APRIL 22, 2021
A communication from California Judges Association,
The VOICE of the California Judiciary
IN THIS ISSUE:
  • CJA Sidebar
  • Webinars
  • Forum on Achieving Equal Justice For All in the 21st Century -- A Recap
  • Justice Is Like A Tap Dance: Why Live Court Performance Matters
  • Introducing The Source
  • Board Boasts
  • Hotline Info
Dear CJA Members,
 
We are pleased to share with you our April 2021 episode of CJA Side Bar, part of our Association’s ongoing effort to engage with advocates for justice on a regular basis.
 
In this episode, you will hear from State Senator Tom Umberg who proudly represents Senate District 34 in Santa Ana and surrounding communities. Among other Committees assignments, he currently serves as Chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and as Co-Chair of the Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response. Senator Umberg is an attorney and named partner at Umberg Zipser LLP, former federal criminal prosecutor, and three term state legislator. He is also a retired U.S. Army Colonel who was awarded a Bronze Star for meritorious service in a combat zone as part of the U.S. military effort to attack corruption within the Afghan Army and Police.
 
(Click on the video image below or listen to the audio only file as a podcast. Please note, this is a member resource so you must be logged-in to the CJA Website to watch/listen.)
 
We hope you enjoy this session of CJA Side Bar.
PLEASE TAKE THIS SURVEY

The CJA Fall 2021 Annual Meeting is scheduled for September 23-26 in Monterey, CA. Please take this quick survey to help CJA make some critical decisions about the conference: HERE
Justice Is Like A Tap Dance: Why Live Court Performance Matters
By Hon. Sharon Kalemkiarian

Last weekend I tuned into a “streamed” performance by the award winning tap-dancer Ayodel Casel. The performance was filmed at the Joyce Theater, a large, well-known, professional dance theater in New York City. As I watched the jaw-dropping artistry of her and her five tap-dancing colleagues, I was struck by what I was missing.

Every time her shoe hit the floor, I heard the noise but I couldn’t feel the vibration. As she riffed through an improvisation with Afro-Cuban pianist Arturo O’Farrill, I could not hear her breath quicken or see his fingers flex. There was a great deal of visual coordination between the five tap-dancers, but through the screen I couldn’t catch the “aura” of their joy as they collaborated and created together. And the number offered by the jazz vocalist Crystal Monee Hall about the “magic” within all of us, “blew the roof off” the place. But it was hard for me to feel that roof come off when sitting in my easy chair.

We all have some favorite memory of a live dance, music or theater performance. We go to a performance to see artistry in all of its immediate glory and wonder. We hope to experience, during the best of performances, some personal growth. Perhaps even an epiphany. And for a moment, we feel like we have entered a different world, one that belongs to the artist.

Our performance – and let me call it that for a moment – is in the courtroom, with other “players” sitting at counsel table, in the jury box, or on the witness stand. The deputy and the clerk also have their roles to play. Our purpose, of course, is not to entertain but to do justice.

Now that my courtroom has been reopened to in-person family law trials, I am struck by how much everyone’s experience in the courtroom was compromised during remote proceedings. I’m not referring to hearings that are merely procedural, such as an arraignment or a case management conference. I am referring to hearings that involve taking testimony, presenting evidence, and listening to argument. Since March 2020, I had been conducting all proceedings in my family law trial department remotely. Two weeks ago, we opened my courtroom to proceedings in-person – socially distanced, with Plexiglas and masks in place – but in-person nonetheless. 
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021
CJA Mindfulness and Wellness Webinar with Bree Buchanan. Learn about Bree HERE.
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
The Gut-Brain Connection: How Good Food Improves Mental Function
Recordings from CJA Inaugural Forum on Achieving Equal Justice for All in the 21st Century available for members to view on the CJA website until May 1. CLICK HERE
Forum on Achieving Equal Justice For All in the 21st Century -- A Recap
On April 17, 2021, CJA proudly presented the inaugural Forum on Achieving Equal Justice For All in the 21st Century. Conceived by the 2020 CJA Annual Meeting Planning Committee last summer in the wake of historic protests regarding racial injustice in the United States, and under the leadership of CJA President Hon. Thomas A. Delaney, CJA Annual Meeting Chair Hon. Daniel J. Buckley, CJA Past President Hon. Tam Nomoto Schumann, and Diversity and Inclusivity Co-Chairs Hon. Elizabeth Macias and Hon. Nicole Bershon, the forum was intended to provide both a historical context for current discussions around race in the justice system as well as a framework for understanding the current role that judges and lawyers can play in achieving justice for all in the 21st century—including justice for historically marginalized groups in particular.

CJA President Judge Delaney opened the forum with his reflections on the important role that judges play as leaders in our communities and throughout the state. In Judge Delaney’s words, “Leaders have vision and the courage to pursue that vision. Leaders ask insightful questions that lead to thoughtful, collaborative discussions with the right people at the right time—discussions that often lead to effective solutions.” Judge Delaney emphasized that the purpose of education is not learning but action and challenged all CJA members to consider actions that we can take as judges to mold consensus in an effort to achieve equal access to equal justice for all.

In the first part of the forum, Hon. Elizabeth Macias talked about the work of the Diversity and Inclusivity Committee and introduced the panel. Professor Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, moderated a discussion between California Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins, United States District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall, and Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Charles Wilson on the role of the judiciary in achieving social justice. 

Professor Goodwin, a renowned constitutional law and health law scholar, opened the forum by asking the panelists to reflect on how the events of recent weeks had affected them. Thus began a deeply personal and moving discussion by the panelists about their reactions to recent tragedies and their own experiences of racism. These distinguished jurists underscored the importance of sharing their own experiences with colleagues and courageously modeled that through their remarks. Another theme that the panel returned to was the need to take concrete steps to understand the communities we serve. While all three of the jurists acknowledged the law has been used to undermine social justice at times in our history, they all emphasized the immense power that the law has and that we as individual judges have—through the tone we set in our courtrooms, the responsible exercise of judicial discretion in appropriate cases, and in the decisions we render in faithful adherence to the law—to make the promises of the Constitution real. Professor Goodwin guided the panelists through a number of topics concerning the role of judges at the present moment.
FOLLOW JUDICIAL FAIRNESS COALITION
The Source is the California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics (CJEO)’s semiannual newsletter. All California judicial officers will receive The Source, but we invite you to share this publication with others who you think may be interested in learning more about the services that CJEO provides and recent developments in judicial ethics. Anyone interested in receiving future editions may join our distribution list by clicking HERE.
JUDGE YOLANDA OROZCO
Judge Yolanda Orozco is close to the end of her three-year term on the CJA Board. She has been active first as liaison and now as member of the Judiciary Outreach Committee, and as Board liaison to the Probate Policy Committee. Judge Orozco was introduced to CJA when, just a few months after her appointment, she attended the first of many CJA Conferences. The opportunity to catch up with friends and make new friends from all over the state and to attend informative programs is one thing Judge Orozco has greatly missed during this time of pandemic.                        

Judge Orozco was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court on December 6, 2010, by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Judge Orozco currently presides over an unlimited civil department where she hopes to stay until retirement. She has held a variety of assignments: misdemeanor arraignment and trial court, probate, limited civil and personal injury departments.   

Judge Orozco has been the Chair of the Court’s Diversity Committee for approximately six years and is very proud of the many successful community programs her Committee has sponsored. Of note are the Young Women Leadership Conferences and the Young Men’s Leadership Conferences where pillars from the legal community, justice partner representatives and sitting judges speak to the students about law and life. For several years, Judge Orozco has also co-chaired the Court’s Judicial Diversity Summit, its signature “how to become a judge” program to which are invited all the stakeholders in the appointment process, including the Judicial Appointments Secretary.
Judge Orozco is also active in the Court’s Teen Court program and presides over the Downey Teen Court where misdemeanor juvenile offenders are tried by a jury of high school students, and can have all charges dismissed if they complete the probationary sentence imposed by the students. 
Judge Orozco has served on the Judicial Council’s Court Interpreters Advisory Panel and is an active member of the California Latino Judges’ Association. She is currently a member of the Board of the Los Angeles County Law Library and of the Executive Committee of the Litigation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Before taking the bench, Judge Orozco spent much of her legal career as a trial lawyer and business litigator and litigated cases in both state and federal courts in California and across the country. Judge Orozco began her career in government service, first at the United States Department of Justice (Civil Rights Division) in Washington, D.C., then at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles. Thereafter, she spent over 20 years in private practice and was a partner in the international law firm of Jones Day at the time of her appointment. While at Jones Day, Judge Orozco was the Diversity Chair at the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Throughout her legal career, Judge Orozco devoted substantial time to community and professional activities. She was appointed by the mayor as a Commissioner to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission and was a member of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Judicial Screening Committee for the selection of United States District Judges. Because of her substantial work in the federal courts, Judge Orozco participated in several federal groups including as Chair of the Standing Committee for Attorney Discipline for the district court; the Merit Selection Panel for U.S. Magistrates; as a lawyer delegate to the 9th Circuit Judicial Council; and as an officer and president of the Federal Bar Association. 
Judge Orozco served on the boards of several non-profits including the Public Welfare Foundation, located in Washington, D.C, the Western Center on Law & Poverty and Public Advocates, Inc., and is currently a Board Trustee of the Mexican American Bar Foundation. She was a Deputy General Counsel on the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (the Christopher Commission). In 2009, Judge Orozco was named to the list of “Top Women Litigators in California” by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals.
Mark your calendar Legal Wellness Week May 3-7! CJA's Mindfulness and Wellness Committee has an activity planned for each day during the lunch hour. Sessions include desk yoga, a webinar on nutrition, meditation, articles of interest and more. More information to come soon!
HOTLINE INFO...
Ethics Hotline | Call: (866) 432-1CJA (1252)
Do you have questions about judicial ethics? Speak to a judge on the Judicial Ethics Committee for a quick informal response to your questions about the Code of Judicial Ethics.
Response to Unfair Criticism Hotline | Call: (866) 432-1CJA (1252)
When unjustified criticism substantially and negatively affects a judge, the judiciary, or the legal system, the CJA RTUC Team is available to advise and assist with that judge’s defense.
Retirement Hotline
Are you preparing for retirement? Have a specific question(s)? CJA members can visit the Retirement Webpage to contact Jim Niehaus, CJA's retirement consultant.