April
2021

A report on where
things
stand



Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Berzon to Assume Senior Status… Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Tricia A. Bigelow States Retirement… Biden Has Yet to Make Appointment to a District Court in California


Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Michael J. Avenatti
Attorney/Convict

One-time prominent and monied Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Avenatti is facing a July 13 trial on  embezzlement charges in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Senior Judge James Selna of the Central District of California.

He is in home confinement in the Venice, Calif.  abode of a friend, Jay Manheimer.

State Bar disciplinary charges were filed July 29, 2019, but proceedings were abated on Sept. 17 of last year in light of pending charges before Selna based on allegedly cheating clients and committing bankruptcy fraud.

He was convicted Feb. 14, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on attempted extortion and wire fraud counts. The release from confinement in New York was on a $1 million bond. Sentencing in New York of the is now set for  May 7.

In light of the adjudication in federal court that Avenatti attempted to pry nearly $25 million from Nike by threatening to expose misconduct by the sportswear giant in the recruitment of college basketball players if it did not pay—and the prospect of a sentence of 40 years or more in prison—State Bar proceedings against him are relegated to little significance. It now looms as a virtual certainty that he will ultimately be disbarred in California.

He is under suspension based on his conviction.

U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York has found that Avenatti, a one-time presidential candidate, is presently indigent. Furman is presiding over the prosecution of him for allegedly cheating former client Stormy Daniels out of $300,000. In July, he appointed Avenatti’s retained counsel, Dean Steward, to serve as court-appointed lawyer in the case.

The $300,000 was an advance to Daniels, a porn star, in connection with her book, “Full Disclosure.” Avenatti allegedly forged her signature on a letter to her literary agent, directing that payments be sent to a bank account he controlled.

The trial in that case has been continued to Jan. 10, 2022.

Avenatti has handled a number of high-profile cases, including representation of Daniels—whose actual name is Stephanie Clifford—in her actions against then-President Donald Trump in an effort to skirt a 2016 nondisclosure agreement she signed in connection with a $130,000 pay-off for agreeing not to talk publicly of their affair in 2006. He also handled her action against the president for defamation.

He is also a litigant in a dissolution of marriage case in Orange Superior Court. In October, he was granted visitation rights with his son, age 6.

Philip James Layfield
Disbarred Attorney, Accused Felon, Truck Driver

Disbarred lawyer Philip James Layfield is facing a federal prosecution on multiple counts in connection with allegedly stealing his client’s funds and cheating on his taxes. Pursuant to a seventh stipulation for a continuance, trial is now scheduled for June 1.

 As federal investigators closed in on him on 2017, Layfield fled to Costa Rica in June of that year, was in the United States for two days in October 2017, returned to Costa Rica, and came back to the U.S. on Feb. 19, 2018. He was arrested in New Jersey one week later and was indicted here on March 9, 2018.

The prosecution began in connection with Layfield having pocketed settlement funds belonging to Josephine Nguyen, who was a client of Layfield & Barrett. She was to receive 60 percent of a $3.9 million settlement of her personal injury claim, amounting to $2.3 million.

A superseding indictment expanded the scope of the prosecution to include tax evasion and fraud for 2016 and 2017. As Layfield’s lawyer, Anthony M. Solis, summed up the charges, in a memorandum of points and authorities filed in July, the superseding indictment “alleges a broad scheme perpetrated by defendant Philip Layfield to, essentially, fleece his clients of their settlement funds, cheat attorneys out of their agreed-upon referral fees and fail to honor various tax obligations owed to the United States.”

Some of the counts have been dismissed.

The defendant was released on a $100,000 bond and is presently residing in Las Vegas.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments


Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are two upcoming vacancies on the 29-member court. Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berzon, 76, will be assuming senior status, on a date not yet determined, it was announced this month.

Berzon is an appointee of President Bill Clinton. She joined the court in 2000.

Her law degree is from the University of California at Berkeley.

Circuit Judge Susan Graber, 71, is also readying to assume senior status, it was made public last month. The date for her departure from the court has also not been determined.

 

There are six vacancies, to be filled by President Joseph Biden, and one upcoming vacancy.

•The latest vacancy was created when Judge James V. Selna took senior status on March 4. There is no nominee to replace him.

•A vacancy was created July 5, 2019, when Judge Andrew J. Guilford went on senior status.

•Judge Manuel Real assumed senior status on Nov. 4, 2018, after 52 years on the bench, and died June 26, 2019.

•Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell died Oct. 8, 2017, at the age of 52.

•Judge Christina A. Snyder took senior status Nov. 23, 2016.

•Judge Margaret Morrow went on senior status Oct. 29, 2015, and subsequently left the bench to become president and chief executive of Public Counsel, a post from which she is readying to retire.

District Court Judge Virginia Phillips, a former chief judge, is set to retire on Feb. 14, 2022, her 65th birthday. That is the first day she will be eligible to retire with full benefits.

There are 30 vacancies in district courts within the Ninth Circuit. President Joseph Biden made his first two nominations: to the District Court for the Western District of Washington.


There are no vacancies.

Second District

There are three vacancies and one that will occur June 30 when Presiding Justice Tricia Brigalow of Div. Eight retires.

Two justices—Laurie Zelon of Div. Seven and Halim Dhanidina of Div. Three—retired and Jeffrey Johnson of Div. One was removed by the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Sitting on assignment until June 30 are Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Upinder S. Kalra and Sam Ohta, Orange Superior Court Judge Melissa R. McCormick and San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Coyne Federman.


Los Angeles County
  

Two judges—John A. Torribio and Norman P. Tarle—retired this month.



 

 

 


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