October
31,
2007

A report on where
things
stand


Governor Schwarzenegger Signs IOLTA, Dues Bills...Commissioner Ann Dobbs Retires Today...Immigration Lawyers Plead Guilty in Visa Scheme


Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Mervyn H. Wolf
Encino Attorney

Wolf, a lawyer for 40 years, faces a Nov. 28 pretrial hearing after being arraigned on five felony embezzlement counts, continued from Oct. 23. He was held to answer following a preliminary hearing last month.

Wolf is accused of having taken settlement funds from his clients in multiple personal injury, workers' compensation, and wrongful termination cases between June 2003 and June 2004. He allegedly deposited settlement checks into his clients' trust accounts, and then embezzled the funds.

Wolf was placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court July 10 of last year and faces discipline in connection with several matters. He has had extensive contacts with the disciplinary system, having been placed on three years' probation in 1995 for misconduct in three matters, suspended 45 days in 1998 for failing to comply with a condition of the earlier probation, placed on inactive status for a month in 2002 for failure to comply with MCLE requirements, and served a month on suspension in 2004 for nonpayment of bar dues.

He is also the subject of a $25,000 sanctions award-much of which remains unpaid, opposing counsel told the MetNews-for failing to disclose a prior settlement with a joint tortfeasor that should have been credited towards his client's recovery in a personal injury case.

Daniel E. Korenberg, Steven James Rodriguez, and Philip Abramowitz
Immigration Lawyers

Korenberg, a name partner and founder of the large immigration law firm formerly known as Korenberg, Abramowitz & Feldun, and Rodriguez, a senior associate in the firm, pled guilty this month to charges arising from a federal investigation related to the filing of fraudulent employment visa applications on behalf of foreign nationals, including at least 14 of the law firm's own workers.

Korenberg, 58, pled guilty Oct. 4 to two counts of visa fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Rodriguez, 40, pled guilty Oct. 5 to one count of making false statements to federal agents.
The firm, which is now known as ASK Law Group, is based in Sherman Oaks, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas.

Abramowitz, 53, who was a partner at the firm, pled guilty last year to conspiracy and visa fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17. He is on interim suspension from the State Bar, and tendered his resignation in the face of disciplinary charges Sept. 28.
The government alleges that the attorneys, along with a paralegal, hired undocumented workers for various jobs at the firm, then filed fraudulent employment-based visa petitions for temporary work authorization or permanent residency in the United States and paid them "off the books" in cash until the visas were approved.

Korenberg and Rodriguez are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson of the Central District of California on Jan. 18.

 

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments



Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There is one vacancy on the court, created when Judge Stephen S. Trott took senior status Dec. 31, 2004.

 

There is one vacancy on the court.

Orange Superior Court Judge James E. Rogan, a former congressman and Commerce Department official, was nominated Nov. 15 to succeed Judge Nora Manella, who resigned to become a justice of this district's Court of Appeal May 22. The nomination was returned to the president when Congress adjourned last year, but was resubmitted in January.


There are no vacancies.

First District

Justice Joanne C. Parrilli retired July 31

Second District

Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer of Div. One retired Sept. 1 after 27 years on the court and a total of 46 years on the bench. Justice Paul Boland of Div. Eight died Sept. 5 after more than 25 years of judicial service. Justice Earl Johnson Jr. retired from Div. Seven Oct. 17 after nearly 25 years on the court.
Los Angeles Superior Court


Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Andria K. Richey retired at the end of September, creating one vacancy on the court.

Commissioner Ann Dobbs is retiring today, creating a vacancy that could be converted to a judgeship under AB 159.

Judge Charles Peven retires Dec. 15.

Judge Lesley C. Green, formerly a partner in a Los Angeles firm, took up her first permanent judicial assignment in West Covina Oct. 22.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are former Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Vaughn, now a managing director of the litigation and consulting firm FTI Consulting, Inc.; criminal defense specialist Steven Cron of Santa Monica; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorneys Richard Kraft and Edward J. Perez; state Deputy Attorneys General Steven D. Matthews, E. Eugene Varanini IV, Victoria Wilson, Paul Roadarmel Jr., Robert S. Henry and Kenneth Byrne, Administrative Law Judge Robert Helfand, Deputy District Attorneys Jeffrey Gootman, Karla Kerlin, Ricardo Ocampo, and Laura Laesecke; Commissioners Michael Convey, Tamila Ipema, Victor Greenberg, Amy Pellman, Maren Nelson, Dennis Mulcahy, Harvey Silberman, Ronald Rose, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Mary Lou Katz Byrne, and Loren DiFrank; Referee Steven Berman; U.S. District Court attorney Amy L. Lew; Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown; Deputy Federal Public Defender Angel Navarro; Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome J. Haig; Los Angeles attorneys John L. Carlton, Adrienne Krikorian, Mark A. Borenstein, Eulanda Matthews and Lawrence P. Brennan Jr.; Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman, and Westlake Village attorney Michael Nebenzahl.

Commissioners Martin L. Goestch, James Copelan, and Gerald Richardson are on long-term medical leave.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The following bills of interest to the legal community were introduced in October:

•AB 159 , by Assemblyman David Jones, D-Sacramento, which will create 50 new superior court judgeships, subject to appropriations, and convert 162 commissioner and referee positions into judgeships over time, with the first 16 conversions to take place between Jan. 1 and June 30 of next year and no more than 16 in any fiscal year after that. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 14.

•AB 403, by Assemblyman Van Tran, R-Costa Mesa, which, as amended, will require the California Law Revision Commission to study whether, and when, the attorney-client privilege should survive the death of the holder and report by 2009. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 10.

•AB 475, by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Rancho Cucamonga, which would give the arresting agency the right to notice and to present evidence at the hearing on a motion to destroy an arrest record. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 14.

•AB 500, by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, which, as amended, would allow attorneys to appear by telephone or teleconference at certain types of hearings at which witnesses are not expected to testify, unless the court specifically requires that counsel appear, and would require the Judicial Council to adopt rules to implement that provision. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 5.

•AB 1043, by Assemblywoman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, which would make void and unenforceable as against public policy any provision in an employment contract that requires an employee, as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment, to use a forum other than California, or to agree to a choice of law other than California law, in any dispute with an employer regarding employment-related issues that arise in California. The bill was vetoed by the governor Oct. 13.

•AB 1090, by Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Costa Mesa, which, as amended, would require that candidates, including judicial candidates, seeking to use a ballot designation support that designation by filling out a worksheet prescribed by the secretary of state. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 11.

•AB 1248, by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, which would make various changes with regard to civil procedure, court fees, and funding. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 14.

•AB 1539, by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, which, as amended, would extend procedures applicable to the humanitarian release of terminally ill prisoners to those who are permanently medically incapacitated and whose release is deemed not to threaten public safety. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 14.

•AB 1723, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, a State Bar proposal that would establish specific requirements for attorneys establishing accounts under the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts program and for banks offering such accounts. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 10.

•SB 39 , by Migden, which would broaden public access to case files of children who are dependent or are wards of the juvenile court when those children have died as a result of abuse and neglect. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 11.

•SB 241, by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino, which, as amended, would allow a court, where the parents of a ward or minor conservatee, or the estate, lack the ability to pay the fees of appointed counsel, to order payment of all or part of those fees by the county. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 14.

•SB 396, by Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, which would require the establishment of a committee to study civil court filing fees. The bill was vetoed by the governor Oct. 14

•SB 539, by Sen. Robert Margett, R-Glendora, which would amend the way penalties are calculated when counties are delinquent in their payments to the State Trial Court Trust Fund. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 10.

•SB 559, by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, which would protect property from full value reassessment due to the death of the surviving owner's domestic partner prior to 2006. Such protection already exists where the partner died on or after Jan. 1, 2006. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 12.

•SB 686, by Corbett, which, as amended, would authorize the State Bar to levy dues for 2008 at the current rate, and would authorize an additional fee of $10 per member per year from 2008 through 2010 to upgrade the State Bar's computers, while deleting the authorization for a $10 annual fee for construction or leasing of the State Bar headquarters. The bill was signed by the governor Oct. 11.


 

 

 


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