of our Judge of the Year award at the very well-attended and magnificently hosted event. Our Member Mixer in Redding was held at the Maire & Deedon Law Office on May 19.  We held our annual golf tournament at Valley Hi Country Club on June 20. It was a fun-filled and not-too-hot day and the beneficiary of the event for the second consecutive year was Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation. We had an incredible ABOTA member turnout on July 26 for Sharing God’s Bounty, our annual event at St. Philomene’s Church where our members cooked, hosted, served and fulfilled every other aspect of presenting a tri-tip dinner for more than 100 hungry and grateful diners, including after-dinner clean-up. A special thanks to the Past-Presidents who showed up to help and to member Mike Pazdernik, our BBQ chef in residence, for the grill skills!

By the time this e-News is sent out, we will have had our annual Summer Barbecue Dinner on July 29, where Roger Dreyer and John Quincy Brown, III, were honored as “Legends of ABOTA.” Upcoming events include an MCLE webinar on August 4 titled, “Is It Just Stress, or Something More? A Veteran Trial Judge With An Anxiety Disorder Talks Coping and Success” with the Honorable Tim Fall from Yolo County.  We will hold another Member Mixer in Stockton on August 25, and our annual Membership Meeting will take place on October 20 at the Hyatt Regency.  

Hon. John Pacheco, President 

This year has been busy for the San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter. In April, we held our first Chapter Dinner Meeting of the year, and on May 2, 2022, we played golf with our friends from the Los Angeles Chapter. On July 14, 2022, we held our Summer Dinner Meeting at Mitla’s Café featuring guest speaker Judicial Appointments Secretary, Luis Cespedes, who appeared via Zoom. We are excited to plan this year’s James Otis Lecture program which will be presented at Mitla’s Café. The program will be presented to teachers and students who will witness the re-enactment of the case of Lopez v. Seccombe. The San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter of ABOTA is partnering with San Bernardino Superior Court and the presentation will also be available via a live Zoom Webinar. This program is completely free for all students, teachers and educators. Finally, we look forward to our Judge’s Night in October and our Installation Dinner in December.

The San Francisco Chapter held a virtual Dismissed with Prejudice MCLE in March and our annual Summer Event at Oracle Park in June. At the Summer Event, Chapter members, along with their families and friends, enjoyed a great night mingling and watching the SF Giants play against the Cincinnati Reds. In September, we will hold a virtual Expedited Jury Trials MCLE and host our Judges’ Appreciation Reception at the San Mateo County History Museum. Hon. Beth Labson Freeman of the USDC, Northern District of California, will be recognized as Federal Court Trial Judge of the Year and Hon. Robert D. Foiles of the San Mateo County Superior Court will be recognized as State Court Trial Judge of the Year. We have two big events coming in October, our Masters in Trial program and the James Otis Lecture Series. We are excited for both events to be back in person. In December, we will host our annual Holiday Gala to welcome our incoming officers.

The Annual Chapter Dinner was held on April 30th at the iconic Vintage Press in Visalia. We are planning our Chapter Mixers with members of local Bar associations to attend and mingle with ABOTA members to learn more about ABOTA with education and recruitment in mind. The Executive Board meets monthly, and we are working on civics education literacy programs and Civility Matters programs.