Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Page 11
SNIPPETS (Column)
State Bar to Hold Annual Hearings on Professionalism
The State Bar of California has announced that it will hold its annual public hearing on ethics and competence Dec. 5 at its Los Angeles office located at 1149 S. Hill St., 7th floor. The hearing is to start at 10 a.m.
Members of the public and the legal profession are invited to attend and will have an opportunity to address a panel of State Bar representatives regarding the attorney discipline process, the admissions process and other issues concerning attorney competence.
An additional hearing will be held Dec. 9 at the State Bar’s offices in San Francisco.
Anyone wishing to speak at the hearings or present written materials should contact Lauren Fletcher at 415-538-2310 or lauren.fletcher@calbar.ca.gov by Dec. 2.
•The Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic will be performing a holiday concert at the Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Boulevard, on Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The orchestral group consists of lawyers, judges, law students and legal staff.
It will be joined by its chorus, Legal Voices, in performing holiday music that is to include Handel’s Messiah, Gershwin melodies, Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, Ave Maria as well as Christmas and Hanukkah songs. The event will also feature a special appearance by actress June Lockhart.
There will be free parking in the church lot and on nearby streets.
Tickets to the concert can be purchased through the orchestra’s website at www.lalawyersphil.org.
•The Los Angeles County Bar Association presents its 8th Annual Robert I. Weil Lecture, “Will California Arbitration Law Survive the United States Supreme Court?” on Nov. 19.
A reception will precede the event, which will be held at JAMS, 707 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90017, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Speakers will include Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Buckley, Richard Chernick of JAMS, and arbitrator/mediator Deborah C. Saxe. The discussion will be moderated by Rachel F. Moran, dean of the UCLA School of Law.
The panel will focus on the recent arbitration cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and predict how they will affect the practice of arbitration in California. The event offers 1.5 hours of MCLE credit.
Registration is required. Visit www.lacba.org or register by phone at (213) 896-6560. Proceeds will benefit the Center for Civic Mediation community and youth peer mediation programs.
•The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund will hold its 2013 Los Angeles Awards Gala on Thursday, November 14, at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, 404 S. Figueroa Street.
The event will pay tribute to California Rural Legal Assistance Executive Director Josè R. Padilla, union and community organizer Paul Schrade, and the late actress Lupe Ontiveros.
Actor Jordi Vilasuso and actress Edy Ganem will assist in hosting the event.
A reception starts at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner and awards program.
For sponsorship information or ticket purchases, contact Stephanie Loera at sloera@maldef.org or by phone at (213) 629-2512, ext. 143.
•The California Chamber of Commerce has joined the Civil Justice Association of California in filing an amicus brief in Verdugo v. Target Stores, a case before the California Supreme Court which concerns whether or not the common law duty of commercial property owners to provide emergency first aid to invitees requires them to maintain automated external defibrillators in stores in order to treat cases of sudden cardiac arrest.
The question was brought to the Supreme Court based on a certification from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The chamber’s position is that there is no such duty, because the Legislature—while passing a number of laws governing the placement of defibrillators in certain facilities—has specifically exempted retail stores from any duty to have AEDs on the premises.
The chamber stated in a release:
“The Supreme Court’s determination of whether a retail store has a common law duty to keep and maintain an AED, despite being exempt in state statute from doing so, could have wide-reaching effects, as issues of duty are critical to determining negligence liability, which comprise the bulk of personal injury cases crowding the courts.”
Copyright 2013, Metropolitan News Company