Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Page 3
David Wesley, Cynthia and David Pasternak Named ‘Persons of the Year’
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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DAVID S. WESLEY Superior Court Presiding Judge |
CYNTHIA PASTERNAK Attorney/Mediator |
DAVID PASTERNAK Attorney/Receiver |
Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge David S. Wesley and bar leaders Cynthia and David Pasternak will be recipients of the Metropolitan News-Enterprise’s “Person of the Year” awards for 2013.
Wesley became presiding judge in January, after serving two years as assistant presiding judge. He previously served as supervising judge of the criminal courts.
His background also includes service as a deputy public defender (1972-81), a civil practitioner (1981-91), a State Bar hearing judge (1993-95), and a Los Angeles Superior Court Juvenile Court commissioner (1995-97).
MetNews Co-Publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace said Friday that Wesley is “incredibly hard-working, and is highly adroit at sizing up situations, leading and persuading.”
She noted that he has “spearheaded the teen courts program,” reflecting his keen concern for youth.
Grace termed the Pasternaks “stellar members of the legal community” whose contributions to the community “are legion.”
David Pasternak, of Pasternak, Pasternak & Patton, last year became the California Supreme Court’s first appointee to the State Bar’s governing body, now known as the Board of Trustees. He is a past president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (1997), and has served on the Judicial Council a member of the Judicial Council (2002-2005).
Throughout Career
Grace noted that David Pasternak’s involvement in bar activities has “spanned his legal career.” He was president of LACBA’s Barristers (young lawyers) section in 1983-84 and chair of its Senior Lawyers Section in 2006-2007, she recited.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, of which he is a past president, and is vice-president of the Chancery Club.
Cynthia Pasternak was president of the Beverly Hills Bar Assn from 2005-2006. In addition to handling mediations as a shareholder in Pasternak Pasternak & Patton, she recently joined ADR Services, Inc.
“She is a highly dedicated and respected member of the bar,” Grace commented.
Wesley received his law degree from Southwestern in 1972 and the Pasternaks were awarded their degrees by Loyola in 1976.
The honorees will be profiled in a special section of the MetNews in early January and they will receive their awards at the 26th annual “Person of the Year” dinner, to take place on Jan. 24, 2014.
The venue will be a private club in downtown Los Angeles which has a rule precluding an identification of it other than in invitations. The locale will be identified shortly on the MetNews website and will be provided to persons making reservations.
Former Los Angeles District Attorney Robert H. Philibosian, of counsel to Sheppard Mullin, will for the 17th time emcee the event.
Previous Honorees
Former persons of the year include the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Mildred Lillie, 1983; the late California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, 1984; the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Lester Wm. Roth, 1985; the late Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Parker, 1986; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Billy G. Mills (since retired), 1987; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Executive Officer Frank Zolin, 1988 (since deceased); then-Court of Appeal Justice Lynn “Buck” Compton (since deceased), 1989; Court of Appeal Justice Miriam Vogel (now senior of counsel to Morrison & Foerster) and then-State Bar President Charles Vogel (now an arbitrator/mediator with JAMS), 1990; Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer (now retired), 1991; Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, 1992; and then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge (now Court of Appeal Presiding Justice) Robert Mallano, 1993.
Also: Court of Appeal Justice (now Presiding Justice) Norman Epstein, 1994; then-California Attorney General Dan Lungren, 1995; California Chief Justice Ronald George (now retired), 1996; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge (then-Assistant Presiding Judge) Victor E. Chavez, 1997; U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew, 1998; and Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, 1999; then-Judicial Appointments Secretary Burt Pines (later a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, now retired), 2000; then-State Bar President Karen Nobumoto, 2001 (now retired as a deputy district attorney); Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, 2002; then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke; then-State Bar President John Van de Kamp and then-Los Angeles County Bar Assn. President John Collins (now retired from law practice), 2004; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge William MacLaughlin and then-Assistant Presiding Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, 2005.
Others are the late political consultant Joseph Cerrell, U.S. District Judge George Schiavelli of the Central District of California (now in law practice and mediation) and Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Paul A. Turner, 2006; San Fernando Valley attorney and civic leader Lee Kanon Alpert, then-Los Angeles County Bar Assn. President Gretchen Nelson, and Philibosian, 2007; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles W. McCoy and then-Assistant Presiding Judge Lee Edmon, 2008; Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County Public Defender Michael P. Judge (since retired), and then-Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich (now in private law practice), 2009; trial attorney and bar leader Jack Denove, then-Southwestern Law School Dean Bryant Garth, and Lawyers Philharmonic conductor and attorney Gary S. Greene, 2010; California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and former California Gov. George Deukmejian, 2011; State Bar President Patrick M. Kelly and retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Lawrence Crispo and Charles Horan, 2012.
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