Four Hopefuls Vie for
Bar Association Presidency
Judge Gerald L. Barry Jr., supervising family law judge of the San Diego Superior Court, retired May 15.
Presiding Judge Wayne L. Peterson called Barry’s departure a loss, describing Barry as “a consummate judge , patient, compassionate, competent and hard working.”
Barry supervised the procedures of all 16 family law, child support and domestic violence departments countywide since court unification in December 1998. He previously served as supervising judge of Downtown’s Family Court and earlier of the North County family law branch. During his career, he also heard civil cases in El Cajon and criminal cases at the Downtown courthouse.
Barry was appointed to the bench May 7, 1993, after 24 years of service with a law firm that produced two other judges. First an associate and then a partner with Hervey, Mitchell & Ashworth, Barry remained as partner through two reorganizations. Judge Thomas Ashworth III departed for the bench in 1986, and Judge Thomas R. Mitchell followed him in 1992, just months before Barry’s own appointment to the bench. By then known as Barry & Pike, the firm subsequently dissolved.
Barry is a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the California Judges Association. He has been the vice president and a board member of the county bar association, past president of the Barristers Club, and a board member of the Downtown YMCA.
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In The Running: Four vice presidents of the San Diego County Bar Association are making bids to be president of the 6,500-member organization.
The association’s 16-member board will elect the new president June 13, and that person’s one-year term will begin in December.
The candidates:
– Raymond G. Aragon, a certified specialist in criminal law and training director in the San Diego County Department of the Public Defender.
– Rita L. Hanscom, a sole practitioner in civil litigation and an adjunct professor of law at California Western School of Law.
– Jeffrey S. Isaacs, a partner at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP who practices in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation.
– Aaron H. Katz, a shareholder with Chapin, Shea, McNitt & Carter who practices civil litigation.
The winner will succeed Stephanie Sontag, a partner with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP.
Names & Notes: Patricia J. Lane, director of administration at Hinchy Witte Wood Anderson & Hodges, has been installed as a director of the Association of Legal Administrators. She represents California, Nevada and Arizona on the board. The association is based in Vernon Hills, Ill. TSKM Consulting Inc. announced it has received an investigative license from the state Department of Consumer Affairs, allowing it to do third-party investigations of alleged workplace misconduct. TSKM Consulting is an affiliate of Turnquist, Schmitt, Kitrosser and McMahon, a Downtown accounting and consulting firm. Attorney Frederick Schenk has been named board president of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. He is a senior partner with Downtown’s Casey Gerry Reed & Schenk LLP Some 144 students were to graduate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law on Saturday, May 20. Arthur H. Bryant, executive director of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, was scheduled to speak at the 28th commencement ceremonies.
Anti-Lawsuit Luncheon: San Diego County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has announced its luncheon Thursday, June 1, at the Mission Valley Hilton Hotel, 901 Camino Del Rio South. Registration and a mixer begin at 11 a.m.; the luncheon runs from noon to 1:30 p.m. Cost is $35 per person. For information, call (619) 295-6059 or E-mail sdcala@adnc.com.
Graves’ law column appears weekly. E-mail items to bgraves@sdbj.com.
