Her job as an appellate attorney generally does not involve making people laugh, but Lisa Spillman can report with glee that many of the 200-strong audience in February at the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club guffawed at her antics about being a lawyer, mom and wife. Her performance capped a great six-week Stand-up Comedy Class. If you’d like to give it a try call 805.644.1500… Think a JD is only for law practice? If so, about 100 pre-law students disagree with you. Half of more than 200 pre-law students responding to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep said they plan to use their law degree in a non-traditional legal field. 43 percent said they plan to use their law degree to pursue a job in the business world. Among the students who planned to use their degrees in non-traditional fields, 58 percent said the current job market factored into their decision. Statistics paint a bleak picture of employment. A recent ABA report found that only 56 percent of 2012 law school grads had found full-time, long term jobs that require bar passage…Joe Strohman’s 30th year with Ferguson Case Orr Paterson was April 13…

Speaking of FCOP, Meghan Clark was named one of the Top 50 Women in Business by the Pacific Coast Business Times and Eric Hirschberg joined the firm as an associate March 18…When a cell phone rang during a prosecutor’s closing argument in a domestic violence trial, a Michigan judge didn’t have to look far to find the culprit. It was Chief look far to find the culprit. It was Chief Ionia District Judge Raymond Voet himself who was to blame. He had recently gotten a new phone and apparently didn’t lock it properly before court. He also had trouble turning it off, as it offered him suggestions about voice dialing. “I got very embarrassed, and I’m sure my face turned red.” “I thought it would never happen to me.” The judge is known for being a stickler about cell phones and has signs posted outside his courtroom warning the public that individuals face a $25 fine and could lose their electronic device if it goes off during a hearing. Voet held himself in contempt and walked downstairs during a court recess to pay the same $25 fine he imposes on other offenders…Panda Kroll published an article in Westlake Magazine about pitfalls to avoid when couples buy a home: “Can’t Wait for the Wedding to Buy Your Dream House? Heed These Traps for Unwary Dreamers.”…

Cuba? Dick Hanawalt at 642.0179 or attorneyhanawalt@sbcglobal.net…Rural law practice will become more lucrative for some South Dakota lawyers under a new law passed last month. The pilot program will pay participating lawyers $12,000 a year to work in rural areas. Each lawyer will have to make a five-year commitment and will have to work in a county with a population of 10,000 or less. Only 16 lawyers can participate in the pilot project. The rural counties will pay 35 percent of the incentive payment, the State Bar of South Dakota will pay 15 percent and the state will pick up the remainder. Currently 65 percent of the lawyers in South Dakota live in four urban areas…License Plates of the Month: 5K LAWYER on a 2007 LS 460 Lexus piloted by Richard Ross and LIBESQ on a 350 Lexus driven by Libby Barrabee…

Loyal Frazier passed away on March 11. He graduated from USC School of Law in 1953 and was president of the bar association in 1973. Please make every attempt to participate in our 30th Annual Law Day 5K Race scheduled for May 18, beginning at 8:30 a.m. FREE breakfast courtesy of El Pescador and loads of raffle prizes including stays at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn and  Spa, Montecito Inn, and the Four Seasons Biltmore. Check out the brochure stuffed inside this month’s edition of CITATIONS or register on-line at www.active.com. Proceeds benefit the vcba/vlsp, inc. too…

Mark your calendars – The Real Property Section will host a CLE luncheon at the Tower Club May 22. Entitled “Handling Foreclosures Following Senate Bill 900,” the event should be compelling and educational. Lastly, the newly established Natural Resources Section will conduct its inaugural luncheon May 15 at the bar offices. Kudos to Giselle Goetz for organizing! Contact Nadia at 650.7599 to register or bar@vcba. org. Better yet, go to www.vcba.org, click Calendar & MCLE, and you are there…

Steve Henderson is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Ventura County Bar Association and its affiliated organizations since November 1990. Henderson is currently penning fewer words this month because of a torn achilles tendon. He may be reached at steve@vcba.org, FB, Twitter at  @stevehendo1 or @vcba1, or better yet, 650.7599.     

Mathew Purcell of Wolpert Niedens and Purcell is moving to Washington State and took the state’s bar exam in February. He will be sorely missed and the Law Offices of Marsha Niedens are pleased to welcome Jennifer Groce as an associate attorney. Jennifer will continue to handle family law, guardianships, adoptions and criminal matters. She may be reached at 987-8809 or niedenslaw@yahoo.com …An Arkansas lawyer who missed a scheduled court hearing on the day the state’s Attorney General admitted that the two had had an “inappropriate” extramarital relationship has been held in contempt and fined $100. Attorney Andrea Davis of Hot Springs was upset about the December announcement by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who was then running for governor, and didn’t think she’d be able to focus on the Garland County Circuit Court case, said her lawyer, Jeff Rosenzweig…Paul Zahn is a new daddy! Katelyn Emma was born February 26 at 12:23 p.m. weighing-in at seven pounds and one ounce. Momma Erica doing very well…

Four years after meeting in an elevator in Mammoth, Rick Becker and Katie Hause got married on Saturday, March 9, at the Carondelet House in Los Angeles. They are headed to France on Memorial Day for almost three weeks…The law firm with the most lawyers in Los Angeles County is not O’Melveny & Myers, and it’s not not O’Melveny & Myers, and it’s not Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. The largest firm, according to a ranking and a story by the Los Angeles Daily Journal, is “low key” Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. Lewis Brisbois has 271 lawyers in the county, compared to 260 lawyers at O’Melveny, 257 lawyers at Gibson Dunn, 223 lawyers at Latham & Watkins, and 200 lawyers at Sheppard Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Lewis Brisbois has added 61 lawyers in the last five years, while O’Melveny has shrunk by 110 lawyers…Dick and Georgie Regnier, part of a sixteen-member team of California Rotarians, went to Northern India for NID (National Immunization Day) February 24, and provided polio vaccine to children under five to help eradicate polio worldwide…

Jim Griffin’s correct new email address is jamesgriffin@waiconnor.com not jimgriffin blab bla bla…A longtime Washington, D.C., criminal defense lawyer portrayed by a prosecutor as a serial violator of legal ethics rules was sentenced March 14 to 63 months in federal prison for presenting staged photographs and perjured testimony as evidence at a client’s drug trial. A defense lawyer for Charles Daum had sought a one-year prison term, while the government urged U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler to sentence him to the 78 months at the top of the federal sentencing guidelines range that applied to his case. His 63-month sentence was at the bottom of the guidelines range. Kessler said the “shocking” crime had threatened the integrity of the justice system…Carol Woo and Maureen Houska launched Woo/Houska LLP March 1. They may be found at 5700 Ralston Street, Suite 311, in Ventura. Congrats may be made at cwoo@woohouska.com or mhouska@woohouska.com. Indeed, they may also be reached at 658-6300…

DK Law Group announced that Deborah Meyer-Morris has joined the firm’s litigation practice. Her new email address is dmm@dk4law.com or call 988-4848…Court proceedings can be excessively boring; not every hearing can be like an episode of Judge Judy. But if you’re the judge, you’re kinda being paid to pay attention – and you are certainly not being paid to IM your wife that plaintiffs are “acting crazy.” The ABA Journal reports that a New Mexico judge has resigned after admitting he sent “excessive and improper” IMs to his wife, also a court employee, during work. Judge Eugenio Mathis admitted he used the court’s internet to send IMs to his wife that included shit-talking other judges and “judicial statements” about cases that had yet to be settled. The New Mexico Judicial Studies Committee also alleges that Judge Mathis sent sexually explicit IMs to his wife during court time, including one that said, “Don’t come knocking if the jury room is rockin’.”…Thomas P. Lowe, a divorce lawyer in Eagan, Minn., has been barred from practicing law for the next fifteen months. Lowe recently admitted to having sex with a client – and then billing her for her time! The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Lowe and the woman had known each other since 1985,  but that the affair took off in August 2011, when she approached him to represent her in a divorce. Several days after agreeing to represent her, Lowe reportedly asked if she would be interested in having sex (which is clearly against the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers). Read the entire post at www.thelaw.net/?p=627 …License Plate of the Month: PITZKLE on a 2006 Mini Cooper captained by Cheri Elson. What’s it mean? Tiny in Yiddish.

England or Scotland? Cheri Elson at 504-4828 or cheri@elsonlawfirm.com…First time daddy Tom Adams tells us Eloise Zucca Adams was born at 8:04 p.m. on March 11 weighing-in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces (ouch). Mother Kelly just fine and dandy.

Steve Henderson has been the executive director and chief executive officer of the bar association and its affiliated organizations since November 1990. He successfully procured thousands of dollars in March Madness bracketology. Additionally, he will be spending the third weekend of April in the Big Apple visiting Carmelo. He may be reached at steve@vcba.org, FB, Twitter at @stevehendo1 or @vcba1, or better yet, 650-7599.

Jeeeeez. As you are well aware, my fact checking does not include snopes.com. In fact, if it’s good enough for the ABA Journal, New York Times, or the Boston Globe, then it’s good enough for me. Another bad habit of mine? If the information comes along by way of an attorney, I typically accept the info/tip to be accurate. In the case of my Winnebago tale, the 2012 Stella Award winner was complete fiction. So, hats off to the 20-plus of you who contacted me (mostly trial lawyers of course) and let me know I was perpetuating the Chamber of Commerce rantings. Keep your eyes peeled to subsequent editions of this fine magazine, as I’m quite sure fabrications shall happen again. My bad…Recommended Book of the Month: My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor. 315 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $27.95. Milan, Italy? Kevin Staker at kgs@staker.com or 482.2282…

Sam Gasowski is a dad again, welcoming in Emme Elaine on Dec. 16 and weighing in at eight pounds, six ounces. Mother Susan doing well while older brother, Otto, has embraced new sister…Once again, a public library has been sued for gently asking a patron to leave because his body odor was provoking complaints. George Stillman, 80, filed a $5.5 million lawsuit in October against the New York Public Library for being “humiliated” by the staff of the St. Agnes branch in Manhattan. Stillman said he views body odor as a mere “challenge to the body odor as a mere “challenge to the senses” and “a fact of life in the city.” That said, he also denied that he had any body order at all, but a New York Post reporter interviewing him about the lawsuit said she noted “a strong odor.”…License plate of the Month: NGLY LAW on a new 750 BMW LI and piloted by John Negley… Nancy Schreiner was installed on Jan. 26 to serve as Chair of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce…

Bar friend Ron Gill has not renewed his membership after 45 years, preferring to play the trumpet instead in the Camarillo Community Orchestra…As of Feb. 16 and after five years, Robert Sawyer will no longer be affiliated with Best Best & Krieger. He may be reached at rsawyer@isle.net or 916.402.6938…Court of Appeal Division Six research attorney Susan Seemiller also completed the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando on Jan. 13. It was her first marathon (yes, you do run through Cinderella’s Castle) and her husband Jim’s 46th!…

Two bar members, the father and son team of Richard Marks and Kyle Marks of Westlake Village, were appointed as Adjunct Professors of Law at Southwestern Law School. Kyle has been selected for inclusion in the Super Lawyers-Rising Stars Edition 2013. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in the state receive this honor…Felicia Liberman has been selected President of the Tri-Counties Government Attorneys Association. She is an Assistant City Attorney for Simi Valley. Andy Viets was chosen Vice-President while Charmaine Jackson is the Secretary-Treasurer…

Larry Hines, of Nordman Cormany et al., has recently published his second legal thriller, “Shattered Justice.” In his second novel, Hines continues with his theme of delving into the dark side of our justice system. His first novel was entitled, “The Beneficiary.” Larry is also the founder and president of Nadine Griffey Academy of Kenya. Larry may be reached at 479.0994 or lhines@nchc.com…

London and the United Kingdom? Lawrence Noble at 658.6266 or Lawrence@noble4law. com…James Griffin will be working as a trial attorney with Wai & Conner effective March 1 in the Westlake office. The firm’s main office is in Los Angeles. It has 45 lawyers and specializes in workers’ compensation, representing employers and insurance carriers in workers’ compensation defense. Jim may be reached at jimgriffin@waiconner. com or 818.597.8000. His address is 5743 Corsa Ave., Suite 107, Westlake Village…

Make every effort to attend the Barristers’ Annual Dart Night scheduled for March 21, beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside Garman’s Restaurant & Pub. Proceeds benefit the VCBA/VLSP, Inc. and the charge is a paltry $10…Additionally, calendar March 26 for the VCTLA Judges’ Night. As part of the celebration, VCTLA will honor Judge Rebecca S. Riley as 2013 Judge of the Year, and Judge John Hunter with the unveiling of a formal portrait to be hung in Court Room #22 of the Hall of Justice. Lastly, Judge Glen Reiser will present “State of the Probate Court” March 28. This reaches capacity early, so go to www.vcba.org or call Nadia at 650.7599 to register. There will be NO at- the-door registrations…

Emeritus Attorney extraordinaire Earl Price died February 20. Earl single-handedly raised hundreds of  thousands of dollars for the VCBA/VLSP, Inc. and was a valuable resource in the office and on the board of Trustees. Services are March 3, beginning at 12:30 p.m. inside the Temple Adat Elohim…

Let the Madness begin!

Steve Henderson has been the executive director and chief executive officer of the bar association and their affiliated organizations. Additionally, he is the President and CEO of snopes.com and is a second cousin to ‘Lil Wayne and third cousin to Chris Bosh. He may be reached at steve@vcba.org, Twitter @stevehendo1 or @vcba1, FB, or better yet, 650.7599.

A trust has been established for Michael Lavenant’s three children, Brittany (12), Brianna (10), and Christian (7). Checks may be made payable to “Memorial Fund for Michael Lavenant” and mailed to County Commerce Bank, 2357-B, Pickwick Drive, Camarillo, Ca. 93010…Judge Gilbert Romero’s formal enrobement ceremony is scheduled for March 1 at 4 p.m. inside CR# 22…The 23rd Annual Strategic Planning Session of Bar Leaders is scheduled for Feb. 9, beginning at 8:30 a.m. inside the Courtyard by Marriott in Oxnard. Fifty board members and representatives from our sections, committees, affiliates, and friends will attend to chart our course for 2013- 2014 in addition to sharing information about their activities. The first session I orchestrated in 1991 was attended only by Bart Bleuel, Wendy Lascher, Roger Myers, Dennis LaRochelle, and Jim McBride at the Mandalay Bay in Oxnard…Annual Stella Awards (for those unfamiliar, these awards are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonalds in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee) for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. First Place? Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home from an OU football game, having driven on the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she could not actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her $1.75 million PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit…Please welcome Doug Bordner as the new President of the East County Bar Association. dabordner@sbcglobal.net or 496.0111… Probate and Estate Planning Section Chair, Amber Rodriguez was appointed by Judge Brian Back to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Ventura County Law Library…Lawyer John Tull nearly died after his diagnosis with bubonic plague during a visit to New York in November 2002. Tull fared worse than his wife, Lucinda Marker, who recovered in a few days. Tull was put in a medically induced coma and surgeons amputated his legs to curb the raging infections. “At one point I was on a respirator, I had a tracheotomy and a feeding tube. I was unconscious, and I was on a dialysis machine,” he told the New York Times. “Hell, I was hooked up to every damn machine in the hospital except the vacuum.” Authorities soon dispelled fears that the plague was related to terrorism. Tull and Marker were likely infected from fleas carried by a pack rat found on their property in Santa Fe, N.M., that summer. Today 63-year-old Tull drives his own car and goes on fishing trips. Have a nice day…Robert Ostrove had a letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times Dec. 14. Something about the Dodgers of course…

CITATIONS contributor Michael Sment has written “California Real Estate: Many Rules, Many New Laws, and the Top Ten Issues for Consumers,” a chapter in the recently published Representing Consumers in California Real Estate Transactions. In April, Mr. Sment will be teaching “Banking and Foreclosure Mediation,” a newly-created course for UCSB…In case you have been living in a cave – On Monday morning, Jan. 14, Justice Clarence Thomas broke nearly seven years of silence at the Supreme Court oral arguments. Problem is, what he said was apparently so funny that you had to be there. Really – the court’s official transcript didn’t catch his words. What we do know is that Justice Thomas was speaking to a lawyer representing the State of Louisiana. The State was arguing that its five-year failure to fund a lawyer for an indigent defendant facing the death penalty did not undermine the defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial. Before Thomas spoke in Boyer v. Louisiana, Justice Antonin Scalia was asking the state’s attorney about the competency and experience of the lawyers for the capital defendant, Jonathan Edward Boyer. After learning that the lawyers went to Harvard and Yale law schools, Scalia said, “Son of a gun.” Then Thomas spoke. According to the transcript, he said, “Well – he did not –,” followed by laughter. Louisiana’s lawyer then responded, “I would refute that, Justice Thomas.”…Tina Rasnow donated money to the Volunteer Lawyers Services Program, Inc. in honor of Emeritus Attorney Jerry Cline’s 77th birthday…

Welcome if you will, to the new co-chairs of the bar’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance, Ed Elrod and Kim Shean. They may be reached at edward.elrod.law@gmail.com and duffy-shean@sbcglobal.net …Kim is also a new member of the bar’s board of directors. Joining her are new board members Rachel Coleman, Rennee Dehesa, Kata Kim, Robert Krimmer, Susan McCarthy, and Kathryn Clunen…A real estate investment trust partner in the Dallas office of Locke Ford has the highest billing rate in a new survey – $1,285 an hour. The National Law Journal survey also revealed the lowest rate for associates – $130 at Dinsmore & Shohl based in Cincinnati…CITATIONS’ editorial board is looking for a few good lawyers to pitch in. Contact Managing Editor Wendy Lascher at  wlascher@fcoplaw.com or 659.6800…Also at FCOP, Bret Anderson and Leslie McAdam have been named partners and Lauren Sims has been hired as an associate…

Steve Henderson has been the executive director and chief executive officer of the bar association and its affiliated organizations since November 1990. He has indeed admitted to Oprah a seven-year doping issue in the ‘90s leading to humongous revenues for the bar. Additionally, his girlfriend may be reached at NotreDame.com. He may be reached at steve@vcba.org, FB, Twitter at stevehendo1 and vcba1, or better yet,650.7599.

Twenty new admittees were sworn-in during a ceremony December 4 inside Courtroom #22 and presided over by Judge Brian Back. Judge Back was capably assisted by Justice Arthur Gilbert who actually performed the oath. Thanks to Dien Le, Bob Krimmer, Kathryn Clunen, David Cunningham, and Jill Friedman who all spoke on behalf of their organizations. One lawyer came all the way from Washington D.C. and when I asked her why here, she stated she was in Mock Trial in Courtroom #22 nine years ago for La Reina HS…Kirkland & Ellis has a valuation nearing $4 billion, putting it at the top of a new ranking of the world’s most valuable law firms. American Lawyer found 33 firms have valuations above $1 billion. The four firms after Kirkland are Latham & Watkins, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Allen & Overy, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher…Joan Nordman, wife of the late

Ben E. Nordman, passed away November 20, three days after the Ben E. Nordman Award was presented at the bar’s annual Installation and Awards Dinner. The memorial service for Joan was held at the Las Posas County Club December 20…  

Long time bar member Don Leach died November 20. He was very involved in the probate bar and many times chaired the Estate Planning Council’s annual day-long program. What I didn’t know was Don had a perfect attendance record for more than 31 years in the Downtown Rotary Club. Don was a man of many accomplishments including a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service, a radio and TV broadcaster, a Marine Corps captain and a California Highway Patrol officer before passing the bar in 1989…A man who owes $50,000 in child support and $40,000 in interest was sentenced on December 3 to three years of probation with an added condition:  He may not procreate. Corey Curtis of Racine was sentenced after pleading no contest to jumping bail and failing to pay child support. The 44-year-old defendant has fathered nine children with six women. Judge Tim Boyle of RacineCounty began the hearing by saying it’s too bad he didn’t have the authority to order sterilization. The prosecutor then told Boyle that he did have the authority to restrict Curtis from having additional children, unless he could show the ability to pay, as a condition of probation. Minnesota Public Radio News found the 2001 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which also concerned a father of nine children accused of failing to pay child support. The U.S.  Supreme Court denied cert in that case… Jill Friedman, fresh off a run as  resident of the VC Women Lawyers, has accepted the role of chairperson of the Diversity Bar Association…New president of Women Lawyers is Charmaine Buehner and Katie Hause is President-Elect/Treasurer, while Rebeca Mendoza will serve as VP. Robert Guerra remains Secretary…

Remember – If you are in Group 1 (A-G), your MCLE is due by Feb. 1, 2013. Take advantage of the bar’s many CLE events this month, especially the VCTLA Masters’ meeting for 3 hours January 17!…A West Virginia judge accused of yelling at litigants didn’t help his case during a hearing in November before the state’s Judicial Hearing Board. The hearing board is recommending Judge William Watkins be kept off the bench for the rest of his term. According to the opinion, Watkins showed his displeasure when a complainant addressed the hearing board and asked Watkins to face him. The chairman of the hearing board told the complainant the request was improper. “Despite what appeared to be the advice of his counsel that he not do so,” the hearing  board wrote, Watkins “turned in his chair, leaned back, crossed his arms, and glared at complainant in an angry and confrontational manner.” Watkins’s demeanor, the board said, made his expressed remorse for repeated instances of angry courtroom behavior appear, “less than sincere.”  

If you are seeking a job with a boutique law firm in Ventura and have at least five years of business or business litigation experience, send me your résumé at steve@vcba.org .l.. Censured earlier this year for texting a shirtless photo to a court employee, a Michigan judge is now the focus of new allegations that he had a relationship with a witness in a child-support case he presided over. The claimed relationship apparently came to the attention of authorities when 3^rd Circuit Judge Wade McCree complained to Wayne County prosecutors that the woman, Geniene Mott, was stalking and extorting him, the Detroit News reports. Prosecutors declined to bring charges against Mott, but referred McCree back to the Judicial Tenure Commission concerning his dealings with her. She says she began seeing McCree while he was overseeing her child-support case and became pregnant with the judge’s child…

New officers for the Mexican American Bar Association include Lou Kreuzer, President; Loraine Bailon, Vice-President; Claudia Calderon, Secretary; and Robert Gonzales, Treasurer. Rennee Dehesa will remain on the board after a stellar year guiding the organization…A divided Louisiana Supreme Court has OK’d a recommended two-year law license suspension for an attorney who charged a client nursing home resident her usual rate of $125 per hour to perform non-legal services such as running errands. Katherine Guste charged an unreasonable fee and took advantage of her client, the majority found in an opinion…Banned in 2010 from issuing opinion letters concerning so-called Pink Sheet stocks, a Florida lawyer has been accused of using another attorney’s identity in order to continue doing so. In a civil suit filed in December in federal court in New York City, the Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Guy Jean-Pierre, 53, of using the identity of his niece, who is also an attorney, without her knowledge or permission and falsifying her signature on opinion letters. Jean-Pierre is a 1985 graduate of ColumbiaLawSchool… 

Steve Henderson has been the executive director and chief executive officer of the bar association and its affiliated organizations since November 1990. The only funny thing he has to say is that he may be reached at steve@vcba. org, FB, Twitter at stevehendo1 and vcba1, or better yet, 650.7599.