Monday, March 11, 2013
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Supreme Court Committee Sets March 29 Deadline for State Bar Trustee Appointment Applications
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Attorneys seeking two seats on the State Bar Board of Trustees that will be filled by appointment of the state Supreme Court have until March 29 to apply, the Administrative Office of the Courts said Friday in a release.
The high court is to fill the seats pursuant to SB 163, the State Bar restructuring passed in 2011. The legislation replaced the Board of Governors with the Board of Trustees.
When the transition period ends in October 2014, the board will consist of 19 members, five of whom will be attorneys appointed by the Supreme Court.
The first of those attorney members, local attorney David Pasternak, was appointed last year. Two are to be appointed this year, two next year, for three-year terms, with a two-consecutive-term limit.
The reorganized board will also include an attorney member from each of the six appellate districts, elected by the attorneys in those districts, plus six public members and two legislative members, as at present.
Earlier this year, the court established a seven-member committee to vet applicants for the board.
The committee is chaired by Sacramento Superior Court Judge David De Alba. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly Fujie serves as vice chair, and the other members are Catherine Blakemore of Sacramento, executive director of Disability Rights California; Robert Morgenstern of Los Angeles, a partner in Maranga Morgenstern; Raymond Marshall of San Francisco, a partner in Bingham McCutchen; Michael Levy of Sacramento, chief counsel to the California Energy Commission; and Julia Wilson of San Francisco, executive director of One Justice and the Legal Aid Association of California.
Fujie and Marshall are former State Bar presidents.
Applicants must be active members of the State Bar and have their principal place of business in California, and the committee “will consider applicants with a variety of experiences,” the State Bar said in its release,.
Application forms and other documents related to the process can be found on the State Bar website. Information and application packets are also available by mail, by calling 415-538-2279 or writing to the Supreme Court Trustees Nominating Committee, care of the Executive Director’s Office, The State Bar of California, 180 Howard Street, 10th Floor, San Francisco, California 94105-1639, the AOC said.
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