WINTER 1996 – VOL.7, NUM.1

CATHOLICOS KAREKIN I MEETS WITH ABA BOARD

Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians, met with several Board members of the Armenian Bar Association along with a host of attorneys, judges and other dignitaries at the Metropolitan News Enterprise offices in downtown Los Angeles on February 2, 1996.  The meeting was organized by Metropolitan News Enterprise general manager S. John Babigian.  The Catholicos was accompanied by an entourage of clergy including Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian.

ABA Board members Armen Hovannisian, Steven Dadaian, Shahen Hairapetian, Saro Kerkonian, Vicken Simonian, Zaven Sinanian and Vahe Messerlian were present as well as a host of other ABA members.  Joining the Board were special guests former California Governor George Deukmejian, California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian, former Los Angeles District Attorney Robert Philibosian, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian, former justice Richard Amerian, Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Ronald Sohigian, Richard Kolostian and Haig Kehiayan, Municipal Court Judges Alice Altoon, Jacob Adajian and Soussan Bruguera.  UCLA Professor Richard Hovannisian, a world renowned historian and father of ABA founding president Raffi Hovannisian, was also on hand to greet the Catholicos.

Karekin I gave a warm welcome to the audience and expressed his pride in knowing that so many Armenians had reached high levels of prominence in the legal and judicial fields in this country and throughout the diaspora.  The Catholicos' comments were preceded by a welcoming speech from ABA Executive Director Vahe Messerlian.

ANNUAL MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY

NOTHING!!  Not even the blizzard of 1996 has kept the Armenian Bar Association's Annual Meeting Committee from putting together a fantastic, action-packed annual meeting scheduled for March 22-24 at the glamorous East Side Marriott Hotel in the heart of the excitement of New York City.

The Committee has announced that Ruben Sahagian and Flora Nakhshakarian of Armenia have accepted an invitation to attend the Annual Meeting.  Ruben Sahagian is a prominent criminal defense attorney and member of the ABA who is representing some of the defendants in the Dro Trials in Yerevan.  Since joining the defense of the Dro defendants, Sahagian has been assaulted and beaten in Yerevan by armed assailants.  This incident led to a worldwide outcry by human rights and legal organizations that the safety of Sahagian and other attorneys in Armenia be protected to ensure the right to effective legal representation to criminal defendants.  Flora Nakhshakarian is the editor of one of the most widely circulated daily newspapers in Armenia.  The two guests will be part of a panel discussion on Saturday afternoon, March 23, 1996.

The Committee has also scheduled informative continuing legal education seminars.  The seminars feature top legal scholars including, Professors Mark Movsesian of Hofstra University and John Davidian of St. John's University.  Prof. Movsesian is expected to lecture on the topic of the World Trade Organization.  Prof. Davidian will tackle the area of taxation.

Attendees will also have an abundance of entertaining things to see and do during the weekend.  At noon on Saturday, a delicious luncheon will be held at the Marriott featuring a distinguished speaker and internationally known baritone Vagharshag Ohanian.  On Saturday evening, it's off to Broadway!  The Committee has secured a number of tickets for the top Broadway shows for those members who want a full-taste of all the Big Apple has to offer.

Of course, the Annual Meeting will have a full agenda of issues to cover during the business session of the meeting on Saturday morning, including a discussion of current and future events for the Association, election of the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee, and the Committee chairs for the upcoming year.  Your vote counts.  Be sure to be on hand for the business session.

The East Side Marriott is located at 525 Lexington Ave., New York, New York.  The hotel is providing the participants an unbelievably low rate of $99.00 per night (not including taxes).  Reservations can be made by calling the East Side Marriott directly at (212) 755-4000.  For additional information regarding the meeting, contact the Association at (818) 986-0646.  At page 5 of this Newsletter is the registration form for the meeting.

ABA ATTRACTS OVER 100 MEMBERS FOR
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SOCIAL EVENT

Over 100 members, special guests and friends of the Armenian Bar Association started the new year off with a blast as they gathered on January 12, 1996, at the home of Association Treasurer Vicken Simonian to enjoy a delicious spread of Armenian food and an opportunity to socialize and exchange professional experiences with one another amidst the backdrop of a beautiful Southern California view.

Among the distinguished guests attending the event were California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judges Ruth Essegian, Richard Kolostian and Ronald M. Sohigian and Municipal Court Judge Alice E. Altoon.

During a special presentation, the host for the evening, Vicken Simonian welcomed all in attendance and thanked everyone who helped organize the event.  He, then, introduced the Executive Director of the Association Vahe Messerlian.  Messerlian noted that once again the ABA is successfully realizing its goals of bringing Armenian members of the Bar, the judiciary, and the legal community together for the purpose of networking and strengthening ties.  Messerlian was encouraged by the large turn-out of student members.  He stressed that these new members form the foundation for the continued success of the organization as it completes its seventh year of existence.

Following his address, Messerlian welcomed Justice Armand Arabian to state a few words to those in attendance.  Enthusiastically, Justice Arabian explained that Armenians have been waiting 50 years for an organization like the ABA.  He pointed out that when he first became a member of the Bar there were a handful of Armenian attorneys practicing.  With each successive bar examination, however, the number of Armenian attorneys steadily increased.  "Today, it is not unusual to see 30-40 Armenian attorneys admitted to the California Bar with each Bar examination", said Arabian proudly.  Arabian, who will be retiring from the California Supreme Court on February 29, 1996, recalled with great fondness the Judicial Conference, co-sponsored by the Armenian Bar Association, that he attended last summer with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and other distinguished Armenian-American members of the judiciary in Yerevan, Armenia.  He pledged that following his retirement he will continue to work with Armenia to improve its judiciary and legal system.  In closing, he called on those present to visit Armenia to help strengthen the country generally and its legal system specifically.  Following Justice Arabian, Judge Ronald Sohigian was given the podium.  A longtime member and supporter of the ABA, Judge Sohigian explained that he is running for reelection of his judicial post in an upcoming election in Los Angeles County.  He described how he is being challenged for the position and how a county-wide election campaign requires a tremendous amount of time, effort and financial support to be successful.

Following the addresses, the attendees were treated to a special musical presentation of authentic Armenian music by Mgrditch Hagopian (accordian), Jiro Vahanian (dhol) and law student member Armen Taschyan (doudouk).

The gathering lasted well past midnight.  All in attendance agreed that similar events would be a welcome diversion from the schedule of lawyers, judges, and law students.  Messerlian indicated he would organize more events in the future and encouraged the legal communities of other states to follow suit.  "It never hurts to meet with your friends, associates and colleagues to have a good time," said Messerlian.

Judicial Profile

Ronald Sohigian, Superior Court Judge

Taking on the Challenges and Challengers in  California's Courts

One only needs to speak with Judge Ronald M. Sohigian a few moments to know he is a warm, generous man dedicated to his family, community and work.  Judge Sohigian is usually found on the bench, buried behind stacks of case books, listening to and quizzing attorneys who appear before him.  After speaking with him, one learns that time is always of the essence when his work is concerned, since he works for the citizens and has to "answer to the people of the State of California."

Sohigian was born in Fresno.  As a boy, he spent some of his summers in San Francisco where he worked in his cousin's flower stand.  He later returned to San Francisco to start his law practice.  At the age of 16, Sohigian went from the Fresno public school system to Yale University.  At the end of the first set of midterms he received marks in the high nineties causing his professors to wonder "Who is this kid?"

He went on to join a Yale Senior Society, the Honor Society, and the Debate Team, where he won public speaking competitions.  It was at Yale that Sohigian taught himself Armenian from three or four books.  In addition, he was quite active in church where he sang in the choir and was even a "sargavark."

After graduating from Yale University in 1958, he entered Harvard Law School.  After admission to the Bar, Sohigian practiced at a medium size firm in San Francisco for three and half years and then moved to Southern California to practice with local firms.  From 1970 until he was appointed to the bench in 1988 by Governor George Deukmejian, Sohigian was a sole practitioner in Los Angeles.  He felt he wanted to make more of a contribution and was interested in the public service aspect of joining the bench.  Prior to 1986 he would have had some difficulty with the idea of becoming a judge.  "Although I was interested in that kind of work, the situation in trial courts was that you could not get a case to trial until five years after it had been filed.  But the Trial Court Delay Reduction Act promised to change all that.  All of a sudden, the courts became more responsive, more accessible, more effective organizations, and it became a very positive option for me," Sohigian said.

California's Fast Track System

Since the implementation of the Trial Court Delay Reduction programs, commonly called "Fast Track" cases by practitioners, Sohigian has noticed a lot of changes, mostly good.  Now ninety percent of all cases are being disposed of within a year of being filed.  "That is tremendous progress," Sohigian said.  The only problem is lawyers who have been resistant and unable to comply tend to criticize the "messenger" who tells them they have to do something differently.  Also, the Delay Reduction Act has affected the way law offices are organized.  A law office that does substantial litigation work in the Superior Court has to be organized in a way that accommodates itself to the Delay Reduction rules.  Those most affected are sole practitioners who have active trial calendars.

Television in the Courtroom

Another change observed by Sohigian is that in recent years television plays an increasingly important role in the courtroom.  The stated justification for cameras in the courtroom is that television educates the public about how courts work.  Sohigian does not believe that televised trials are educational because court proceedings are not compact, and unless you watch the entire trial, you cannot get much of a sense of continuity.  Furthermore, the presence of cameras in the courtroom does not fully demonstrate what goes on in a courtroom, because the cameras do not capture written materials, research, or thought.  Another television influence is the effect it has on the behavior of the participants, which is noticeably different.  Finally, for the adversarial system to work properly, it demands an impartial finder of fact which receives evidentiary information from the witness stand in the courtroom.  Television cameras may risk the impartiality of a jury trial, if a potential juror has seen evidence on television first.

Since 1988 Sohigian has handled over 16,000 cases.  From 1989-92, he presided over the law and motion, writs and receivers and was the supervising judge of the law departments in downtown Los Angeles and in Van Nuys.

High Profile Cases

One of the more memorable cases that Sohigian decided involved Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates' reinstatement in the wake of the Los Angeles riots.  He also ruled on the validity of a statute imposing liability on parents contributing to the delinquency of their minor children.  Sohigian also decided that former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley could not rescind the inclusion on the general ballot of an ordinance on the ground that he had made a mistake.  Sohigian describes his work as being very much like a trustee.  He views his position as one in which he does not have any power of his own or any resources of his own.  "I rarely refer to the courtroom as my courtroom.  It's the court of the people of the State of California.  They let me work there."

For the adversarial system to work correctly, Sohigian said, judges must be properly informed.  The lawyers must be bold and resourceful and not unprepared, unprincipled or unfocused.  Poor lawyering creates a breakdown in the adversarial system. 

When asked to give advice for attorneys with judicial aspirations, Sohigian said that merit is highly important.  Very strong emphasis is placed on quality, ability, and the work ethic of the applicant.  The lawyers who are appointed to the bench are normally lawyers who have had quite extensive experience in courtroom work.  Any lawyer interested in an appointment to the bench should probably have a very heavy background in litigation.

AIMS AND STRUCTURE

The Armenian Bar Association is a non-profit, non-partisan organization formed in 1989 to enable attorneys of Armenian heritage and other interested individuals to better serve the law, the legal profession, and the Armenian community.

The Association provides pro bono services and legal education in Armenian communities across the country and sponsors programs to promote democracy and the rule of law in the new Republic of Armenia.

Coming together socially and professionally, members from around the world have the opportunity to learn from one another as they join their different backgrounds and experiences in Association activities.

The Association is a democratic organization.  It is supported and directed by its members, who approve its By-Laws, elect its Board of Governors, nominate prominent jurists as honorary members, and set the Association's annual goals and policies.

The Armenian Bar Association is committed to serving the profession of law, addressing the legal concerns of the Armenian community and fostering respect for human and civil rights.

ACTIVITIES AND BENEFITS

Some of the Association's operations include:

·                     Continuing Legal Education, Seminars & Professional Workshops

·                     Pro Bono Program

·                     Rule of Law Projects in Armenia

·                     Armenian Rights Watch

·                     Annual National Meeting

·                     Association Newsletter

·                     Membership Directory

·                     Amicus Curiae Submissions on Issues of Community Interest

·                     Worldwide Network of Attorneys

·                     Topical and Regional Practice Groups