By Amber Rodriguez

In February, the Estate Planning and Probate Section of the Ventura County Bar Association was fortunate to have Judge Glen M. Reiser, presiding probate judge, present a State of the Probate Court address. The presentation was not only amusing, but very informative for the standing-room-only crowd. Following the presentation, I was contacted by numerous VCBA members who, having heard about Judge Reiser’s information-packed presentation, asked if we could prepare a summary for those who were unable to join us. Judge Reiser has been kind enough to work with me to put together this summary for you:

CRC 7.575: Reporting Requirements for Standard versus Simplified Accountings Although these requirements have not been consistently enforced in the past, the court feels it is necessary and appropriate to have all accountings, from here forward, conform with the requirements of this Rule. If you have an accounting pending hearing, please review your accounting carefully to make sure a supplement is not required to meet CRC 7.575.

CRC 2.104 The court reminded us that all papers must be printed or typewritten or be prepared by a photocopying or other duplication process that will produce clear and permanent copies equally as legible as printing in type not smaller than 12 points. This includes accountings.

Conservatorship File Reviews Judge Reiser actually reads the files and does not rely primarily on the research attorney or investigator’s report to make his decision in these matters. Please be certain to file  all necessary documents and review those documents carefully to help minimize the need for continuances.

Continue reading  – April issue of CITATIONS

Amber Rodriguez is the current chair of the executive committee for the Estate Planning and Probate Section of the Ventura County Bar Association. Her practice focuses on probate and trust litigation and administration, conservatorships and estate planning.  You can reach Amber at arodriguez@estateattorneycalifornia.com

OFFICE SPACE

Rent a piece of history – Beautifully restored Victorian home built in 1892. 5660 square ft. Ventura historical landmark No. 61. Two-story. 143 Figueroa Street, Old Town Ventura, 93001. Walk to beach, Ventura Mission and shops and restaurants on Main Street. Easy 101 freeway access. 16 executive offices plus reception area, three fireplaces, three conference rooms and two coffee areas. Wheelchair access. On-site parking. Rent all for $8900/mo or rent part. Call Don Parrish at (805)340-1204.

Tower office spaces available – Free Rent! Rare opening in suite 1180 in the “Tower,” Ventura County’s premier office address. “King’s Corner” office with great views as well as individual window offices available in multi-conference room, established full attorney Suite 1180. Full amenities available, including potential for overflow or start-up assistance. Great turnkey location for solo, small firm and mediators. Short-or long-terms. Best offers accepted! Call (805) 988-4848.

Office space available – Beautiful, historic turn-of-the-century law office building at Heritage Square in Downtown Oxnard. Rents range from $400 to $600 per month, depending on office size. Private parking available. If interested, please call (805)487-2000.

SEEKING EMPLOYMENT

Legal Assistant seeks job: My experience includes office management, calendaring, editing, drafting, filing, researching, writing demand letters through appeal for civil, family, criminal, and administrative law attorneys in the private and public sector. Please contact: Leah Adams, Leah. Adams072@yahoo.com; (805) 791-4373.

By Jasmeen A. Ubhi

I’ve always wanted more in life. I spent my undergrad taking as many classes as I could, trying to figure myself out. I spent a considerable amount of time switching majors but I eventually narrowed myfocus to two majors: Psychology & Social Behavior and Criminology, Law & Society. Instead of choosing a major, I decided that I would just double major. During this time, I was working at a personal injury/workers compensation law firm where the lead attorney pushed me to take the LSAT. Having no desire to actually attend law school, I sat for the exam mostly just to appease my boss. After taking the exam, things just snowballed and I ended up applying to law school. Throughout law school I continued to work in the legal profession to gain more experience.

While awaiting bar results, I was hired by a healthcare financial management organization to assist in third party recovery. After I passed the bar, the president of the company offered me the position of in-house counsel. This was a huge task as I had to quickly learn the laws governing MediCare/Medi-Cal. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful paralegal who took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. Before
I knew it, I was preparing and facilitating resolutions for writs of mandamus on behalf of healthcare institutions. My roles and duties changed throughout my employment there but I still wanted more. After a couple of years, I started applying to various attorney positions but nothing seemed to fit. So I took the plunge and opened up my own workers compensation defense practice working for a small group of clients. I had some background in workers compensation from working as a legal assistant during law school, but had to learn a great deal on my own.

During my career as an attorney, I have had to rely on myself to learn the various nuances of the law. Honestly, you really do not know how strong you are until you push yourself. Being successful as a solo practitioner does not mean you have to work in a firm to “learn the ropes.” Law school does not have a residency program – unlike medical school – so we are pushed into the practice of law with little or no experience.

Jasmeen Ubhi just described her practice. Her office is in Simi Valley 
 jubhi.esq@gmail.com

Continue reading – April issue of CITATIONS

Proceeds benefiting the VLSP, Inc. 
$2,000 in prize money!! Chip Timing, Awesome raffle prizes & more!!
Register online or print & mail registration form

  
Saturday, May 19, 2012 @ 8:30 AM
Ventura County Goverment Center
800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura
 
  

By Bill Paterson

“A Separation”, Iran’s Oscar entry for best foreign language film, is one of the most acclaimed films of the year. It is a brilliantly executed and morally complex tale chronicling what happens when otherwise decent people
are led astray by ingrained cultural norms and a stubborn refusal to consider any point of view but their own.

As the film opens, a couple are sitting side by side speaking to an unseen man in what passes for divorce court in present day Iran. Simin (Lelia Hatami) has obtained a visa to leave Iran, a country in which she sees no future for herself or her family. Her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi) refuses to either leave or to consent to a divorce, insisting he cannot abandon his father who has Alzheimer’s. They each have valid claims on the other. Life will
be better for the family outside the reign of the Mullahs, but how does one leave a terminally ill parent, and what effect will either of their choices have on their 12-year-old-daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi)?

As the emotional temperature ratchets up, Simin and Nader set the stage for virtually every human interaction in the film. Compromise is spurned and shrill argument is the default discussion mode. The upshot is that Simin is refused a divorce and moves in with her parents, leaving Nader with his gravely incapacitated father and Termah.

Continue reading – March 2012 CITATIONS

Bill Paterson is Of Counsel at Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP in Ventura. He is an avid filmgoer.

Dear Editor:

BEWARE OF EMAIL SCAMS

Please be aware that there has been a recent surge of email scams directed at attorneys. I have received at least ten in the last two months and many more in the past year. Luckily, I was able to avoid these scams. As an example, I received one of these emails last week, and a follow-up today that were very convincing. They purported to be from Mazco Medical Healthcare for a case against Lincare Holdings. Both turn out to be real companies, but the case is fictitious. I found a fraud alert from a Canadian fraud blog. You can find the alert here: http://avoidaclaim.com/?p=3025  In my case, they tailored the email to indicate that the target company was based in Moorpark. These are not simple bot emails spamming attorneys found on the Internet. They are spending some time crafting details that could be convincing to local attorneys.

Please be careful as these scams can create great liability issues for attorneys and have already done so.  Do you know if the State Bar or any other organization maintains any database regarding these scams to help attorneys ferret them out? If not, do you think it would be advisable and manageable for the Ventura County Bar Association to begin keeping such a database and posting them on the VCBA website? If so, I would be interested in helping organize and lead such an effort. These emails and phone calls are becoming a big problem in our community and could lead to serious problems for VCBA members.

Joshua A. Burt has a solo practice in Ventura. He advises clients about intellectual property and employment and handles civil litigation, including personal injury.

VCBA understands the demands of a modern-day law practice. We are pleased to offer our busy members online continuing legal education. As a VCBA member, you can enjoy streaming video programs and earn participatory units from the comfort of your home or office. We invite you to explore our wide variety of courses.

Current online CLE programs:

Ethical Considerations in Estate Planning
1.0 Ethics | 1 Hour and 27 Minutes
Participants will explore:
• Performing competent legal services
• Identifying the client
• Avoiding conflicts of interest
• Distinguishing between privileged and non-privileged communications
• Establishing reasonable attorney’s fees

Securities Litigation and Enforcement: What To Expect In 2012
1.0 General | 1 Hour and 25 Minutes
Participants will explore:
• Dodd Frank litigation and enforcement
• SEC priorities and actions
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Where are all the securities class actions?

Avoiding Addiction and Substance Abuse Through Meditation
2.0 General | 1 Hour and 54 Minutes
Topics
There is no doubt that lawyers experience a great deal of stress in their daily lives. The combination of unrelieved stress and unconscious craving often contribute to substance abuse and addictive behaviors. The practice of meditation can help make us aware of our habitual patterns, while alleviating our stress and cravings.
During the workshop, we will spend some time in silent meditation and some in guided meditation. We will also examine the roots of addictive behaviors, and talk about a four-step model that can be used to interrupt the usual cycle of addictive behavior.

Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Monitoring
1.0 General | 1 Hour
Participants will explore:
• Discussion of alcohol abuse and addictions
• Discussion of testing methods for both
• Using technology and treatments to effect behavioral change
• Family courts can have evidence re: if either issue is present or clients can have proof of abstention

Expand Your Practice: Learn How to Handle a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case
3.0 General | 196 Minutes
Participants will explore:
This is a how-to-do-it program. By the end of the seminar you will have a basic understanding of Chapter 11 practice, from client intake to entry of the final decree closing the case. You will possess the tools you will need to handle a Chapter 11 case.
It is intended for:
• All lawyers whose clients are adversely affected by the Great Recession
• Any business, real estate, or commercial lawyer whose clients are encountering insolvency, their own or others
• Chapter 7 and 13 lawyers whose clients can’t meet Chapter 13 eligibility requirements and for whom Chapter 11 may be their only alternative

Other CLE’s include…
 Take A Tax Holiday: Understanding Tax-Free Acquisitions of Private Corporations
 Recent Developments in Business Bankruptcy
 Recent Developments in Elder Law Litigation
 California Tackles Climate Change: The Context and Prospects for Cap and Trade Regulation of Greenhouse Gases in California Under Assembly Bill 32
 Effective Advocacy at Mediation: How to Maximize Your Client’s Chances for Settlement
 How To/Can You Make A Living Representing Clients In Foreclosures
 View the complete catalog

By Joshua S. Hopstone

When did you last give a thought to the Maxims of Jurisprudence? Civ. Code, §§3509 – 3548. Codified in 1872, those quaint proverbial sayings exemplify some of our most fundamental legal canons. “The greater contains the less.” §3536. “Time does not confirm a void act.” §3539. “No one should suffer by the act of another.” §3520. You can read them all in two minutes, and I suggest you do; they may bring you a smile.

What is puzzling, though, is why the Legislature found it necessary to formally codify them. Sir James Mackintosh said “Maxims are the condensed Good Sense of Nations.” (This phrase became the motto of Herbert Broom’s Legal Maxims (1839)). Condensed, certainly. And by their own terms, they are “intended not to qualify any of the foregoing provisions of this [Civil Code], but to aid in their just application.” §3509. But if they are so universal, why did they need to be permanently branded in the Civil Code? Do the Maxims today satisfy their stated purpose of aiding us in the just application of the law? What is their role in modern jurisprudence?

Maxims “are phrases, solemn and imposing in form, which seldom or never render any real assistance in the solution of a legal puzzle; but on the contrary actually retard that solution. They are mere truisms; or mere identical propositions; or moral precepts; or principles of legislation; but not working rules of law.” Jeremiah Smith, The Use of Maxims in Jurisprudence, 9 Harv. L. Rev. 13, 14 (1895). In other words, while the Maxims
undoubtedly provide us a unique glimpse into the historical foundation of our common sense of equity, justice, and individual freedom – the very fabric of our society – conceptually, they are not “law” because they are not enforceable.

Consider section 3514: “One must so use his own rights as not to infringe upon the rights of another.” Sounds great, right? (Besides the fact that if such was the reality many of us litigators would be out of a job…).  It seems, though, more a statement of universal morality than a concrete law – something that should “go without saying” instead of requiring a code section to be applicable.

Smith wrote that this maxim, “‘Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas,’ is mere verbiage. A party may damage the property of another where the law permits; and he may not where the law prohibits; so that the maxim can never be applied till the law is ascertained; and, when it is, the maxim is superfluous.” “This affords no aid…in determining whether the act complained of is actionable, that is, unlawful. It amounts to no more than a truism: An unlawful act is unlawful.” Smith, supra, 9 Harv. L. Rev. at 14-16.

Continue reading – March 2012 CITATIONS

Joshua S. Hopstone is an associate at Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP in Ventura whose practice spans family law, business litigation, and appeals.

Members of the Bench and Bar will gather on March 27th for VCTLA’s annual Judges’ Night. VCTLA invites all to join its members as it honors retired Judge Charles W. Campbell for his service as trial judge in People v. McInerney, at the dinner event held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Oxnard. The evening will also include the presentation of a portrait of retired Judge Ken W. Riley. The portrait will be placed in Courtroom 22.

• Please mail reservations with check payable to VCTLA to P.O. Box 5292, Ventura, CA 93003
• Questions? Contact Gregory Johnson, VCTLA Treasurer at (805)988.3661