Monday, July 25, 2016
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State Bar Board Elects James Fox President
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar Board of Governors Friday elected James P. Fox as president for 2016-17.
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JAMES FOX State Bar Board of Governors President-elect |
Fox will be its 46th president, succeeding David Pasternak Oct. 1. Fox will be succeeded as vice president by Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers, and Jason Lee of Los Angeles, an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission, will be treasurer.
Fox, who was appointed to the board by the state Supreme Court in 2014, served on the Judicial Council from 2012 to 2015, following a lengthy tenure as district attorney of San Mateo County.
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 December 2010.
After leaving office, and before being appointed to the board, he served as a special assistant to the chief trial counsel and was credited by State Bar officials with helping reduce the backlog of disciplinary cases.
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 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.
Fox could be the last president elected by the board. Legislation that has passed the state Assembly and is pending in the Senate would give the state Supreme Court the authority to appoint the president and vice president.
Meyers was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2014, representing attorneys within the Second Appellate District. She served as president of the County Bar in 2007-2008.
She ran for Los Angeles County district attorney in 2012, finishing in fourth place with more than 13 percent of the vote in a six-candidate race.
A veteran of close to 200 jury trials, she has prosecuted more than 40 murders, two of which resulted in the death sentence.
She has served on the State Bar Complaints, Audit and Review Board, the Board of Directors of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, and the LACBA delegation to the State Bar Conference of Delegates. She is a graduate of UC San Diego and Howard University School of Law.
Lee was appointed to the board by the Supreme Court last year. His work with the SEC revolves around securities litigation, regulation, and enforcement.
He is also a member of the commission’s Diversity Council, which is charged with creating and implementing strategies to increase diversity throughout the agency, and also previously served as senior counsel with the commission from 1999 to 2004.
He was previously co-chair of the Securities Enforcement Defense Group at Shartsis Friese LLP in San Francisco.
He is a former chair of the JNE Commission. He has been a member of the Judicial and Public Appointment Committee of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Southern California, a board member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and co-chair of its Judiciary Committee, and a member of the pro bono lawyer panel for the Asian Law Caucus as lead counsel on a number of immigration matters.
He is a graduate of UCLA, where he majored in economics, and of the Santa Clara University School of Law. He holds an LL.M. degree in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University.
Lee is also on the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute.
Copyright 2016, Metropolitan News Company