Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

 

Page 1

 

Service Set for Philip Goar, Longtime C.A. Attorney

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

A memorial service is set for Saturday for Philip L. Goar, 73, who retired last year after 32 years as a judicial staff attorney for this district’s Court of Appeal.

He died last Thursday from complications of cancer.

The service will be held at 1 p.m. at the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. Goar lived in Whittier, with his wife, Pamela Goar.

Benjamin G. Shatz, appellate practice group co-chair at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, yesterday recalled Goar’s “enthusiasm, vivacity, earnestness, curiosity, and sense of humor.”

He noted that Goar was “a dedicated supporter and member of the L.A, appellate community” and that “for decades” was active in what is now the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Appellate Courts Section, previously a committee. Shatz said that Goar was a member of the section’s executive committee.

“He not only participated in meetings,” Shatz related, “but was instrumental in organizing and presenting at many programs, including the roundtable programs, where court research attorneys would lead conversations with small groups of practitioners.”

The third annual Night of the Roundtables program was held late yesterday afternoon. It was to be announced, the MetNews learned, that the event was, in the future, to include Goar’s name.

Before going to work for the Court of Appeal in 1983, Goar spent 13 years in legal service programs for indigents, including the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach, the National Senior Citizens Law Center, and the Western Center for Law and Poverty.

He served in the latter program from 1972-76 as director of litigation. While in that capacity, he assailed requirements of the federal Supplemental Security Income program which provides benefits to the poor, funded by general taxes.

An Aug. 1, 1974 article in the Arizona Republic reported his remarks at a forum:

“Goar said Phoenix residents should start thinking about initialing a string of law suits to correct the program discrepancies. As an example, he cited married couples who receive less under the welfare program than they would if they were single and living together.”

In writings, he questioned whether the state rule allowing the California Supreme Court to respond to queries from out-of-state courts—including the United States Supreme Court—as to the posture of California law on a question, is not violative of the state constitutional proscription on advisory opinions.

Goar received his juris doctorate from USC in 1967. He was admitted to the State Bar the following year.

 

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