Lobbyist, Community Activist Richard A. Rubin Named Public Member of State Bar Board of Governors

Thursday, December 9, 2004

Page 3

Lobbyist, Community Activist Richard A. Rubin Named Public Member of State Bar Board of Governors

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Richard A. Rubin, a lobbyist and community activist in Marin County, has been named by the state Senate Rules Committee as a public member of the State Bar Board of Governors, succeeding Chantel Williams, a committee spokesman said yesterday.

The 64-year-old Rubin could not be reached for comment on his appointment. He was actually among a number of persons appointed to various posts by the committee before former Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, relinquished his office, and the Rules Committee chairmanship that went with it, last week.

Rubin, a graduate of George Washington University School of Law, heads San Francisco-based Richard A. Rubin Associates, a lobbying firm that he founded in 1987. The firm lists hospitals, universities, water technology and environmental engineering firms, architectural firms and non-profit organizations among its clients.

Rubin has also taught courses in government relations management at UC Berkeley and Golden Gate University. He has worked as a congressional aide in Washington D.C., as a governorís aide in New Jersey, and was a top fundraiser for Sen. John Kerryís presidential campaign and a delegate to this yearís Democratic National Convention.

He chaired the local recreation board in the unincorporated community of Strawberry, north of San Francisco, and recently lost a bid for election to the board of the Marin Municipal Water District. He also ran twice for the Marin County Board of Supervisors and is married to San Francisco political consultant Marcia Smolens-Rubin.

He was an appointee of former Gov. Gray Davis to the California Small Business Board, and joined former San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. on trips to China as a member of the cityís Sister City Delegation. Rubin also served for five years as the alternate public member of the Marin County Local Agency Formation Commission.

In addition to his law degree, he holds a bachelorís degree from Kenyon College in Ohio, where he majored in political science, and a masterís in international relations from Columbia University in New York.