News Scrapbook 1986-1988

~q35USB law professor to ~ersee State Bar By Ron Roach Tr1buae Sacramento Bureau

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341,840)

J~N 2 3 1987

of handling complaints against law- ers and Attorney Gen~ral John Van ~e Kamp called a Capitol news con• ference yesterday to announce Felhnetb's appointment. Fellmeth, an original "Nader R .der" and co-author of Ralph N!~er's controversial report on ~on- ress in 1972, is a former San Diego !aunt proseeutor, and foun~er a~d execuiive dir5he Umvers1ty Please see LA A-B

JAN 181987

..J/.l/e,i '•

SACRAMENTO _ San Diego law Professor Robert Fellmeth, a co~- sumer-nghts specialist, is the states "watchdog" over the State Bar new ·t· . d pro Association's often-cr1 1c1ze · gram of policing nearly 100,000 member lawyers. . .d Sen Robert Presley, D-R1vers1 e, autho~ of a law that gives. the State Bar two years to improve its record L.

•

1888

P. C. 8

/ <1

Jl/lt,i '•

p C 8 I R88 Forum trying for Davis Cup :Z,IJ65 ___________ state of bis team's fund raising. A Umted ta vs West Germany in I T • few months ago, the Division ~o- DaviJ Cup? McEnroe v . Becker? At Loea enn1s gram was in jeopardy or dfoppmg the Forum? · l the club level, with a graduate assist- It's a . ability - and a pretty Mark Zetg er ant as coach and an exclusively_local good one - but only if the folks at I D • schedule. But unexpected athletic d&- the Forum g t the right bounces ?n Challenge there. "Get ing a av1s partment revenue general ~y tenni courts mParaguay and Spam, Cup match is sort of th ir goal ID hfe SDSU's WAC football c m p and mboard rooms of the U.S. Tenni for tennis." l t' netted the men' tennis program Associati n. The problem is a smal sea mg_ca- $9,000, and donations from the ce . "It -ould be my dream to have the pacity. Hall said the USTA requires munity have pushed Redondo w f t at least 10,000-12,000 seats for any 000 b d t US. against West Germany, ea ~- match past second round. The only $7,000 of bis $35, u ge . ing John McEnroe against Bor!s place i·n town big elilugh IS the U d th h F " said Jeame ADD COLLEG~ - SDS an e Becker, in l e foFrum, tennis and Sports Arena, but for one reaso~ or Un1V"!'."J·ty of San Diego travel_ to Pa• B director o orum another ·1t never has been feasible. =..,_,,.,,,.._..:;.~=--...,: Cl b ' f F owner Jerry ci·fi'c Palisades' Riviera Tennis . u daughter o orum The max·imum at Rancho Bernardo 1 I d ha e the dates on for the women's Intercollegiate B . " rea y v Inn is 7,000, and La Costa bolds only hold" . 1 Championships, beginning tomorrow. First, of course, the United States slight y more. I I The tournament features mos~ of the mu t ID its first-round_ match ''They've kind of told us bunt y nation's top women's teams, mcl~d- h As that .. we couldn't hope for mor~ f l champion ( than a f1'rst- or second-round match, ing defending na iona I ,1 agamst P r guay in Marc m un-

-~----~

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

JAN 22 1987

,Jllle,i

's P C B

I ,

1 M'

®

San Diego, Thursday, January 22, 1987

A-8

I

•Lawyers~~-----------~------- ~ n c;; ment. Those cases arose out of 8,329 ed retired Judges, Van de Kamp said, in the state - 10,000 cases. Some of Continued From Page 1 ,W d 1 · t 'd tif ther appli the 6,700 complam· ts and disciplinary o 1 en y o • complaints. ec lDIDg

Stanford and runner-up USC. The USO women open their season epperdine. Th~ ome open• er for the Toreras is Jan. 30 at : p.m. aga 1·nst Fresno State The host UCSD at 1 p.m. The SOSU men also open at home wit~ a l~l team, e U.S. International Umvers1ty, Tues- . NOT~ _ The San Diego Tennis Patrons announced their annual awards at a banquet Friday night. Winners included Angelica Coakley and Michael Chang (junior players of the year); Carla Quaresma ~nd_ Jeff Miyamoto (most improved Juruors); Linda Allred and Erik Johnson (out- standing sportsmanship); Long Beach State's Greg Failla (college player of l . The 16th annual San Diego Jumor Championships conclude ~oday ~t Morley Field. The boys' 18 smgl~ di- vision plays the semifinals and fmals today; top-seeded Cammie Foley faces No. 3 Zarina Galvan for the girls' 18s title .. . d McEnroe takes on Stefan Edbe~g of Sweden at the Forum on Jan. 26 10 the second of seven sessions in a yearlong round-robin tourname~t that also includes Ivan Lend! and Mi- loslav Mecir. The undercard n~~t Monday features Vitas Gerula1tis today 130 USD b day at 2 p.m. the year) ...

Whl .le hosts West th f. t round with pr

Hall sai·d, "and if that first_- or_ sec- ond-row O match IS somethmg hke a U.S.·" Annany, forget it." . The Forum seats 17,000 for tennis and bad 15,000-plus for a Mc nroe- \I\; E

proceedings pending against lawyers are nearly 10 years old, he added. The monitor law is the first of its kind in the nation. The monitor bas no power to order or direct the bar to adopt policies or changes in its pro- cedures. He cannot intervene in cases. He will make periodic reports and recommendations to the Legisla• ture and attorney general. Van de Kamp said Fellmeth was an ideal choice for the post. ·

cants.

One frequently cited case was the bar's recommendation that Robert Lee Nevil. an Oceanside lawyer con- the 1981 shooting death of his wife, be suspended for 2 ½ years. The Su- preme Court, which follows bar rec- ommendations 90 percent of the time disbarred Nevil in September If Fellmeth finds contmuing prob- lems with the bar's discipline pro- gram Presley said, a bill will be in• trodu~ed in the 1989-90 session of the Legislature to give the job of hand- ling complaints to an 10 epen en ag~:r will give the State Bar a chance to do what they've told us all 1985 _' · d d t clean up their own house" to avoid being stripped of the power to disci- pline lawyers, he said. Swift resolution of consumer com- plaints and fair disciplinary actions should, in time, reduce the number of complaints, Presley said. Van de Kamp said he already in- formed State Bar leaders and his choice was "favorably received." Fellmeth was chosen from many ts, including widely respect- applic ld d d th t t.o last year they cou o, an a is

of San Diego School of Law's Center for Public Interest Law. Presley's bill, passed last year, created Felhnetb's post as State Bar discipline monitor. His bill originally called for a commission to handle allegations of lawyer misconduct, which would have taken that respon- sibility away from the association's board of governors, a lawyer-domi- nated body whose members are ap- pointed by the governor. However, the association lobbied heavily against the measure and the hill was amended to give the bar two years to prove that its beefed-up staff and procedural changes will re- er complaints and timely discipli- The bar bas hired 65 to 70 employ- ees in its Los Angeles office and ere- ated a new panel to deal with During the first eight months of last year, the bar tepped up its dis- ciplinary actions, recommending dis- bannent of 17 lawyers - compared with 18 for all of 1985. The state Supreme Court considers the bar's recommendations for disci- plinc and in 1984 disbarred 11 of the 18 lawyers recommended for disbar- nary action. grievances. suit in speedi r r lution of consum-

atch hree years men open n~xt Saturday, wben t ey

Van de Kamp said the monitoring program, which will cost betw~n fro~ Bar dues, was ordere«! by the Leg1S~at~r~ because th,?. bar s attar- ne}' d~1phne syste~ is overly se- cret, improperly leruent and almost

Jimmy Connors m

nr

th

ago

victed of voluntary manslaughter in · $70,000 to $90,000 a year, all paid

1 mg

Said Parrott abou Forum for Davis Cup: "I'm very optI·

ponsoring Davis Cup mistic."

KNOCK ON WOODY - The San Diego State men's tennis team received a blow less t an a wee fore Friday's opener at No 3-ranked UCLA (the Aztecs lost, 9-0) when h k be

unbeara_bly s w." . He said the

•

10 an ave~age year

receives complamts equaling ~h?ut rcent of the lawyers practicrng 10

l ft

..::__""""_.;:_--_ J~

Of tha t ..... l thmk we would scale the Woody Yocum fractured h . e co . d Jarbone and could be lost for the sea- ticket prices differently an w_e son. Yocum, a freshman from Mo~te would probably have to P\?mote it Vista High, was expected be a sm-

:..-.....J;""""=:-...--

gles and doubles starter. Only one of Coach Ski_p Redondo's players is on scholarsb1p, o many bold part-time jobs to supp>rt tbem- selves. Yocum was working as a ~ar- penter's assistant, he pmg a ne~ build a house. Sunday, be fell while working and landed on his eft sboul- de~ocum will wear a n k brace for six weeks, then undergo physic~! therapy. Both he and R_ ed_on~o said he might return by pn , n nn t he Western Athletic Conference b tll! A tees championships, in whic z Better news for Redondo is the I . f A J t e for are favored. .

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341,840)

JAN 2 2 1987

•

.Jl.lle,i ', I ,, 1 ux Hagey upsets · sixth seed,_,'5s in 2nd round LOS ANGELES - La Jolla's Cari Hagey, a junior at Stanford, scored a major upset in the Women's Intercol- legiate Invitational Tennis Champi- onships, which opened yesterday at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades. Hagey, who is unseeded, ousted sixth-seeded Mary Norwood of USC 6-2, 6-3 in the second round. Earlier, Hagey beat Houston's Stina Almgren 6-0, 6-2. University Qf_ San tDie~~freshman Aby Brayton upse e1g th-seeded Anne Moeller of San Diego State 7-5, 7-5. Moeller is the second-ranked player in her native Holland and is on the Federation Cup team. Brayton had to face USC's Maeve Quinlan an hour later and lost 6-l, 6- 3. - Top-seeded Patty Fendick of Stan- ford, who won the NCAA singles last May, advanced to a third-round meeting with Trinity's Elvyn Barr- able. But second-seeded Caroline Kuhlman of USC, the defending champion, was forced to withdraw because of knee trouble without playing a match. Third-seeded Stephanie Harges of USC, favored to meet Fendick in Sunday's final, won two rounds yes- terday at the cost of just five games. The remaining players from San Diego all lost. Sylvie Tetreault of U.S. Internta- tional lost in the first round to Hous- ton's Kathy Foxworth 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6- 3. Foxworth then beat Susanna Lee of BYU 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 but afterward suffered from extreme exhaustion and dehydration and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Foxworth withdrew from the dou- bles but is expected to keep her sin- gles appointment with Harges today. Eiizrna Nortje of USIU lost in the first round to UC-Santa Barbara's Lori Jonas, who went on to upset fifth-seeded Jane Thomas of UCLA 6- 4, 6-4. USD's Laura Gonzalez, a qualifier, was ousted by USC's Lupita Novelo 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. USIU's No. 1player, Kefi Binyamini, lost in the first round to Trinity's Jane Holdren 6-2, 6-2. Moeller and Jessica Buss, seeded fourth, reached the second round of doubles by beating Candy Diepraam and Fran Ind of Houston 6-0, 2-6, 6-2. P. C. B By Linda Pentz Special to The Union

and Ilie Nastase.

JAN 22 ,987

Professor is c>-159' • Bar monitor S.D. man will observe disciplining of lawyers By Robert P. Studer, Copley News Service SACRAMENTO - Whether the Legislature will allow the State Bar of California to con- tinue to discipline its own members for IIllSdeeds, or whether this responsibility is to be given to a separate agency, may rest with a San Diego university professor. Robert Fellmetb, a professor of law at the Univ~ity of San Diego School of Law and fou'nder and director of the university's Cen- ter for Public Interest Law, yesterday was appointed by Attorney General John K. Van de Kamp to the newly created position of State Bar discipline monitor. Empowered with all the investigative tools of the attorney general's office, including the subpoena, the new monitor will oversee law- yer discipline proeedur a · nis by th State Bar and ultimately recommend to the Legislature whether the State Bar should be allowed to retain responsibility for disciplin- ing attorneys. The State Bar has come under increasing criticism in the Legislature and among attor- neys' clients in the state for a self-disciplining system that Van de Kamp called "overly se- cret, improperly lenient and almost unbear- ably slow •.. indeed, some of the approxi- mately 6,700 complaints and disciplinary pro- ceedings pendmg against California lawyers were reported to be nearly a decade old." Fellmeth and staff members from his San Diego Center will, during the next five months, thoroughly study the Bar's discipli- nary sy tern and report bis findings to the Legislature. At that time, Van de Kamp said, it is expected that the Legislature will fund the next phase of the study, which could last as long as three years. The bill creating the monitor, SB 1543, provides $90,000 for the ini- tial phase. The funds for the study are to come entirely from du paid by California attorneys to the State Bar. No taxpayer funds are involved, Van de Kamp said. Fellmetb will continue to be paid by the university and will receive no

Robert Fellmeth, right, with Attorney General John Van de Kamp.

salary as State "Bar monitor. At the same time, a second bill passed last year, SB 1569, will require attorneys to offer clients written agreements setting down basic fees and attorney responsibilities and sets up a stiff "early warning" system requiring at- torneys, the courts and malpractice insurers to keep the Bar informed whenever an attor- ney is charged with or found guilty of a crime, or the subject of suits or court actions involv- ing malpractice, judicial sanctions, gross negligence or other serious errors or miscon- duct. Fellmeth will be required by the Legisla- ture to recommend "ways for speeding up de- cisions on complaints against attorneys, re- ducing the backlog of complaints and improv- ing the efficiency of the system." Also, Van de Kamp said, the monitor is re- quired "to recommend ways for ensuring fair- ness and courtesy to complainants; to exam- ine the adequacy of the Bar's disciplinary standards and ruks, its consistency in the ap-

plication of sanctions and discipline, and the adequacy of the staffing and funds it devotes to attorney discipline. In short, the monitor is to be a watchdog for the interests of the peo- ple - a catalyst for restoring public and leg- islative confidence in a system that currently lacks both." Fellmetb, the attorney general said, "is a highly respected attorney and brings to the position seven years of prosecutorial experi- ence as a deputy district attorney for San Diego County, including two years as a spe- cial assistant U.S. attorney. "He is a specialist in public regulation. From 1976 to 1982, he served as a member, and for two years as chairperson, of the Cali- fornia Athletic Commission. For the past 10 years he was been a professor of law at the University of San Diego School of Law, speci- alizing in regulatory and administrative law issues. And," Van de Kamp added, "be bas a long record in consumer protection. As one of the first members of 'Nader's Raiders,' he

researched and co-authored the first Ralph Nader report on the Federal Trade Commis- sion, published io 1968, and directed the Nader Congress Project in 1972 and 1973." In 1980, Fellmeth founded the Center for Public Interest Law in San Diego, and he has continued to serve as director of the center as well as editor of its publication, California Regulatory Law Reporter. Additionally, Van de Kamp pointed out, "he served for four years on the board of directors of Consumers Union of the United States - an organization devoted to protecting the inter- ests of the public, and b4' was (be publisher of Consumer Reports. He currently is writing a book oo consumer rights and remedies. "This is a significant appointment," Van de Kamp said. "As monitor, he will play a major role in determining how the public is protect- ed against improper acts by attorneys and whether the State Bar will be allowed to re- tain responsibility for disciplining attorneys or be stripped of that role."

•