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Two Are in Contest for LACBA’s President-Elect Position
Names of Ann I. Park, Jo-Ann W. Grace to Be on Electronic Ballot
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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ANN I. PARK |
JO-ANN W. GRACE |
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Candidates for LACBA president-elect
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A contest has developed for the office of Los Angeles County Bar Association president-elect for 2021-22, with the competitors being Ann I. Park, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Foley & Mansfield, and Jo-Ann W. Grace, president and general counsel of the Metropolitan News Company.
LACBA Executive Director Stanley Bissey announced in a late-night email on Friday to officers and persons selected by the Nominating Committee that the only contest this year would be for that office.
Electronic balloting will take place from May 3 to June 1. The victor will succeed to the office of president-elect on July 1, with the current president-elect, Bradley Pauley of Horvitz & Levy, assuming the presidency.
Unopposed for other officer positions are current Vice President Kristin Adrian, who will become senior vice president; Trustee Sarvenaz Bahar who will take over as vice president; and Christine C. Goodman, who will be vice president of diversity, inclusion & outreach.
Nine persons will embark upon two-year terms as trustees. They are trustees-at-large E. Carlos Dominguez, Mark T. Hiraide, and Jeffrey B. Margulies; trustees from sections Eric A. Altoon (Real Property), Jana G. Garroito (Trusts and Estates) and Benjamin G. Shatz (Appellate Courts) and trustees from affiliated bar associations Jason R. Parnell (John M. Langston Bar Association), Caroline C. Vincent (Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles), and Saundra K. Wootton (Mexican American Bar Association).
Third Time
The winner in the contested race will automatically become president on July 1, 2022. Only twice before in the association’s history—which harks to 1878—was the presidency decided by a vote of the members.
LACBA’s recently published book “Lawyers of Los Angeles 1950-2020” by Kathleen Tuttle recounts that in 1981, Robert S. Warren (who died recently) was slated to become LACBA’s president,” having worked “his way up the leadership ladder in accord with LACBA’s protocol.” She says that “out of the blue, Richard M. Coleman, a Westside lawyer, jumped in to challenge him and won.”
His challenge, she related, was based on his opposition to dominance of the organization by major downtown law firms. Warren was with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
“Warren was the first officer in LACBA history to be defeated in a contested election,” Tuttle noted.
The second challenge to an officer poised for elevation and the second time such a person was defeated occurred in 2016.
2016 Election
Coleman’s election to the presidency came before the office of president-elect was created. In 2016, Michael K. Lindsey was senior vice president and was next in the line of succession to be president-elect, but Michael E. Meyer, a former LACBA vice president, challenged him, and prevailed. That was the year in which a reform slate—driven by the newly formed Council of Section—won the three open officer positions and all five of the nine trustee seats in which a candidate was put up in opposition to candidates favored by the Nominating Committee. The reform movement complained of fiscal irresponsibility, inattention to needs of the sections, and excessive secrecy as to the association’s affairs including its finances.
At the time of that election, Grace was a member of LACBA’s Board of Trustees, and was the only trustee who was a member of the Council of Sections. Park was also a member from the council’s early days in 2016.
In 2019, Grace was endorsed by the council for the office of vice president, was chosen by the Nominating Committee, no opposition arose, and served in that office from 2019-20.
Last year, the council endorsed Grace for 2020-21 senior vice president, but Park also sought the Nominating Committee’s nod, and got it. Grace did not mount an election challenge, and was appointed by the 2020-21 president, Tamila Jensen, as an assistant vice president, a post she previously held.
This year, the council endorsed Grace for president-elect, as did the Italian American Lawyers Association (“IALA”), of which she was president in 1996. The Nominating Committee again selected Park.
The IALA was instrumental in the effort to gather the requisite 100 signatures on nominating petitions to qualify Grace for the ballot. The current IALA president and 16 past presidents endorsed her.
Among those signing nominating petitions were Meyer and his successor, Brian Kabateck, as well as the next president, Ronald F. Brot, and the current president, Jensen, all adherents to the reform movement’s positions. The petitions Brot and Jensen signed were not among those submitted to LACBA on Wednesday, however, it having been realized that as members of the Election Committee, they were ineligible under the bylaws to be nominators. Other nominators included past LACBA Presidents Harry L. Hathaway and John D. Taylor, who had been active in the reform movement, and Nowland C. Hong, a founder and two-time president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association, a key player in that movement.
Among other nominators were Patrick M. Kelly, a past president of LACBA and later a president of the State Bar of California; Deputy Public Defender Luis J. Rodriguez, a former president of the State Bar and the Mexican American Bar Association; Albert Lum, a founder of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association; Reginald Holmes and Adah Sands, past presidents of the John M. Langston Bar Association; Carey Caruso, president of the Criminal Courts Bar Association; and LACBA Trustees Brant H. Dveirin and Donna E. Kirkner and Trustee-Elect CarolineVincent.
Park’s Endorsers
Park, having been chosen by the Nominating Committee, did not need a nominating petition. She lists among her endorsers former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno; Jeff Westerman, president of the Federal Bar Association and a former LACBA trustee; and Rasha Shields, president of the Arab American Lawyers Association of Southern California and immediate past president of the UCLA Law Alumni Association. LACBA past presidents supporting her are John Brinsley, Patricia Phillips, Andrea Sheridan Ordin, Richard Chernick, Gerald Chaleff, Laurie Zelon, Patricia Schnegg, Rex Heinke, Roland Coleman Jr., Gretchen Nelson, Danette Meyers, Eric Webber, and Patricia Daehnke.
Both candidates have served as members of the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation.
Park was president of the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California from 1996-97.
Grace and Park are members of the Chancery Club, California Women Lawyers, and various other bar groups.
Leadership Posts
Currently, Grace chairs the Senior Lawyers Section of LACBA. She has also chaired the Breakfast Club (which endorsed candidates for the State Bar Board of Governors), LACBA’s delegation to the Conference of California Bar Associations, and the Lawyers Conference of American Bar Association’s Judicial Administration Division.
She has served as treasurer of the Foundation of the State Bar of California as a vice president of the State Bar.
Park is a partner in Foley and Mansfield. She has previously been with Pond North LLP, Burke Williams Sorensen LLP, and Heller Ehram LLP.
Grace was an estate and gift tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service for 10 years before assuming her present post in 1980. The Metropolitan News Company publishes six newspapers in California, including the METNEWS. Park received her law degree from UCLA in 1987 and Grace’s 1970 law degree is from the University of Texas at Austin. Grace is admitted to practice in the State of Texas, as well as California.
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