Summer is upon us. The long, lazy days of warm sun and cool ocean breezes. Plenty of time to relax, enjoy life and take it easy. Yeah, right.

There are few of us over the age of 8 that actually take the summer off. Apparently, the world has realized what I have known for years – it’s really hard to relax! This seems to have become especially true for students. If high school students aren’t working a summer job, they are looking for things to fulfill their community service credits for school, or things that will enhance their college applications. Undergraduate and graduate students are also interested in gaining work experience in preparation for graduation, and in today’s economic climate you can pick up some remarkable talent for virtually nothing.

After completing my first two years of college at U.C. Irvine, I decided to transfer and complete my undergraduate work at UCLA. At the time, UCI was still largely a commuter school, and even though I loved my two years there, and made some of my closest lifelong friends, the school simply couldn’t compete with the lure of Westwood. Plus, I had decided to go to UCI – at least in part – because I thought I wanted to go into some kind of computer science career. What was I thinking? My ‘D’ in calculus my freshman year pretty much knocked that idea out of my head. Plus, computers were fun and all, but they were clearly just a flash in the pan, and not something one should make a career out of.

Along with everything else that UCLA had to offer, they had a vibrant summer internship program. When I transferred, I changed my major to political science, and applied through the program for an internship in Washington, D.C. The D.C. students were placed in different internship programs with government agencies all over the city, and I was placed in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. I recall there being about ten of us from different schools around the country in the Voting Section, and we spent our summer at the DOJ, helping
to enforce the Voting Rights Act. We would call districts around the country where people had complained about problems voting, or where there was a demonstrated history of challenges, gather information and pass it on to those in the Section who supervised us for the summer. In some cases, we would follow up to find out if earlier problems had been corrected.

At the time, I was naïve enough to think that things I had only read about in my history books were a thing of the past. Yet there I was, a 21-year-old UCLA student from Southern California, talking on the phone with people in Mississippi or Georgia about their challenges trying to vote. I’ve never missed voting in an election since that summer.

Early on in the summer, the Civil Rights Division held a reception for all the summer interns. Along with the undergraduate students, there were also graduate students working in different places, and the reception hosted all of us. We had heard rumors that John F. Kennedy, Jr., a student at NYU School of Law at the time, was interning at the DOJ over the summer, but it was never confirmed, and we certainly never expected that he would show up at the reception to mingle, nibble on cubed cheese and crackers, and make idle chitchat.

I was talking to a small group of girls, all of whom were interning in the section with me. Shortly into the reception, we felt the whole dynamic in the feeling of the room change. Even though I hadn’t seen him, I knew he was there. He was one of those people who exuded such confidence and presence, he changed the feeling in the room the moment he walked into it. You could feel it. I guess you’d say he had personal magnetism, and here he was, headed right for our small group.

“Hi, I’m John.” And he shook my hand.

No, you’re not “John.” You’re John F. Kennedy, Jr.!! Texting wasn’t around in 1987, but it was a definite OMG moment. I introduced myself and he spent a few minutes talking to us before he politely excused himself and moved on. Idle chitchat.

Some weeks later I was on my lunch hour at the Old Post Office building, an historic D.C. building that had been turned into a venue for shopping, restaurants and entertainment. After doing my shopping, I was walking through the food court with my lunch and a book, and as I was scanning the room for an empty table, I passed by John. He was sitting alone at a table, simply eating his lunch. I think it was Chinese. I’m sure I had that stupid look on my face that he probably saw a million times a day when recognition hit people.

“Oh, hi Kendall.”

Seriously, this guy is unbelievable. He remembered my name? And was polite enough to say hello, not put his head down to avoid having to talk to people?

I said hello and we chatted for a minute about our summer work. No, he didn’t ask me to sit down and have lunch with him, thank God, and I never ran into him again after that. But I’ll never forget my internship in D.C. that summer.

Three years later found me at the end of my first year in law school at Southwestern University School of Law. My dad had died suddenly in August of the previous year, just as I was beginning orientation week at Southwestern. His death was shocking and unexpected, but I managed to make it through my first year, and actually came out better than expected academically. But I had no interest in staying in Los Angeles for the summer, and wanted to come home and spend some time with my mother. Plus, there was this guy named Andrew that I had met the year before who was living in Santa Barbara, and being in Camarillo would shave an hour off our commute time to see each other.

My mother made some calls to inquire about summer job opportunities for me, and I ended up in an internship at the Ventura County Public Defender’s office, working under the supervision of Duane Dammeyer. I didn’t know if I was interested in a criminal law practice. In fact, at the time, I didn’t know if I was even going to practice law at all once I got out of law school, but this opportunity was something totally new for me, and I was happy for the experience.

That summer, Duane and his colleagues were defending Gregory Scott Smith, a young man accused of the murder of Paul Bailly, an 8-year-old boy who had gone missing from his daycare center in Northridge and been found hours later near Simi Valley. Greg Smith was accused of killing the little boy during a kidnap, and setting his body on fire. The charges would result in the death penalty if he were convicted. The circumstances of Paul’s death were horrific. Again, my naiveté: Can people really do things like this?

I’m assuming that Duane needed all the help he could get for this case, or he just simply was looking for a task that would keep his first year law clerk out of the way. Either way, my very first task in my very first assignment at the office was to sort through the crime scene photos in preparation for the preliminary hearing. It was horrible, as you can imagine. Some of those images have stayed with me to this day.

I moved on to other tasks in other assignments in the Public Defender’s office, but obviously none of them affected me as much as that first assignment. Aside from the impact of the crime and my small task in the defense of the accused, the lawyers defending Greg Smith impressed me. They were committed to making sure their client received the representation to which he was constitutionally entitled, and I learned, in a real world way, to appreciate the impact of the law I had learned during my first year of law school.

20 years have passed since I was at the Public Defender’s office. Duane went on to become Public Defender, and retired earlier this year after 35 years with the office. Greg Smith pled guilty and was sentenced to death. I never practiced criminal law.

Life is a delicate balance. “They” constantly inundate us with dos and don’ts, and it seems impossible to make the right decisions to maintain the balance: Eat healthy, but red wine and dark chocolate are OK; get plenty of exercise, but don’t overdo it; a good night’s sleep is good for you, but too much is linked to diabetes and heart disease. Keeping the proverbial balls in the air is an acquired skill, and one that increases in difficulty as we take on more in life.

Perhaps nobody understands the challenges of maintaining balance better than the working mother. And before you roll your eyes and flip the page, no, this column isn’t going to be a Helen Reddy-I-am-woman-hear-me-roar anthem to the working mother. I can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan as good as the next girl, but God knows I couldn’t do it alone. I know there are plenty of sleep- deprived, devoted working fathers out there, and I am blessed to be married to one of the best of them. And I know it’s not just dads either. There are grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings and lots of loving, kind people who step up every day to care for children.

But the working mother’s journey is different and special, quite simply because we are women. And despite the amazing advances we’ve made in just a generation, traditional, societal precepts still consider the child-rearing duties to fall on the mom. This is the ultimately “either/or” choice for us: Be a mother, but have a career. Every working mother has felt the tug.

So when I hear about women finding a way to keep the work-home balance in check, I’m intrigued. And when I hear about their employer making the right choices to help them keep that balance, I’m impressed.

Maureen Byrne and Tricia Koenig are both Deputy District Attorneys in the Family Protection Unit of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, and they are job-share partners. Job- sharing isn’t a new concept, and I have heard about successful job-sharing arrangements before in other professions. Lots of teachers job-share, and so do many other technical, administrative and clerical positions. But I had never before heard of a job-sharing arrangement between lawyers, and I certainly wouldn’t have guessed that it would have been with two prosecutors. (Ed. Note: Laurel McWaters and Julia Snyder also job-share in the District Attorney’s Office).

It wasn’t the practice of law that brought Maureen and Tricia together as job-share partners. It was motherhood. Both were working as prosecutors in the office of then- District Attorney Michael Bradbury, and both were mothers of young twins. They felt a need to work less so they could be at home with their children more. So, like other good lawyers, they did their research, investigated, and came up with a proposal that was approved by the office. That was more than 10 years ago, and Maureen and Tricia have been successful job-share partners ever since. They have paved the way for other women lawyers in the office who also job share and have part time arrangements.

They work exclusively in the Domestic Violence court, and handle a busy calendar that includes arraignments, violations of probation, sentencings and other duties that relate to felony and misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and child abuse. They currently split their week, one working Mondays, Tuesdays and every other Friday, while the other picks up Wednesdays, Thursdays and the alternate Fridays. Their individual hours together constitutes one full-time Deputy District Attorney position, and all elements of their employment are split right down the middle.

Obviously, the biggest benefit that both women gain from their job-share arrangement is more time at home with their families. They are acutely aware of how fast time goes by, and appreciate the additional time they have with their growing children. That’s no surprise to hear, and as any working parent can tell you, we have all had moments when we want to be at home more than we want to be in the office. But it was a surprise to hear that the children of these working mothers also appreciate the additional time mom has at home. Maureen and Tricia have each had experiences over the years when they could have returned to a full-time position. But when faced with that prospect, they both told me that their children (two 13-year-olds and an 11 year old for Maureen and two 15-year-olds for Tricia) were against the idea, and wanted mom to keep the part-time work. Very impressive, particularly for middle school aged children, who will typically go to great lengths to avoid being seen with their parents, let alone express a desire to spend time with them.

But the benefits of their job-sharing arrangement go beyond the obvious. Less work means less stress. Less stress leads to less burnout and more longevity in the position. This is particularly true for Maureen and Tricia, who are assigned to a hectic courtroom, in which they regularly see the worst of humanity. Burnout is a real issue for many lawyers, particularly among district attorneys and public defenders in these kinds of assignments. After being away from the courtroom for several days, Maureen and Tricia can approach it feeling renewed and refreshed, and both told me that it has kept them in the position longer than they naturally would have, had they been doing it full-time.

They both have a very high level of job satisfaction, more than a lot of attorneys I know who have been practicing as long. Their part-time schedule forces them to be efficient with their days, and they are both very appreciative of the support they have received for their arrangement over the years. Their position – which renews every two years under a written contract they have with the office – has been supported over the years not only by Mr. Bradbury’s successor, Gregory Totten, but also by their managers and supervisors over the years. They both are also grateful for the support they get from Judge Colleen Toy White, the presiding judge in Department 37. Judge White is “very, very supportive” of the job-sharing arrangement that Maureen and Tricia have. As a single mother, Judge White knows the challenges they face. She recalls the difficulties presented with juggling work and home – even getting out of the door in the morning can be a challenge, let alone tackling a demanding job. In her court, Judge White will schedule hearings for each individual on days she knows will be a “Tricia” day, or a “Maureen” day, and is willing to lend support to help them succeed in their arrangement. But such assistance has never really been necessary, and it only makes sense, Judge White says, to support an arrangement that will help keep two bright, talented prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office.

Judge White told me that she definitely believes that the part-time schedule has allowed Maureen and Tricia to keep their passion for the job. From the standpoint of the District Attorney’s Office and the court, Judge White says that Maureen and Tricia each give far more than their 50 percent to the job. She sees their job efficiency and believes that their success is due in large part to their part-time positions. She was also quick to mention that they are both excellent lawyers, which certainly has helped them make the case for continuing their job-sharing arrangement.

But, like any balance in life, the good comes with some bad, and both women recognize that there are definite drawbacks to the arrangement. Less work comes with less pay, and not everybody would be able to make the arrangement work for them financially. Both Maureen and Tricia are married – both to lawyers, in fact. A dual income household can get by with the arrangement, but a single parent household would have a much harder time making it work. And along with the reduced pay comes less retirement contribution. Tricia shared with me that she has been with the District Attorney’s Office 24 years, but only has 15 years accrued toward retirement. As their children get older, both women expect to return to full-time work anyway, but as they approach retirement increased hours will be a must in order to accrue the 20 years of service required for full retirement credit.

There are career drawbacks as well. Both women believe the job-sharing arrangement can work well in many different areas of the law, particularly for government lawyers. But it is very difficult to make it work well in a trial assignment, so the calendar assignment in Department 37 was a deliberate choice. Both women say they would love to be doing trials, and that the lack of trial work has impeded their career advancement. But it’s a trade-off that was well worth it, and both said that it was one they would make again.

I support Maureen and Tricia for making their choice, and I salute the County of Ventura for supporting this flexible work schedule. I give many thanks to Maureen Byrne and Tricia Koenig for sharing a little bit of their life with me, and to Judge Colleen Toy White for talking to me about this article.

President’s Post-Script: Thanks to a technical error, my teaser in last month’s column – designed to get you to support VLSP – failed to print. But not to fear! Participate in the fun by going to vcba.org and clicking “President’s Trivia.”

Thanks to a technical error, the teaser in the President’s Message of May’s Citations – designed to get you to support VLSP – failed to print.  But not to fear!  The title of my message was “The New Phonebook’s Here, The New Phonebook’s Here!!”  A donation to VLSP will be made in the name of the first reader to tell me the classic comedy from which this line came.  Post your answer in the comment section below!

As I sit down to write this column, I have just finished reviewing the new VCBA website. This has been a work in progress for many months, and there are probably dozens of metaphors I could use to describe the feeling I have about the launch of the new site. But I’ll spare you. As happy as I am about the new site, it simply doesn’t compare with the birth of my children, or the three-day brisket we barbeque for the Fourth of July. But it is a great new website, and I expect it to be up and running by May 15th.

Before we began the design of the new site, the IT committee and the VCBA staff spent time reviewing the current site. We talked to users to find out their likes and dislikes, and we also talked to people who work in IT to get a professional point of view on changes we had in mind. That process yielded a long list of complaints – an exercise not unlike the one I endure when my family reviews what I make for dinner, or when I have to buy a new bathing suit. In any event, it turned out to be the best way to go about designing the new site, and a lot of the constructive criticism yielded some great improvements. Here’s a bit of what you will find when you visit.

The home page and the overall look and feel of the new site are quite different from the old one. The new site has a polished look, and the links to find information are intuitive. The previous home page was criticized for being too cluttered, and for having too much information posted in a somewhat scattered fashion. The new home page is cleaner, and I think you will find it easier to find what you are looking for.

The new website was built using new technology – “behind the scenes” stuff that makes it easier to keep the page updated and current. So today, for example, as I write this, the Law Day 5K is given prominence. But once May is over, we quickly and easily can – and will – start to publicize the next big event. As visitors see regular changes to the home page, they should visit more often.

As you navigate through the new site, you will discover how much easier it is to find information you are looking for. Most of what was contained in the old site is still there, but some of the content may have changed location, and some of the less-frequently used information was omitted. We have also tried to make some of the data easier to review. For example, you no longer have to scroll down multiple times to review the lists of our sections, or of our board members – small changes, but ones that make the site easier to use, which will hopefully make it used more often.

So, we’ve put a new spin on some of the same old things. But we’ve also gone beyond that, and when you visit, you will find some entirely brand new features. One of the things that I’m most excited about is our new blog. The VCBA blog is the virtual town crier for our new website. It will become the place where our bar leaders can publicize upcoming events in their sections, or where members can educate others about their practice areas or developments in the law. Some of the content you regularly see in Citations – like the President’s Message – will become blog entries, along with some content that can’t fit into the hard copy of Citations. The blog will be an electronic companion to this publication, not a substitute for it, and will also serve our members who primarily like to get their information electronically. My goal is to get regular blog entries from each of our sections, committees and affiliates, as well as current and former bar leaders.

We also have an ongoing slideshow on the home page, featuring dozens of pictures from our various events. With 35 sections, committees and affiliates, and over 122 different continuing education events in 2009, we are indeed a vibrant bar association, and this is a way to showcase the many events that go on all year long. Like the blog, the slideshow will change, as the activities carry on through the year. And I promise to keep the embarrassing pictures of each of you to a minimum.

Please visit the new site, and keep coming back.

President’s Message Part Two: It’s Nice To Know At Least Somebody Reads This Column
In last month’s President’s Message, I shamelessly wished myself a happy birthday, and invited donations to VLSP in lieu of the swag that I know you would all send my way. It was at the very end of the column, so you had to hang in there for the whole thing to see it. And while I’m certain that each and every one of my faithful readers made it to the end of my column, there was only one of you that took me up on my offer. I give many thanks to Ben Schuck, for making a donation to VLSP of $25 in honor of my birthday. Although he might have thought his donation modest, if each member of VCBA did the same, we could raise over $30,000 for legal services in the county. For those of you who missed my birthday, not to worry. Mother’s Day is here.

That was the upshot of a particularly memorable conversation I had with my eldest daughter when she was about 6 or 7 years old. The conversation has come to my mind several times recently, thanks to our poor – although allegedly improving – economy. The conversation Julia and I had went something like this.

I was scheduled to sit as the judge pro-tem in probate a day or two later, and had to stop by the courthouse to drop off my tentative rulings, which were to be prepared and posted prior to my assignment date. Julia was in the car with me and we had just come from my office, my “real job.” This was one in a series of stops and errands, typical for a working mother of young children.

When she asked why we were stopping by the courthouse, I explained to her that it was something I had to take care of for work. “But I thought you worked at your office?” she asked.

“Well, I do, but I also sometimes work here, when the judge asks me to.”

“So, this is your office?”

“No, my office is where we just were, where Nita works.” Nita was our long-time secretary. “I just work here sometimes, when I need to be a judge for a day.”

“Did Grandma work here, too?” Now she’s getting seriously confused. My mom had retired a few years before this, and Julia knew that we had been in practice together.

“No, Grandma never worked here. She worked at my office, which used to be just her office. But when I grew up and went to law school, I decided to work with her at the office. Maybe one day when you grow up, if you decide to go to law school too, you can come to work at the office with me.”

After several moments of processing, Julia replied with a heavy sigh, “Yeah. Or I could just work at the mall.”

The trickle-down effect of the poor economy has touched all of us in some way, and it doesn’t come as news to any of us – practicing lawyers or those who support the practice of law – that we are in the same leaky boat as the rest of the world. Aside from the traditional results, such as layoffs, part-time work, reductions in benefits and the like, the economy has affected the legal field in ways that you don’t often hear about, but that cause one to consider the future of our profession.

The state of New Jersey came up with a novel way of increasing revenue without increasing their payroll. A hiring freeze prevented the New Jersey Attorney General’s office from hiring a replacement when one of their lawyers left. Seeing attorney positions in her office down about 25 percent, and knowing that lots of lawyers were looking for work, the New Jersey Attorney General created a volunteer program. While many of us have found ourselves unintentionally working for free lately, the New Jersey AG’s office has three full-time attorneys who volunteer their time for the debt recovery unit.

The volunteer attorney must commit at least 20 hours a week for three months, but most have stayed on for more beyond that commitment. The typical volunteer lawyer is a recent law school graduate who has not yet landed their first job, thanks to a shrinking pool of available positions. But the experience has paid off for both employer and employee. The volunteers are earning some valuable legal experience doing research, taking depositions, and occasionally sitting as second-chair in court, while the state of New Jersey has increased revenue not only by increasing the collections thanks to the extra help, but also by saving loads of money on salary and benefits.

In keeping with past down economies, certain sectors of crime have recently increased, and some California attorneys have sadly been the perpetrators. The California State Bar reports an increasing number of lawyers who will be disciplined this year for wrongdoing associated in some way with the recession. Clients who in the past might have been timely and diligent in paying their legal fees have turned into slow- or no- payers, making their lawyers more desperate themselves.

It is no surprise to learn that there has been an uptick in the traditional culprits that land attorneys before the State Bar Court, such as mishandling of client trust funds. In 2008, the State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel filed in State Bar Court 369 notices containing more than 650 different disciplinary charges – from the prior year, this represents a 15 percent increase in the number of notices filed, and 21 percent increase in the total number of charges contained in those notices. As of this writing, 2009 figures were not yet available.

But the recession itself spawned its own cottage industry – loan re-modifications. And sadly, there are dishonest attorneys always at the ready to assist. Under investigation are more than 1,200 loan modification cases where consumers have complained that their attorney promised to help and did nothing. In February, a Southern California lawyer gained the distinction of becoming the first California lawyer arrested due to alleged illicit loan modification activities. Christopher Lee Diener was charged with more than 100 felonies, including grand theft by false pretenses, conspiracy to commit grand theft, and perjury. If convicted, he faces up to 70 years in prison. But it’s not just licensed attorneys who find themselves out of work and out of options. In 2008, Harvard Law School launched a tuition waiver program for third-year students who agreed to commit their practice to public interest law for five years after graduation. For the first two years that the program was in operation, the university forgave partial tuition for participating students, and waived the full $40,000 tuition during the final two years. Late last year, Harvard announced that the program was suspended indefinitely to incoming students.

Harvard suffered an almost unfathomable loss in its endowment fund, down to $11 billion in 2009 from a high of $36.9 billion. The $25 billion loss coincided with a larger- than-expected turnout in students looking for public interest jobs, many of whom were no doubt interested in the field because the big law firms have cut back on hiring students, or postponed their start dates.

Self-described legal tabloids AboveTheLaw. com and LawShucks.com have teamed up to keep track of the layoffs since January of last year. According to those sites, since Jan. 1, 2008, more than 14,000 people, lawyers and staff, have been laid off by major law firms. The biggest hits came during the first quarter of last year, when about half of the total layoffs occurred. About 250 were laid off in the first two months of this year.

So what does all this mean? For one thing, Julia’s well-thought out plan for her future employment might not come to pass. She is now 14-years-old, and our average month sees us make multiple trips to the mall. Each time we walk through we see more and more empty storefronts. It sounded so simple, didn’t it? “I could just work at the mall.” I sadly suspect that the retail jobs in the local mall are now being sought after by some of the approximately 15,000 lawyers and staff who have lost their jobs in the last couple of years. Maybe she’ll have to go to law school after all.

“Well, what does the bar really do, anyway?” If you took a poll of past presidents of the bar, I’m quite certain this question would rank near the top on the list of questions people most often ask. And surprisingly, that question is posed even by people who you would think should know better – not only long-time attorneys in the county, but sometimes even judges and name partners in certain law firms that shall remain nameless. But you know who you are.

I must admit, in the years before I became involved in activities of the bar, I was among those asking that same question. Today, even though I like to think that I know a lot about the bar and all of its affiliated organizations, there are still occasions when I find the activity in the bar to be truly remarkable. When I think about our local association, I consider the mission to be fairly simple: education, fellowship and community service, a so-called “three-legged stool” which would fail to serve its purpose with one leg missing.

So, are those three legs solid? Early on a recent Saturday morning, 41 men and women – board members, sections leaders and others – gathered for the 20th Annual Ventura County Bar Association Bar Leaders Conference, and answered that question very clearly. Here is just a bit of what is going on in your bar association, and how you can get involved.

History: To give you some perspective, the 1st Annual Bar Leaders Conference in 1990 included just five people, only one of whom was a woman: Wendy Lascher, Tom Hinkle, Bart Bleuel, Dennis LaRochelle and Steve Henderson. This year, more than 40 people attended and half were women. In 1990, the VCBA Board of Directors topped out at 11, and we had 15 subsections. Today, we have 23 board members, and 35 distinct affiliated organizations. Both our membership and our annual budget have more than doubled in the last 20 years, but we have managed to not yet double the annual dues from the $75 members paid in 1990.

Sections: Whenever someone asks me what they can do to get involved with bar activities, my answer always includes a suggestion that they take a look at some of the almost three dozen different bar sections, committees and affiliates. Of course, they include sections devoted to continuing education in particular practice areas, such as bankruptcy, dispute resolution, business litigation, probate and estate planning, family law, employment law and intellectual property, to name a few. In 2009 the bar, through its affiliated organizations, offered 122 individual programs, providing 260 hours of continuing legal education. There are also a number of sections that foster support, mentoring and networking for their members, such as the Women Lawyers Association, the Mexican-American Bar

Association, and the East County Bar Association. Membership in any of these sections or their steering committees is welcome, and I encourage you to look into the ones that interest you.

I am grateful for the sections and committees that devote their activities to raising money for the bar. For over 25 years, Joe Strohman has organized the Law Day 5K, and raised thousands of dollars for the bar. Thanks to Don Hurley, the silent auction at the annual dinner routinely raises thousands of dollars for the Volunteer Lawyer Services Program (VLSP) each year. We also have Don to thank for volunteering to chair the newly-formed Bar Fundraising committee of VLSP, Inc., which is planning new fundraising opportunities this year, including a raffle for the Annual Dinner, and family barbeque in the spring or summer. I’m sure Joe would welcome another runner or two this year, and Don will always welcome an offer to help securing auction items.

Of course, we’re not all work and no play. Our Annual Dinner Committee, chaired this year by Eric Reed, organizes our annual November gathering to honor the recipient of the Ben E. Nordman Public Service Award, complete with dinner, dancing and a martini luge (you just have to see it to appreciate it). Barristers – open to attorneys 36 years of age or under, or who have been in practice seven years or less – aims to provide an outlet for social and community service activities for new attorneys, which they accomplish in large part with their monthly “Thirsty Third Thursday.” The Jerome H. Berenson Inns of Court offers mentoring, ethics education and improved trial skills by gathering monthly and presenting their “teachable moment” through fun skits and presentations. The Inns of Court has 80 members, and a waiting list each year.

Legal Support Sections: We are particularly fortunate in Ventura County to have a very close affiliation with both the Ventura County Paralegal Association (VCPA) and the Ventura County Legal Professionals

Association (VCLPA). Both organizations provide their members continuing education, host different social events during the year and generously donate the proceeds to VLSP. Be sure to watch for announcements about these events during the year.

Community Service: Ventura County lawyers should take particular pride in how much our members give back to the community. Several of our sections, including MABA and the Ventura County Asian-American Bar Association, award annual scholarships to law students, or those interested in the legal profession. For more than 30 years, the Court Tour Program has provided tours of the courthouse for more than 1,000 students annually. Run entirely by volunteers, the program provides an opportunity for the students to watch proceedings while court is in session, and exposes children to our system of justice. Contact the bar to find out information about becoming a docent for the Court Tour Program.

But no discussion of public service within the VCBA would be complete without mention of our highly regarded and honored VLSP, Inc. Over a span of almost 15 years, hundreds of lawyers have provided pro bono legal services to the low income and underserved population in the county. The backbone of the program is the panel of 13 emeritus attorneys, who screen prospective clients and then refer appropriate matters to counsel in the community. In 2002, our emeritus team of attorneys was awarded the California State Bar President’s Distinguished Pro Bono Service Award, in recognition of their commitment to provide or enable the direct provision of legal services to the poor in our county. As the needs of the community grow, so does the work of VLSP, which is always looking for willing volunteers.

Still not interested? There’s more! Call Wendy Lascher to contribute an article to this publication, or to serve on the editorial board. Volunteer to arbitrate an attorney- client fee dispute through the Client Relations Committee. Call Tony Strauss to participate in the long-range planning for the bar, or call me to find out information about serving on next year’s VCBA Board of Directors.

“Well, what does the bar really do, anyway?” At least next time somebody asks me that question, I’ll have it in writing.

Oh! I almost forgot. I promised you in my first article that my birthday month would have to be duly recognized. Consider it recognized. It’s the 6th and I don’t mind telling you that I’ll be 44. I’d happily accept gifts of cash and jewelry, but will instead ask you to forego the shopping and wrapping, and make a donation to VLSP in honor of the occasion.

I didn’t come by my appreciation for technology naturally. In fact, some might say I was genetically predisposed against it.

I didn’t grow up in a house that was particularly cutting-edge when it came to the newest technology. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that we didn’t enjoy our 8-track tape player and our Pong, it’s just that these things all required a certain level of mechanical ability, and those tasksusually the domain of the man in the housedidn’t fall on the list of my father’s favorite things. Anything with the words “some assembly required” printed on the box was to be avoided at all cost.
I remember when we got our first VCR (for the Barristers, let me explainthat’s an acronym for “video cassette recorder,” a primitive form of technology we used to watch a movie at home, before the DVD was invented). The excitement that was in the air at noon when my dad brought home the box was but a distant memory by 7 or 8 p.m. No hope of watching a movie that night or, for that matter, being able to tell the time by the front of the VCR. “Oh well,” my father sighed in frustration, “it will be right in six months.”

My mother’s mechanical abilities far exce- eded those of my father. My mother and I once spent the better part of an entire weekend assembling a reproduction of a suit of armor that had been given to my parents by a client. It arrived in a box that contained dozens of pieces, large and small, and my mother and I put the entire thing together ourselves. Of course, my dad supervised and, thanks to his frequent observations and suggestions, we didn’t have any parts left over when we finished. Carlos is still with usmy steadfast tin soldier, standing guard in my living room, a living and breathing testament to my technological and mechanical abilities. (OK, he’s not really living, I know that …but he gets presents at Christmas and a costume on Halloween, and since he never rolls his eyes at us or asks for anything, he is often the most-beloved member of our household).

Despite any aversion to technology I might have observed growing up, I was fortunate to have come of age in the Age of Technology. For my generation, the use of technology turned from an option into a requirement, both in school and beyond. As a freshman in college in the early 1980s, it was still big news when someone in my dorm got a computer, and I was thrilled with my first onea Tandy 1000 from Radio Shack that I got for Christmas. It got me through a few years of college, and would probably be worth far more today as a collectible than it ever was as a computer! Today it would be unthinkable to send a child off to college without a laptop, fully equipped with all measure of technology that I couldn’t have envisioned while working away on my Tandy 1000.

So with this questionable upbringing and immersion into technology, it might surprse you to learn that I am making technology the focus of my year as president. I owe thanks to my husband, Andrew, for helping me to not only learn about, but also appre- ciate, the various electronic and computing technologies we have today. Andrew’s tech- nological abilities come naturally to him, and he has used them to make a living for the last 20 years or so. Andrew never met a computer or piece of electronics he didn’t like, or couldn’t figure out how to use. In that respect, I didn’t marry my father, who only half-jokingly referred to the Yellow Pages as his toolbox.

When it has come to televisions, flat screen monitors, DVRs, wireless networ- king and countless other home and business technologies, over the years our family, thanks to Andrew, has become the Joneses in the neighborhood that you have to keep up with. It’s become my duty to balk at first, question the necessity, complain about the cost and wrinkle my nose at the instructions on use, and then a few short days later ponder how we ever lived without it.
My thoughts about what I would like to accomplish during my year as President overlapped with a major IT upgrade in my office. This started me thinking about how some of what I wanted to do at my firm could also be employed by the VCBA and, thanks to the creative energy and technological know-how from my husband, I decided to use an IT upgrade at the VCBA as a way to achieve some of the greater goals the organization hopes to achieve.
The starting point is a new website. The Bar underwent the first major redesign of its website during my first term on the VCBA board, in 2005, during Don Hurley’s presidency. I recall the board and bar leaders receiving an introduction to the redesign process, and looking at other state bar websites around the state. The process was fairly collaborative, and the redesign was developed within the standard of the time. Namely, it became the depository of information about the bar association, and visitors would go there to find out about the barits sections and committees, the upcoming events, local rules and practice, and the people serving as current directors or section leaders.
Most, if not all, of the information deposited onto the 2005 website is still there, along with some regular updates that have kept our calendar current, and the most “recent issue of Citations on the home page [Back issues may also be found on the websiteed.]. The current site is packed with information, much of it useful and relevant, and just about any question one may have about the bar can be found there
The challenge is that wethe “we” who consume this technologyhave become very savvy about how we use it. And when we seek it out, we are using it differently than before. For example, rather than just “surf” the web for fun or general information purposes, people are visiting particular sites for very particular reasons. If someone wants information about the Ventura County Bar Association, the first place they go will be our website, and they will want to know particular things about us. I want to deliver on their expectations, and it can’t be done with the current site which, judging against 2010 technology standards, is a bit of a dinosaurnot as much as my Tandy 1000 would be today, but deserving of an upgrade.
Thanks to the hard work of our IT committee, our fearless leader Steve Henderson, and my talented other half, we are close to unveiling the new site. I think you will find it to be more intuitive, easier to navigate, and generally more representative of the organization as a whole.
I have other goals in mind for the bar when it comes to technology this year, and the new website is just a starting point. In fact, many of us today don’t go to a website at all for our informationwe expect it to come to us, via a blog post, a Facebook update, or a ‘Tweet’ from a friend or colleague. My hope is that people who expect to get their information about the bar through those kinds of social media outlets will be doing so by the end of this year.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Twitter? Facebook? Blogs? These are words that weren’t even in the vocabulary during my DOS days. I wonder what my Dad would think of all this technology? I’ll go ask Carlos what he thinks.

I didn’t come by my appreciation for technology naturally. In fact, some might say I was genetically predisposed against it.

I didn’t grow up in a house that was particularly cutting-edge when it came to the newest technology. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that we didn’t enjoy our 8-track tape player and our Pong, it’s just that these things all required a certain level of mechanical ability, and those tasks – usually the domain of the man in the house – didn’t fall on the list of my father’s favorite things. Anything with the words “some assembly required” printed on the box was to be avoided at all cost.

I remember when we got our first VCR (for the Barristers, let me explain – that’s an acronym for “video cassette recorder,” a primitive form of technology we used to watch a movie at home, before the DVD was invented). The excitement that was in the air at noon when my dad brought home the box was but a distant memory by 7 or 8 p.m. No hope of watching a movie that night or, for that matter, being able to tell the time by the front of the VCR. “Oh well,” my father sighed in frustration, “it will be right in six months.”

My mother’s mechanical abilities far exce- eded those of my father. My mother and I once spent the better part of an entire weekend assembling a reproduction of a suit of armor that had been given to my parents by a client. It arrived in a box that contained dozens of pieces, large and small, and my mother and I put the entire thing together ourselves. Of course, my dad supervised and, thanks to his frequent observations and suggestions, we didn’t have any parts left over when we finished. Carlos is still with us – my steadfast tin soldier, standing guard in my living room, a living and breathing testament to my technological and mechanical abilities. (OK, he’s not really living, I know that …but he gets presents at Christmas and a costume on Halloween, and since he never rolls his eyes at us or asks for anything, he is often the most-beloved member of our household).

Despite any aversion to technology I might have observed growing up, I was fortunate to have come of age in the Age of Technology.

For my generation, the use of technology turned from an option into a requirement, both in school and beyond. As a freshman in college in the early 1980s, it was still big news when someone in my dorm got a computer, and I was thrilled with my first one – a Tandy 1000 from Radio Shack that I got for Christmas. It got me through a few years of college, and would probably be worth far more today as a collectible than it ever was as a computer! Today it would be unthinkable to send a child off to college without a laptop, fully equipped with all measure of technology that I couldn’t have envisioned while working away on my Tandy 1000.

So with this questionable upbringing and immersion into technology, it might surpri- se you to learn that I am making technolo- gy the focus of my year as president. I owe thanks to my husband, Andrew, for helping me to not only learn about, but also appre- ciate, the various electronic and computing technologies we have today. Andrew’s tech- nological abilities come naturally to him, and he has used them to make a living for the last 20 years or so. Andrew never met a computer or piece of electronics he didn’t like, or couldn’t figure out how to use. In that respect, I didn’t marry my father, who only half-jokingly referred to the Yellow Pages as his toolbox.

When it has come to televisions, flat screen monitors, DVRs, wireless networ- king and countless other home and business technologies, over the years our family, thanks to Andrew, has become the Joneses in the neighborhood that you have to keep up with. It’s become my duty to balk at first, question the necessity, complain about the cost and wrinkle my nose at the instructions on use, and then a few short days later ponder how we ever lived without it.

My thoughts about what I would like to accomplish during my year as President overlapped with a major IT upgrade in my office. This started me thinking about how some of what I wanted to do at my firm could also be employed by the VCBA and, thanks to the creative energy and technological know-how from my husband, I decided to use an IT upgrade at the VCBA as a way to achieve some of the greater goals the organization hopes to achieve.

The starting point is a new website. The Bar underwent the first major redesign of its website during my first term on the VCBA board, in 2005, during Don Hurley’s presidency. I recall the board and bar leaders receiving an introduction to the redesign process, and looking at other state bar websites around the state. The process was fairly collaborative, and the redesign was developed within the standard of the time. Namely, it became the depository of information about the bar association, and visitors would go there to find out about the bar – its sections and committees, the upcoming events, local rules and practice, and the people serving as current directors or section leaders.

Most, if not all, of the information deposited onto the 2005 website is still there, along with some regular updates that have kept our calendar current, and the most “recent issue of Citations on the home page [Back issues may also be found on the website – ed.]. The current site is packed with information, much of it useful and relevant, and just about any question one may have about the bar can be found there

The challenge is that we – the “we” who consume this technology – have become very savvy about how we use it. And when we seek it out, we are using it differently than before. For example, rather than just “surf” the web for fun or general information purposes, people are visiting particular sites for very particular reasons. If someone wants information about the Ventura County Bar Association, the first place they go will be our website, and they will want to know particular things about us. I want to deliver on their expectations, and it can’t be done with the current site which, judging against 2010 technology standards, is a bit of a dinosaur – not as much as my Tandy 1000 would be today, but deserving of an upgrade.

Thanks to the hard work of our IT committee, our fearless leader Steve Henderson, and my talented other half, we are close to unveiling the new site. I think you will find it to be more intuitive, easier to navigate, and generally more representative of the organization as a whole.

I have other goals in mind for the bar when it comes to technology this year, and the new website is just a starting point. In fact, many of us today don’t go to a website at all for our information – we expect it to come to us, via a blog post, a Facebook update, or a ‘Tweet’ from a friend or colleague. My hope is that people who expect to get their information about the bar through those kinds of social media outlets will be doing so by the end of this year.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Twitter? Facebook? Blogs? These are words that weren’t even in the vocabulary during my DOS days. I wonder what my Dad would think of all this technology? I’ll go ask Carlos what he thinks.

“Oh my gosh, what are you going to write about every month?!” Those were the words my sister chose to congratulate me when I announced to her that I had accepted the nomination to serve as Secretary/Treasurer of the Ventura County Bar Association and would, a couple of years after that, serve as President. I must admit, that wasn’t the first thing that occurred to me when I was approached about being President, but as I thought about, I discovered that the prospect didn’t panic me near as much as the tone of my sister’s voice suggested.

The way I see it, when it comes to this monthly column, there are some automatics. The first (nice to meet you, how are you doing, here’s all about me), the last (thanks to everyone for making my job as President so effortless, couldn’t have done it without you), the milestone events that should be properly recognized (Law Day 5K, the Annual Dinner, my birthday), and the occasional month, bound to happen over the summer, where I will ask someone who, much like me, can’t easily say no (“Hey, I’ve had this great idea for my column next month, and thought you might like to be the guest columnist!!)

Not to mention the wealth of examples I have to follow – a plethora of columns from former Bar presidents. The topics of monthly columns are as diverse as the people who have held this office over the years. Over my memory, our past presidents have delighted and informed us with stories

of their travels, their love for cars and wine, their well-deserved and hard-fought legal victories, news and topics of the day, and a varied assortment of tidbits, cheerleading and musings, along with an occasional soapbox moment or two. This column is also one of the best venues to highlight the many volunteer opportunities available to us to serve our community, and those who have selflessly donated their time and talents to countless non-profit organizations.

Your immediate past president has set the bar very high, and has produced columns that have been among some of the most varied, entertaining and well-written I have seen over the years. Readers, I feel an obligation to tell you right up front, in my very first column, that if you expect my columns to read like those of Tony Strauss, you will be sorely disappointed. On the upside, you shouldn’t need to keep a thesaurus next to you when you read mine.

So, my first column–one of the automatics.

I am virtually a Ventura County native, having moved to Camarillo when I was 7 years old. Many of you who have practiced law in the county for a long time will remember my parents, Phil and Grace Cohen, who practiced law together in Camarillo. Law wasn’t the immediate career choice for either of my parents. My father, born in England, was a musician. After serving in the Royal Air Force in World War II, he played clarinet and saxophone for big bands, and traveled the country. My mother met him in post-war London, where she was working for the American embassy. When they met, my father was the owner of a nightclub, playing host to a variety of friends, family and musicians. Playing host was a talent both my parents had in spades, and which they enjoyed throughout their lives – those among you of a particular age will remember their annual Christmas parties at our house, at which they welcomed a large variety of friends – lawyers, judges and other professionals, along with loads of

friends, not only of theirs, but also of my sister and me. Those parties are no doubt remembered fondly by many.

After my parents married and moved to Southern California, my father worked during the day and attended law school in the evening. My mother worked as a legal secretary, and by the mid-1960s they had two children, my older sister, Melissa, and me. My father began practicing law in Ventura County in the early 1960s as part of the County Counsel’s office which, at the time, was newly formed, having been spun-off from the District Attorney’s office. Shortly after we moved to the county, my dad opened his own practice in Camarillo, and my mom was his secreta – er, well, OK, she ran the office. After many years of working next to attorneys in what was a hugely male-dominated profession, my mother decided to go to law school herself. She would tell us that she decided to become a lawyer because she thought she “could do as good a job as any of the men.” She was right. She worked with my dad during the day, attended Ventura College of Law at night, and after she got admitted to practice, “Cohen and Cohen, A Law Corporation” was born.

My parents built up a successful law practice together in Camarillo. My mother specialized in family law, but also did a fair amount of estate planning and probate; my father had a general civil practice, and in later years did work in the federal courts. As kids, my sister and I would hang out in the office, and my first job was emptying the trash cans after school and before whatever activity I was on my way to. In addition to their busy law practice, my parents were always involved in any number of civic organizations – the Rotary Club, the Boys & Girls Club, Casa Pacifica – as well as bar activities.

My mother served as one of the first (if not the very first) Presidents of the Family

Law Bar Association, and my father made at least one well-intentioned, although ultimately unsuccessful, effort to launch a Camarillo Bar Association in the 1980s. The fulfillment they got out of practicing law, and out of their many community and bar activities, no doubt has inspired me to also get involved, though I did not realize it as I was growing up. I suspect that you will hear more about Grace and Phil from me during this year.

My parents practiced together until my father’s death in 1989, but Cohen and Cohen carried on in the family tradition. Shortly after my father’s death, my sister and brother-in-law decided to re-locate back to Ventura County, and my brother- in-law, Tom Milhaupt, joined my mom in her practice. After I graduated from law school, I became the third attorney with the firm. We all worked together for a few years until Tom decided to open his own practice, and my mother began to ease into retirement and grandma duties. Tom and Melissa each practiced with different firms in the county until 2004, when they formed Milhaupt & Cohen in Camarillo. (You can call it childish, but I can’t ever resist an opportunity to remind my sister that, in practicing law with her husband, she has now fulfilled one of life’s most terrifying yet apparently unavoidable realities – she has become her mother!) My sister will likely enter my column from time to time over the year, as well.

When Grace completely retired in 1998, I took over the practice, and was a sole practitioner for about 5 years, until Bart Bleuel approached me and asked if I would be interested in joining up with Arnold Bleuel LaRochelle Mathews & Zirbel, or A-Z. I was wary at first, since my only experience in practicing law had been as a sole practitioner, and I had no real idea what joining “the firm” would be like. Needless to say, none of my fears were realized, and I have the great joy of being partners and practicing law with some of the finest people, and most skilled lawyers, that I have ever known. It’s a safe bet that you might hear a bit about my firm and my partners during my year as president, too.

In my early years of practice, I did what was given to me – estate planning, probate and some family law. I soon realized I didn’t have the constitution for a domestic practice, and over the years have become solidly specialized in all disciplines of estate planning and elder law: estate planning, probate and trust administration, Medi-Cal planning and, my ‘super’ specialty, conservatorships. If you’ve never been in the probate department before, there’s a good chance you don’t know me, since it’s just about the only courtroom I have entered over the last 12 years or so.

I thoroughly enjoy the practice of law, and working with my colleagues in the probate bar, as well as those I have had the pleasure to meet in various bar activities. We are so fortunate to be able to practice in Ventura County, and to have so many dedicated people who devote their spare time to make our Bar vibrant and productive. You will absolutely hear more about some of those people during the year.

So, that’s who I am. Why am I here and what do I hope to accomplish? Hey, I have 11 more of these things to write, you’ll have to just wait and see.

This is my last article as President and this being the final month of my term, I have turned to reflection. Traditionally, the last article is a recap of the prior year summarizing accomplishments and thanking all of those who have helped along the way. While I can (and will) do the thanking before the end of this piece, I am going to exercise presidential prerogative to deviate from the norm because this year has marked more profound transitions for me upon which to reflect. In 2009 I became a grandfather and I completed a third of a century as a lawyer. Hence, this article is directed to my grandson Miles – born July 17 – with reflections on my practice of the law.
I was predestined to become a lawyer. Unlike you, Miles, I didn’t have parents, a grandfather and even a great grandfather who were lawyers. Neither my mother nor father graduated from high school prior to my arrival. Your great-grandmother went back to school once I started kindergarten and ultimately became an elementary school teacher. Apparently I was loquacious as a young child and my mother and older brother called me the “Philadelphia Lawyer” because I talked nonstop. Probably as a result of this, I started identifying with lawyers early on and read a biography about Clarence Darrow in grade school, watched the television series Perry Mason religiously and paid special attention to things involving lawyers. I decided that I would be a lawyer in junior high school (middle school today) when my home room teacher, Mr. Aguilera, pronounced that most important, life empowering statement that all children should hear, “You can be anything that you want to be.” I believed him and made the choice.
In high school, I took speech and debate along with the regular curriculum because I knew it was part of the preparation for being an attorney. I started dating your grandmother as a freshman, drawn in part (I have to be careful here) because her father was a lawyer and I loved talking with him. By then my father was a bail bondsman and my brother was a police-
man, so I was surrounded by people in the law. However, I recall one evening in particular during high school when the decision to become a lawyer was
cemented. Two of my closest friends, John and Dennis, and I met with John’s dad, who wanted to talk to us about careers and higher education. We talked about various career paths but I distinctly remember Mr. Minteer saying, “Once you are a lawyer, you carry that around with you like a back pack. Wherever you go or whatever you do, you will always have your law degree to fall back on.” At the end of college, I toyed with going on in ancient history or archaeology. But that wasn’t part of the original plan. I was supposed to be a lawyer.
I do have to tell you that the universe of career choices available today has vastly expanded since the ‘60s and ‘70s. If you wanted a “better life” than your parents, you became a “professional.” That meant doctor, lawyer, dentist, accountant, engineer or teacher. In my community, no one talked about becoming an entrepreneur or businessman unless you were like a friend who was going to go into the family mortuary business. That option was neither available nor inviting. Education was the ticket to success. It was also a possible ticket to avoid the draft and being sent to fight in Vietnam in what had become a very unpopular war. It is impossible to even imagine today what choices will be available to you when it’s your time to choose a career. I do know that many young people who have come of age after me have been overwhelmed by the plethora of options and have found it hard to find or remain in any suitable niche.
Was it the right decision for me? I think that I can state with reasonable certainty that you would not be here (or at least in Ventura) had I chosen a different field. Your father might not have gone to law school and met your mother and, even if he had, he would not have returned to Ventura to work with me. So from that vantage alone, it was the right choice. But even that aside, I have always felt that I made the right decision. Let me tell you why.
Becoming a lawyer allowed me to move to Ventura and raise my family here. Mr. Minteer
was right. You bring your profession with you. One positive aspect of lawyers being ubiquitous is that they are indeed in every community. There are only so many ancient history professorships and, when a position opens up, wherever it is, you go there if you want the job. While law jobs may now be scarce (and they were when I graduated in 1976), government law offices still have turnover, some firms are still hiring and you can hang out your shingle as a last resort. This job has also remained intellectually challenging. I make no bones about the fact that I am still “practicing.” I learn something new on an almost daily basis. My principal practice area of employment law is in continual flux with a new hot topic every year, from disability to sexual harassment to wage and hour to who knows what next. I also enjoy my colleagues. In my opinion, little has changed in 33 years when it comes to the civility and collegiality among Ventura County practitioners. Of course we all know of the exceptions. However, one has but to deal with “out of towners” for a short time to see the difference. Practicing law has provided a good life for our family and introduced us to our closest friends. It has also afforded me the opportunity to work with your father and be a part of your life growing up.
What have I learned that I can pass on that might be of benefit to you? I am assuming that there will be plenty of opportunities in the years to come for me to tell you my view of things. But this is about being a lawyer and the “secrets” that I learned (which just might carry over into other endeavors) are these: First, be comfortable in who you are; be yourself. Everyone has a different image of The Lawyer. For the lay community, a lawyer is the “shark,” the “ambulance chaser,” the “hired gun,” the list goes on. While there are some kernels of truth in these stereotypes of lawyers, it is not you unless you become that way. Among lawyers there are different styles and approaches; there is the “hard ass,” the nice guy, the consensus builder, the jerk. Clients may want you to act one of these parts. Again, your style and approach should be reflective of who you