Monday, July 21, 2014
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S.C. Names James Fox, Terrance Flanagan to State Bar Board
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The state Supreme Court Friday named former San Mateo County District Attorney James Fox and Terrance Flanagan, a top aide to two former governors, to the State Bar Board of Trustees.
They will be sworn in at the State Bar’s Annual Meeting in September and will serve three-year terms.
Fox and Flanagan are the court’s fourth and fifth appointments to the board under SB 163, which took effect in 2012 and restructured the body formerly known as the Board of Governors. When the transitional provisions of the legislation expire in September, the board will consist of the five Supreme Court appointees, plus six elected lawyers, one from each of the state’s six appellate court districts; six public member, and two attorneys appointed by the legislative leadership.
Fox is also a member of the Judicial Council. He began his legal career in the District Attorney’s Office in 1970, left for private practice in 1974, and was elected district attorney in 1982. He served 28 years before stepping down in in December 2010.
In 2009, he received one of the Judicial Council’s Distinguished Service Awards—the Bernard Witkin Amicus Curiae Award, which honors individuals other than members of the judiciary for their outstanding contributions to the courts of California.
Fox served as a member of the State Bar of California’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation from 1980 to 1982. He has also served as a member of several Judicial Council advisory committees, including the Criminal Law Advisory Committee, the Court Profiles Committee, and the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Cameras in the Courtroom, as well as a member of the California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice.
His undergraduate and law degrees are from the University of San Francisco.
Flanigan co-founded Sacramento’s Flanigan Law Firm with his brother, Timothy Flanigan, in 1991. Prior to that, he served as appointments secretary to governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.
He has served as the chief lobbyist for the State Bar as well as the California Manufacturers and Technology Association. As a lobbyist for the County Supervisors Association of California, he concentrated on law enforcement and court administrative issues.
He was a JNE commission member in the 1990s.
Before moving to Sacramento, he was a partner in the San Diego law firm of Bamberg, Flanigan & Flanigan and served as a prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the Office of the San Diego City Attorney.
Admitted to the practice of law in 1974, Mr. Flanigan received his law degree from UC Davis and his undergraduate degree from San Diego State University.
He also was a trustee on the California State University Board of Trustees.
In other news, the Board of Trustees Friday elected Michael G. Colantuono as treasurer for the one-year term beginning in September. He defeated Los Angeles attorney Hernan Vera.
Colantuono is city attorney for Grass Valley and Auburn and a partner in Colantuono & Levin PC, a firm with offices in Los Angeles and near Grass Valley that specializes in government law.
He was named to the board in 2012 by then-Assembly Speaker John Perez.
The other State Bar officers for the term beginning in September will be Los Angeles attorney Craig Holden, who is currently vice president and ran unopposed for president, and San Diego’s Heather Rosing, who is currently treasurer and ran unopposed for vice president.
Holden will be the third consecutive president from Los Angeles under the restructured system.
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