News Scrapbook 1988

Encinitas, CA (San Diego Col Co st Dispatch (Cir. 2 x W. 30,846) I d

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F"dOV 29, 1988 Coo,, D"po"h ights, 1 s amera, ve diet! Bre nan people It

- if he hadn't been forced to get a real Job. The Hon. Lom~ M Welsh has "been discovered," gone Holly wood - become a star Welsh play· him. elf on the new daytime television program "Superior Court," and he admits feeling a little foolL h about finding life so exciting. But, he just can't help it. The son of a vaudevillian, Welsh became fascinated with how bu iness at the age of 16 and acted in high school, college and 8ummer stock productions. His mother discouraged him from following in her footsteps, howev- er, and he graduated from North- western Univcn;ity School of Law in his native Chicago after active

Staff photo/Jack Yon The Welsh family stroll along Del Mar's beaches. Louis Welsh, a retired superior court judge, is now a t e I e vision star - service in the Navy dunng World War II. rather than wisdom are allowing lawyers to manipulate the safeguards.

home, and in 1971 was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. "I loved being a judge," he says often and with vigor. During his years on the bench, Welsh served as visiting professor at the University of San Diego Law School. pon 1s retirement from the bench in 1983, he was named the Jaw center's distin- guished fellow. The judge is best known in San Diego for his innovative approach to school desegregation. Begin- ning in 1973, Welsh advocated busing on a voluntary basis only, combined with efforts to raise the grade-point average of minority students by using a specially developed step-by-step method. He believed busing was superfi- cial - temporary desegregation at best - and that better educa- tion would give students a perma- nent way out of a ghetto. "I still love the Jaw in theory," he says, "but I complain about how the system operates." For instance, people who break the Jaw can manipulate the system by various delaying tactics meant to assure that innocent people are protected, he says, and judges chosen for political reasons

after his marriage, he found the Los Angeles firm of Welsh, Cummins and White. As a trial lawyer, he handled personal injury, malpractice, property rights, patents and maritime law cases. He was admitted to practice before the Illinois, California and United States supreme courts. In 1964 he moved his practice to San Diego in order to be closer to

Welsh became enamored of California during Navy training m San Francisco, and he quickly accepted an offer from the law department of the Atchison Tope- ka and Santa Fe Railway Co. in Los Angeles. For Welsh, the law has been both hobby and career. Shortly

"I'm glad I'm not a judge; it was beginning to wear on me. I looked in the mirror one morning and said, 'Would you like to try a case before you?' And I answered, 'No.' I was beginning to get crotchety." Welsh retired in 1983, five years early. Then opportunity once again presented itself, this time bathed in the glow of limelight. A letter arrived in the mail from a colleague and friend, Joseph Wapner of "The People's Court," suggesting he contact Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions about the television show. "I'll never forget that day," he reminisces. "Pat and I were just about to take a walk on the beach when we got the mail. I must confess after seeing Joe's show and Bill Keane's "Divorce Court," I used to think, if I'd stayed in L.A., maybe I'd have gotten it. Now I floated 10 feet off the ground." On indefinite leave from Alter- natives to Litigation, Welsh is truly enJoying show biz. "I'm having fun," he says. "I'm having a ball."

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Magazine (Cir. M. 20,324)

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attorney fees for each client. And with 25,000 civil cases pending in this county, each case involving two parties,

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onstrations in three San Diego County courtrooms. After a three-month experi- ment, Simmons went to Sacra- mento to lobby for legislation. Although he faced what he called "considerable opposi- tion from the legal community, including an Diego judges," Assembly Bill 2294, the tele- conferencing law, went through nd was signed in October ;1987 by Governor George 'oeukmejian. Effective January 1, 1989, all Superior Courts in Califor- nia will be required to install teleconferencing equipment- Only in non-evidentiary hear- ings will attorneys have the option of choosing between_ the telephone or appearing m court to represent their cli- ents. According to Simmons, 'i\bout $400 will be saved in

In tead , attorneys and their clients may have the option of using the telephone. eliminat- ing the time and cost of ap- pearing in court. Conducting court matters over the phone. or "telecon- ferencing," was the idea of USO law...J2!:0fessor Robert_ Simmon . "This is something that has obvious advantages for e· eryone. There was no doubt it was time it was widely u ed in courts:· Simmons says. Previously a judge in Ohio for eight years and a lawyer in San Diego for the last 30 years, Simmons has become increasingly involved in judicial reform and improvement. In 1986 he raised $14,000 from lawyers in the county bar association to install telecon- ferencing equipment for dem-

a total of $20 million a year could be .~aved in attorney fees .

- DAWN WATTS

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,._!'. DIEGO MAGAl..l'iE

jA!'.LARY 1988

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Oceanside , CA (San Diego Co.) Blade Tribune (Cir. D. 29 ,089) (Cir. S. 30,498)

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. "I don't know what impact.lthat_ would have on the ca~e," he said. A bar spokesn:ianes~o~\fonn~} comment oifn _atnhye ibnavr regceived a request by •, the Dis+~ict · At- torney's Office to do so. Patton or ,

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defi~dants have pleaded gtiilty to murder in connection with the Prosecutors c aime violated state laws by concealing a . . · ambush slaymg. 1 . d P tton

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his part1_c1pat10n m ~e f1';1-Td;r b- The diary was seize ,m ruary 1985 from Patton s 0 ~~ce by law enforcement authonties

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that Oceanside· .lawyer Bradley C. Patton acted Office more than two years ago :as an· accessory to ·murder in but the bar has yet to _complete defense• of his client Kevin its investigation. ·, ; . '.· -Watkins, the Blade-Tribune , has If_- the_ bar~_ files •~-·complaint ·1earnec:I ,~ · ,'. . agamst · Patlon, prosecution of ~. Watkins, 20, is charged with . ·Watkins could. be delayed in- j1rst-degree murder in the Aug. definitely and the thousands of ;10, 1_984, slay-for-pay shooting of dollars in county tax money paid :Marine Staff Sgt. Carlo Troiani. for his dMense would be wasted . ; . Sources said allegations were said Deputy District Attorney :file~ by the District Attorney's Philip Walden. · , ,,. .

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lonRgo.b~rt }enmeth . u~ the lawyer as saymg. And tmky without'a conflict.

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Walden. said Patton's attempt ' continuing feud between Patton . - to conceal evidence from the, and Walden. Both lawyers have flict because he ,may_ have. to , removed from the_ Trmam_ case. ,dunng - Patton filed a claim, seeking $5 testify as· a witness in to prosecution has created a con- sought to , have ea~h . other

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January 1987 by, theOff tocn~v Gen~. !cfinar mo~b~r•s d1sc1p said Patton s case reflects a tho~sand _others y Procedures '

Watkins, a Iorm~r Marine, is scheduled for trial Feb. 8. He is the last of six defendants in the Troiani case. · Troiani's 26-year-old · wife, Laura Ann, was convicted .of , fir:;t-degree murder and is serv- ing·a ·ure term without the possi- bility of parole . the four other • See Probe, Page -7 . .,..,.

million damages from the county because of , Walden's alleged

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would 'think he would remove have yet to ~e mveftiga:cd-tured himself as a counsel' in the trial The bar is poo~y s rue ugh and no action from the District and does ton~~al !fti t~~ovol- Attorney's Office would be nee- resources . . . essary " ume of con:iplamts it receives, Patt~n said "it would be dif- Fellmeth said. . 'd h was ficult to understand" how the bar _Pa_tton, howeve~, sai. eCourt could file a complaint against vmd1cated by a upenor him after he was cleared by a judge when the allegat10ns were

Walden said, however, that his personal feelings for Patton hll:ve not entered int0, the prosecut10n of Watkins. - "I'm a professional," Walden said. "I've never punished the defendant because of my per- sonal'feelings for the lawyer."