Judges and Judiciary
Feb. 23, 2005
Judges' Night
The legal community loosened its tie for a few hours in January to pay tribute to a good time. Oh, there was plenty of shoptalk, but the mood was decidedly less formal as dozens of judges and attorneys intermingled.
Judges' Night 2005, hosted by the Orange County Bar Association on Jan. 27 at the Irvine Marriott Hotel, more than lived up to its advanced billing as "the event for judges and lawyers."
The annual dinner to honor sitting judges and install new Orange County Bar Association board members and officers was attended by 650 people, including 100 judges.
The evening kicked off with a very well-attended happy hour that made getting to the bar a difficult task. About 45 minutes after people started showing up, the hall outside the ballroom resembled Bourbon Street a couple of days before the Sugar Bowl.
Orange Superior Court Judge Franz Miller helped put the evening into perspective for The Scene.
"It helps us to deal with our stresses to get together with other lawyers," said Miller, a fixture at this event who has attended as attorney, judge and bar association president. "It's just a chance to humanize the profession."
Despite being home to 11,000 lawyers, the Orange County legal community remains "pretty close knit," Orange County Bar Association Associate Executive Director Trudy Levindofske said.
"Everyone's cordial," Levindofske said.
Like Secret Service agents, bar association staffers watched over the festivities with keen interest, except instead of earpieces, they wore orange ribbons.
"It takes a lot of people to put on an event like this and have it run smoothly," Levindofske said. "We're already planning next year's event."
After a while, though, everyone started to look alike. All the suits and ties and name badges were starting to blend in. That's when The Scene realized that practically everyone in the place was related. Or maybe it just seemed that way.
There was Darren Aitken, son of Wylie Aitken and brother to Chris Aitken and Ashleigh Aitken and each in attendance. Father and sons are partners at Aitken, Aitken & Cohn, while Ashleigh Aitken is an associate in the litigation department at Morrison & Foerster.
But it didn't end there. Darren Aitken and Chris Aitken are married to lawyers - Maureen Aitken, a sole practitioner, and Laurie Aitken, who stopped practicing family law to raise three kids and give birth to a fourth.
And Ashleigh's husband, Mike Penn, is an associate at Aitken Aitken. Oh, and there are three cousins who practice law.
"We lack imagination," Darren Aitken said.
In all, seven members of the Aitken family attended Judges' Night 2005.
"There's only two professions in my family," Darren Aitken continued. "Car sales or the law. And I'm not mechanical."
The Scene bumped into Susan Laird, an Orange County deputy district attorney whose husband, James Laird, also is a deputy district attorney.
Susan Laird's father-in-law, meanwhile, is Edward Laird, a retired judge sitting on assignment in Orange Superior Court.
Susan Laird met her husband when they clerked together at the district attorney's office after graduating from law school.
"It took him eight months to make his move," she joked.
The couple have three kids, ages 3, 5 and 7 - all, no doubt, future prosecutors.
"Her 3-year-old is going to marry my 3-year-old," said Laird, pointing to Sheila Hanson, a fellow Orange County deputy district attorney.
Judges' Night provided an opportunity for both women to socialize.
"We get to see a lot of friends we don't normally get to see," Hanson said.
Even bar association President Dean Zipser, Morrison & Foerster's new Orange County managing partner, was accompanied by the requisite family member in the business. His father, 81-year-old Stanley Zipser, was on hand to see his son get sworn in.
In all, there were 66 tables, with at least one judge seated at each, presumably to keep things orderly.
"Everyone wants to mingle with a judge," Levindofske said.
The Scene was fortunate enough to be seated between two of them: Orange Superior Court Judges Claudia Silbar and Mike Brenner.
Apparently, old habits die hard.
"I used to practice in front of him, and I still have a hard time calling him by his first name," Silbar admitted.
With that, she asked "Mike" to pass the butter.
Brenner, meanwhile, presided over a bitter court fight in San Diego to determine a winner in that city's mayoral election. Perhaps some of you have heard about it.
The judge preferred to talk about Silbar, a family law panel judge who once worked for the district attorney's office.
"I was always very happy when she walked into my courtroom," Brenner said. "There are some people I can't say that about."
For the most part, the mood was festive, and everybody appeared to get along.
In his president's address, Zipser encouraged his colleagues to play nice together. That after hearing a number of judges say their No. 1 pet peeve is a lack of respect and unprofessional treatment between lawyers.
"Creating and continuing a hostile, contentious relationship does not advance the cause," Zipser said. "What it does do is increase the cost of litigation for all involved.
"More broadly, in the end, it just serves to impair the reputation of the profession."
Associate Justice Richard D. Fybel of the 4th District installed Zipser and President-elect Julie McCoy, a sole practitioner; Treasurer Scott Wylie, associate dean at Whittier Law School; Secretary Joseph Chairez with Baker & Hostetler; and past President Kim Hubbard, a sole practitioner who is Financial Abuse Special Team coordinator for the Counsel on Aging for Orange County.
As Zipser's first official act as president, he recognized Hubbard with a plaque commemorating her term as bar association president.
"Your heartfelt advocacy for the elderly serves as a wonderful example for your colleagues here tonight," he said.
Superior Court Judge Ronald P. Kreber followed Zipser to the podium as winner of the Franklin G. West Award, given for lifetime achievement.
Kreber appeared to be a popular choice, judging by the applause that rang out when his name was announced.
"I want you to get comfortable because I'm going to give a two-hour talk," he told the audience. "It's payback time for keeping me here until 11 p.m. [last year]."
Tim Willert
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