Monday, December 27, 2010
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Schwarzenegger Appoints Four Attorneys to Committees
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed four attorneys to posts around the state.
The governor Thursday named Senior Assistant Attorney General Alicia Fowler to the Attorney Diversion and Assistance Oversight Program Committee, tapped Orange County attorneys Alexander Vellandi and Ali Jahangiri for the Orange County Fair Board, and appointed Atascadero attorney Robert Maurice Jones to the Atascadero State Hospital Advisory Board.
None of the positions require Senate confirmation or carry a salary.
Vellandi, 40, has been the owner, broker and principal attorney of the Orange County Property Company since 2002. He was associate general counsel for Triple Net Properties from 2003 to 2004, and an attorney in the real estate departments of Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble and Mallory from 2000 to 2002, and Sheppard, Mullin, Ritcher and Hampton from 1999 to 2000.
A Republican, Vellandi served as then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s assistant public information officer from 1995 to 1996. He joined the State Bar in 1999 after attending UC Irvine and UCLA School of Law, and is currently a member of the Orange County Association of Realtors.
Jahangiri, 35, served on the Law Revision Commission from 2009 until this year and currently serves on the Board of Overseers at Loyola Law School and as ambassador to the Samuel Jordan Center at the UC Irvine School of Humanities. He also sits on that school’s governing board.
A Republican, he graduated from both schools and was admitted to the State Bar in 2002. Jahangiri began his career as an associate with Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth, and since 2004 has owned and operated Internet advertising and publishing firm Outclick Media.
From 1999 to 2001, he was chief operating officer of Heartsavers.
Fowler, 45, has been senior assistant attorney general in the Civil Division, Employment and Administrative Mandate Section, since 2008, and before that was a supervising deputy attorney general beginning in 2001.
She was staff counsel III at the California Trade and Commerce Agency from 1998 to 2001, and a deputy attorney general in the Employment and Administrative Mandate Section from 1994 to 1998. She began her legal career in 1990 as an associate at Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe.
A Republican, Fowler attended UC Berkeley and University of San Francisco School of Law. She is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the California State Bar and the Booster Club, International Baccalaureate Program.
Jones, 61, has headed his own firm since 1979, when he joined the State Bar. He is a member and past president of the Atascadero Rotary Club, a member of the Atascadero Mutual Water Company Board of Directors and has served as a commissioner on the Nacimiento Water Commission in San Luis Obispo County.
A Republican, Jones graduated from UC Santa Barbara and McGeorge School of Law.
In other news, Schwarzenegger on Thursday also made the following non-attorney appointments:
•Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner, 55, to the Attorney Diversion and Assistance Oversight Program Committee. Lehner is a Democrat.
•Anaheim businessman KV Kumar, 65, to the California State Bar Board of Governors Examining Committee. A Republican, Kumar has been chief operating officer of Dialysis Centers Network since 2009.
He has also been the chairman of Business and Strategic Consultants International since 2004 and a consultant to Coca-Cola Company and other international conglomerates since 1987. He is also the former chairman and chief executive officer for the U.S. Indian American Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C.
Kumar’s appointment is effective Jan. 2.
•Laguna Hills consultant James Vaughn, 46, to the California State Bar Board of Governors Examining Committee. Vaughn has served on the committee since 2007 and is currently the vice chair of the Moral Character Determination Subcommittee.
He has also been a consultant for Knowlegis since 2006, and has owned a public affairs business and served as director of the Log Cabin Republicans since 2005. A Republican, Vaughn served as deputy director of then-President Bush’s E-Gov. Initiative for the General Services Administration from 2004 to 2005.
He was also the director of government and political programming for America Online from 1999 to 2004.
The positions do not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company