News Scrapbook 1988

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

San Diego, CA (San Diego_Co.l Evening Tribune . o 123 064) (CIAUG 2 61988

San Diego , CA (San D ie go C~. ) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089 ) (Cir. S. 341,840) AUG 25 1988

Coronado, CA (San Diego Co.) Journal (Cir. W. 5,23J) AUG 25 1988

Poway, CA (Rancho Bernardo) Journal (Cir. W. 2,500) AUG 25 1988

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Law tirm gives ;l(f-3'5 computers Tht: law firm of Hinchy, Witte, Wood Anderson & Hodges has do- nated' $3 500 worth of computer equipmen't to the Poway Unified School District. District superintendent Robert L. Reeves said the equipment will be used in the word processing labora- tory atMt. Carmel High School. Included in the gift are a Wang Writer System s word processor, a Wang printer and a Wang twin sheet feeder. With offices in San Diego, Rancho Bernardo Santa Ana and San Jose, the law firm has streamlined its administrative, documentation and case-tracking systems through a customized computer system that is considered state--0£-the-art. Recog- nizing the impact of computers on the profession, the firm made a gift to the Universi o n Diego School Of Law mputer research facili- ti last spring. toPUSD

Sally Ann Z?Jl c;-S--- sa11y Ann Zoll has beJ:° named Director of Client Support for Education Systems Corporation of San Diego. She has been with ESC for two years as regional manager for client support.. Zoll is currently completmg a doctoral dissertation at the University of San Diego, is a past member of the Board of Direc- tors for the Coronado Schools Foundation and is a member of the Junior League of San Diego. She and her husband,/ James, re~ide in ~Cownado wjj~_Jhcir children, Cory, Che~c/, ~my a~Bryan. ./

Jude Pauline Eberhard. Working with limited resources, they have vividly captured the pulse and tenor of the times. By cre~llvely using a multitude of local sites among them Carpe?ters_Hall, Mis- sion Hills, the Um ers1t of San ~o.,_Jhe old San D1e_go ohce Headquarters - they pamt. a con- vincmg picture of Depression-era Los Angeles. The ets and ~ostumes are similarly true to the penod. Artenstein demonstrates an occa- 1onal tendency to simplify compiex themes, perhaps in an effor~ to bnng greater appeal to an undemably un- commercial film venture. By alt~r- nating between English and Spanish dialogue (with Engli ll lit~t1 . , e accurately captures the_ b1Da_honal flavor of life for MeXJcan immi- grants residing in the Umted States. In addition to the fine acting ~f Chavez (who, amazingly, ~earned his English dialogu~ phone~1cally), the film features 1mpress1ve perfor- mances by Maria Rojo as Gonzales' wife and by Peter Henry Schroeder, who plays the role of the corrupt dis- trict attorney with suitable venom. Like "El Norte" and "Heartland" before it, "Break of Dawn" _is ~incere in its convictions and firm ID its pur- po e. . . Whether the mass mov1e-gomg public will welcome this brave little film with a big heart rema1D~ to be seen. But for enlightened viewers eeking a film with passion, grace and guts, "Break of Dawn" is well worth seeking out.'

Movie review

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womanWins state title Escondido's Mildred Stanley shot a 2-over-par 76 yesterday to win the California Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship at the Del Monte Course in Monterey. Stanley finished the three-round event at 232, eight strokes ahead of Phylis LaSorella of Pebble Beach. Jane Anderson of San Luis Obispo was third at 241. The event drew 100 of the state's top senior golfers. Junior golf - Enrique Dominguez shot a 3-over-par 75 but still leads the boys' 15-17 division after two rounds of the Tribune Junior Cham- pionships at the Balboa ~ark Mun!ci• pal Course. Dominguez 1s at 141, five strokes a ead of Kevin Riley. Darren Chim is third at 147. In the girls' 15-17 field, 1987 low gross winner Elizabeth Bowman shot a par-72 and leads at 148. Christy Erb IS second at 151. Play continues today, starting at 7:30 a.m In the conclusion of the 11-12 divi- sions, Patrick Perez shot a 1-over- par 33 for a two-day 64 to win .the boys' title at the Balboa Park mne- hole course, and Emily Tierney shot a second-round 49 to finish at 91 and win the girls' title. Football c edulea Free pock- et football schedule are available from The 5an Diego Union. The book- lets contain week-to-week NFL game listings, plus schedules for San Diego State and the niversit of San Diego, USC and UCLA, an liiego County community colleges and local high schools. Schedules may be picked up at the front counter of the main lobby of the UDion-Tribune building, and all Union-Tribune community offices. They also may be obtained by mail- ing a stamped, self-addressed enve- lope to: Football Schedules, Commu- nity Relations Department, Union- Tribune Publishing Co., P.O. Box 191, San Diego, 92112.

"8r• kolDawn"

A Cln west rele se Produced by Jude Pou• hne Eberhard Written nd d,re<;ted by Isaac Artensteln Photography by Stephen Lighthill Mu IC by Mark Adler With Oscar Chavez. Maro Ro10, Tony Plana, Pepo Serna and Pet r H nry Schroeder. Opens tomorrow t the Guild Theatre. against the widespread rac·at d1 · criminalton of the day, ' Break of Dawn" traces Gonzales' illegal entry into this country, his ubsequent ascension to radio star- dom and abrupt decline, following hi 1mpri onment on trump d-up rape ch rges by L Angele~ D1 trict Attorney Kyle Mitchell. W~1le clear• ly et in a politically volatile penod m which official corruption wa ram• pant, the film wisely empha izes the human quahtl of Gonzales and h1 M x1can compatriots. Accordingly, you don t have to be exican or a foreigner to sympa• thize with his story Though some viewers might take offen~e ~t the film' often strident dep1ct1on of American bigots, Gonzales' charac- ter i imbued with a dignity and t~- nacity that hould trike a respon_ 1 _ve chord with anyone who 1dentlfles with the quest to achieve a better way of life. , Juxtaposing seen ·. of Gonzale captivity in San Quentin Prison with his rlS to prominence In Los nge- l ''Break of Dawn" i a testament to the can-do spirit of director/wnt- er Isaac Artenstein and producer

WORKPLACE BY MICHAEL KINSMAN /' ~15:::J I< \:OU'\iE EVER thought that I you understood your employee benefiL,; and then sat down to study them, you probably have :Walke~ away with a different conclusion. , The truth is that most of us don t have much of an idea ~bout what ~orts of options our benefits hold for us nor do we know how to find out. p Garth Gartrell knows this only too well. As an attorney, Gartre!I pends a considerable portion of his time studying laws t~at affect em- plovee benefits. By his count, there ha;e been at least a dozen pieces of significant legislation over t~e past Jccade that affect our benefits and how we use hem. Companies, he say~, are well- meaning but often their human re- sources departments. don't fu_lly_ u~- derstand the fine distmcbons ID 1Ddl- vidual cases. "Generally, I think employers want to help employees, but the~e are so many personal and economic factors that come into pJay that ofte_n the best thing a comp:my can do is tell an employee to consult a tax adviser" Gartrell said. To that end, the U~ersity ~an Diego•~ School of Law as set_ up an mplovr€liebefits and tax clime to clp c • p oyecs sort thro_ugh their r blems Gartrell, an adJunct pro- fessor at the Jaw school, said_ that students arr given the opportumty to take on c..se problems and help em- ployees toward a resolution. . "What we'd like to do eventually 1s help expand the pool o~ lawyers that are equipped to deal with these prob- lems" Gartrell said. "Now, there are a lot'of serious legal questions being handled by consultants, advisers a?d para-professionals who have good !n• tentions, but may not be as well ID· formed as they could be. "There's a shortage of well-trained individuals to deal with these prob- lems." The complexities ~f ho~ best utilize company-provided life !nsur- ance retirement and health IDSUr• ance 1 plans can be overwhelming f,or most of us. At times, Gartrell said, some workers don't feel comfortable discussing those matters with their employers. For instance, an employee mi~ht be interested in finding out what klDd of health benefits he would receive if he quits or how mu~h he is entitl~d to receive from pension ~nef1ts 1f ~e retires at a certain pomt. But while conversations with company officials may be confidential, most workers would prefer an alternate source of information. Gartrell said he believes employ- ers will welcome the opportunity to share with an outside source the bur- den of explaining complex laws to employees as well. , The USD clinic will handle cases on an as-needed basis. Priority will be given to employees a~d retirees of limited financial resources. ~me cases will be farmed out to private attorneys. "Our intent is not to compete wit~ lawyers or take away their busi- ness," Gartrell said. "We want ~o make sure that people know their rights and wha~ they ar~ entitled to." An illuminat1Dg case 1s that of one individual whom USD students h~ve attempted to help in _his lo~g-runmng disability case agamst his former employer. For one reason or another, the in- dividual chose to pursue his legal case against his former employer without the aid of an attorney. As the case dragged on, costs mounte~; when the individual finally lost his suit recently, he was whacked with a $350,000 bill by the court for the legal fees of his former employer.

San Diego, CA (San Diego_Co.) Eveni ng Tribu ne (Cir. D. 123,064)

AUG 2 6 1988

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Summer camps - UnlV~LQf San Diego's G camp ses- sions· rades 2-7;

sports camps for ages 8-18; all-sports day camp for ages 7-13; baseball camp; outdoor cam~. Information: 260-4&81,. ~ / 5~ ...,....-::::

Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Co.) Los Angeles Times (Cir. D. 1,076,466) (Cir. S. 1,34Ci,343) AUG "5 1988

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Thursday, August 25, 1988/ Part V 9

eir Major Complaint

The r esult, Betterman says, Many lawyers get "disgusted with their own clients and perhaps on some level with themselves... ." To escape what he saw as the cynicism of personal injury law, Betterman recently switched to family (divorce) law. That offered a small improvement but, "The day to day experience of most [divorce) attorneys is one of grinding trivial- ities. There's an incessant flow of petty client demands: 'Who gets the toaster? She signed my name to the tax refund check.' Adv sarial Nature "I think one would have to have a deranged sensibility to genuinely enjoy what the day - to-day practice of law is like," because it ''largely consists of arguing with other peo- ple about money," Betterman says. The adversarial nature of the profession also troubles many law- yers. In litigation, "you fight about everything," says Schneider. "It's like gomg to war. No matter what it is, you fight about it and it goes on forever" John Shean, a Los Angeles trial lawyer for eight years, observes that, "You can end up litigating for four years to go to trial for two weeks." While a trial usually is fun-it is a_n "ego trip" to tear up an oppos1- llon witness-"it'8 not clear that it 1s useful to society, Shean tiays. Unlike engineers or craftsmen who get the sat1slact10n of produc- mg somethmg with their hands, lawyers spend 90% of their time filling out paper work that few people will read, let alone pay any

attention to, Betterman says. In the process, they become what Driver, the USC business school professor, ') calls "paper warriors." 1 Betterman has considered leav- ing the law many times, he says, ' ' adding, "Then I ask myself. 'What else can I do?' I've been an attorney since the age of 25. I really don't know any other occupation.'' Shean, formerly a trial lawyer with the downtown firm of Wise, Wiezorek, Timmons & Wise, decid- ed to leave the law-no matter what, "I just became disenchanted with the way the people involved in the system were running it, from the Legislature to the judiciary to the attorneys. I lay a lot of blame on the attorneys." On June 30, Shean, who lost a son to liver disease three years ago, resigned his partnership to become president of the Children's Organ Transplant Assn. in Bloomington, Ind. "One of my law partners said, 'I admire you for having the guts to do what the rest of us would like to do,' "he says. "But they can do it. A lot of people could do it." All it takes is a willingness to accept a pay cut as his family did-from $130,000 a year to $30,000. For him, Shean says, it became clear that there were things more important than personal wealth: "I saw that if I was going to be making money or saving money, I wanted to do 1t for children, not a big corporation or greedy insurance company or a greedy client." Besides, he says, it is not as if people wanting to sue someone will lack for attorneys to file the law- suit: "There are plenty of people who will take my place."

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the percentage of people who go into government service has dropped from 17.6% in 1975 to around 12% today. It also is not clear that public service work is a great improve- ment over private practice. Reuben Castillo, 33, an attorney with the Legal Services Program in Pomo- na, works on debt and eviction cases. He gets little satisfaction because his client "usually does not have a good case.... We grovel and beg and hope judges will give us an extension. And that gets old pretty fast." rn personal inJury law, a difficult, fru trating process is made worse by the tactics of opposing counsel, says Joel Kleinberg, a Los Angeles lawyer who serves on the national board of the Trial Lawyers of Amenca. Lawyers disregard the plain meanmg of English words with "nonsensical objections" to conjure up hypothetical problems. "You see less and less effort to solve any- thing," Kleinberg says. Lawyers also get distressed hy dealing with greedy clients. In Los Angeles, the State Insurance Com- mission reports, the frequency at which people file auto-accident personal-injury claims is nearly twice that of the average of other major California cities. No matter how slight the impact, says Anne Koza, a Los Angeles personal inju- ry lawyer, many people "Jump out of their cars holding their necks." Although such clients are "mor- ally repugnant" to many lawyers,

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divorce and health problem. For lawyer Ed Rybka, tt was ov rwork that atrect d ti health, the tr m of btlhng 2,1 hours a year gave him ch st pain , m om- ma and arthrit1 In his hands and Joints. "I wa gnndmg m) teeth so bad at night. I w,13 having tooth- ach i" h says "I d cld d at the age or 30 that that wa not the way I w nted to hve th r t of my hfe." ost young Jawy rs know long before they get out of law school that they f c long hours workmg In practice. What Is less clear to th m, howev r, "1 • how dehuman- izing that can be," says Slama • the partner in a an Franc1 co firm Lawyers get so obse d with their job that JI th y can talk about 1s th tr ca es Or they be- come so analytical, they start to examin casual convers, tlon for hidden ag ndas. The result, Even lawyers om times don't like law- yers anymore Soon aft r becommg an associ- ate, Rybk says, he made an effort to avoid lawy rs ocially. They were too comp tlt1v , too cynical and too tired for anythmg but one up man hip ("Oh what firm r you with' What law school did you go to'") It I unfair to call all lawyers "arro ant • Rybka ys, but a '' pompou " streak does run through th profe slon Although Rybka got out-h now work t a mall firm nd is

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salaries and stay at a firm unlll t is too late. When, as often hapfens at larger firms, they get pated over for partner, they have nG ptions. Corporations, Not dlviduals Many lawyers getmto the busi- ness thinking they qn help people and benefit mankind.~ut they soon di cover that much of what law- yer do benefits cor)orations, not mdiv1dual , says D1ame Sundby, a Los Angeles p ychohgist who sees many lawyers in hQ" practice. In contrast to the '60s lawyers also get far Jess time to It-Ip the needy by takmg pro bono ca1e'. Under the pressure to produce, S1amas says, "the easiest thing o go is the non-economic elen:ents-pubhc service and pro bono. • If they try to movt to the public service sector, law~rs soon find the jobs are often !Carce and in many cases, poorly ,aid-as little as the low $20,000s Q" less, a third of what they would earn m big private fu-ms. Bes1~s. with the co t of three years •f law chool now pproachmg ~0,000, many young lawyers may dwe too much money on graduation, to even con- sider pubhc service. Accordmg to Jane Theiberger, direi:tor of career planning at New York University,

M!RSHA TRAEGER / Loo Angeles Tunes L. A. attorney Ellen Whelan says tacey Betterman, 35, a law- yer with Jacoby & Meyers in Rosemead, "the bread and butter of a personal injury law practice are soft-body-tissue [no broken bones] claims by unemployed poor peo- ple." Lawyers can't afford to be choosy. Meantime, Betterman says, client1 who are plamtiffs in person- al injl.l'y cases one day are defend- ants in criminal cases the next: "It's almos: humorous at times." But it is hardly fun. The lawyer spend1 time filling out forms, argu - ing w th insurance adjusters over the size of a settlement and fielding calls from clients asking, "Where's my check?"

After evaluating the case and the verdict, Gartrell said his students had discovered several avenues the . individual could have brought to the court's attention that might have spared kim t · court-imposed costs. Garten kno 90 cent of the cases that come for the c me will be easily and swiftly resolved. It is the cases, such as _the one de- scribed above, that he IS most con- cerned about. . ,. . "We don't want to practice law, Gartrell said. "But if we had gotten that particular case off the bat, we could have helped him and he proba- bly wouldn't be facing that $350,000 "'""""' _,_ - I