News Release

Supreme Court Appoints Members to State Bar Board of Trustees, Committee of Bar Examiners, and State Bar Court

The Supreme Court of California on Tuesday announced appointments to three State Bar of California entities.
By Merrill Balassone
Aug 25, 2020

The Supreme Court of California on Tuesday announced appointments to three State Bar of California entities: the Board of Trustees, Committee of Bar Examiners, and the State Bar Court.

The court made the following appointments to the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees, effective Sept. 25:

  • Current vice-chair and court appointee Sean SeLegue, partner at Arnold & Porter in San Francisco, to serve as chair;
     
  • Current member and Assembly speaker appointee Ruben Duran, partner at Best Best & Krieger, LLP in Los Angeles, as vice chair;
     
  • Attorney Christine Gonong, leading appeals and law and motion attorney at Nguyen Lawyers, ALC in Long Beach, to a four-year term, filling the vacancy from the departure of current chair Alan Steinbrecher;
     
  • Court appointee Hailyn Chen, litigation partner and co-managing partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, to a second term.
     

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The court also made the following appointments to the State Bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners, effective mid-September. The committee oversees development and administration of the California Bar Exam and the moral character determination and admissions processes for attorneys. The committee also accredits state law schools and registers unaccredited state law schools.

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• Esther P. Lin, Orange County deputy district attorney, as chair (currently vice chair);

• Alex Lawrence, a public member appointed by the Governor, as vice-chair;

• Santa Barbara Judge James Herman, to fill the vacancy created by the death of attorney James Fox;

• Attorneys James Efting and Paul Kramer, and administrative law judge Robert Brody, each for four-year terms. The three had previously been appointed by the Board of Trustees, but in 2018, California Rule of Court Rule 9.4 shifted power to appoint committee members to the California Supreme Court. Brody is a judge with the State of California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board Pasadena Office of Appeals.

The court also made one re-appointment to the State Bar Court of California, which rules on attorney discipline cases:

Honn-Richard

• Richard A. Honn to the court’s review department for a second six-year term, beginning Nov. 1. He was first appointed to the State Bar court's hearing department in 2003 and was elevated to the review department in 2014.

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