Monday, October 29, 2001
Page 1
Acton Lawyer Larry Layton to Make Sixth Run for Bench
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Acton attorney and law school dean Larry H. Layton said he will run Friday for the Los Angeles Superior Court.
“I would like to win one time before I die,” Layton told the MetNews. “I have no big issues this time.”
Layton lost five separate bids for the now-defunct Antelope Municipal Court, including a quixotic write-in campaign against Judge William Seelicke in 1994.
This would be the first countywide race for Layton, who runs the unaccredited Larry H. Layton School of Law in Action—which currently has eight students, he said—in addition to maintaining his solo practice. His most recent bid was last year, when he finished last in a field of three candidates as Judge Pamela Rogers easily won reelection.
The candidate said he would participate in the evaluation process of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, which he has criticized in the past, claiming it was biased against him because he takes an unapologetic public stance as an evangelical Christian.
LACBA rated him “qualified” in his bid against Rogers, after having tagged him as not qualified in three previous races. It did not evaluate him when he ran as a write-in candidate.
Layton did not commit himself to running for a specific seat, but said he would prefer not to run against an incumbent again. There will be at least three open seats on the March 5 ballot, because Judges David Finkel and Michael Pirosh are retiring in January and Judge Michael Kanner is not seeking another term.
In another election development, Pasadena attorney David Crawford took out papers to run for the seat of Judge Irving Feffer. Crawford, who was admitted to the State Bar 16 years ago, practices with the firm of Pollard, Harrell & Googooian.
Feffer, 70, has been a Superior Court judge since 1989 and practiced litigation for 25 years before that. Neither he nor Crawford could be reached Friday for comment on the challenge, but Feffer has indicated he intends to run for another term.
Other candidates who have indicated they intend to seek seats on the court include former Santa Monica Bar Association President Joseph Deering and former Superior Court Commissioner Richard Espinoza, both of whom have taken out papers to run for either the Kanner or Pirosh seats; Glendale lawyer Kenneth Wright, who took out papers to run for the seat to which Judge Leslie Brown was recently appointed; and Deputy District Attorney David Gelfound, who has announced for the Finkel seat.
Candidates need not irrevocably commit to a specific seat until the nominations period, which runs from Nov. 13 to Dec. 7.
Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company