Sullivan & Guzman

“Janet Bledsoe Lacy 2008 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award,” by Erin Guzman

Published in North County Lawyer, Vol. 25, No. 3, March 2008

Janet Bledsoe Lacy has been named the recipient of the City of Oceanside’s 2008 Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Award. Ms. Lacy received the award on Saturday, February 2, 2008, as a part of the North San Diego County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a celebration in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The celebration, held at Mira Costa College, included musical performances and interviews with local children acting as famous people of color.

The award was presented to Ms. Bledsoe Lacy by Mayor Jim Wood on behalf of the City of Oceanside in recognition of her long history of service to the community reflecting the teachings and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. John Lundblad, the City of Oceanside’s awards coordinator, said the award is given to those who have “devoted significant time and energy to activities that build up their community.”

Ms. Bledsoe Lacy became a member of the North San Diego County Chapter of the NAACP when she was 16 years old. She has been a devoted member since and has made significant contributions to the NAACP and her community over the years. Ms. Bledsoe Lacy has manage the City of Oceanside’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Program which is sponsored by the City of Oceanside through the Community Relations Commission. Any high school senior living in Oceanside and planning to attend college is eligible to apply. The scholarship program is intended to provide funds to low and moderate income graduating high school seniors who exemplify the ideals of the late Dr. King. The number and amount of the scholarships are determined each year by the amount received from private donations; no public funds are used for this program.

Ms. Bledsoe Lacy has been a significant fundraiser for this program. Each year, the awards program is hosted by Ms. Bledsoe Lacy at her home, where the recipients of the scholarship are honored and are able to share their stories and meet other members of their community. This program has made a positive impact on the City of Oceanside and has assisted in the success of many young members of the community.

When making her acceptance speech, Ms. Bledsoe Lacy was sincerely moved by being honored with such an award. She explained how her achievements were inspired by Dr. King through his accomplishments and his manner of achieving them. She also stated that she truly believes that, “Dr. King fought for me just as hard as he fought for people of color.” Dr. King would have been proud to see Ms. Lacy receive this award named in his honor.

“Honorable Earl Maas, III,” by Erin Guzman & Jeffrey Lacy

Published in North County Lawyer, Vol. 25, No. 5, May 2008

On April 9, 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Earl H. Maas III to sit on the judicial bench for the San Diego County Superior Court.

Judge Maas began his career as an attorney in 1988 after graduating from USD School of Law. He practiced for approximately 17 years, specializing in legal malpractice defense during the second half of his career as an attorney.

Although Judge Maas came from a family with legal background (his father, Earl H. Maas, Jr. was a judge with San Diego Superior Court), he initially did not have aspirations to enter the legal field. His dreams were to be a professional baseball player as a catcher. However, after injuring his knee in a surfing accident, he knew he would not be able to play in the major leagues. By his junior year in college at SDSU, Judge Maas decided he wanted to be an entertainment lawyer representing professional athletes and graduated with a major in speech communications and a minor in psychology. Once he graduated from USD School of Law, he knew he wanted to be a trial lawyer rather than an entertainment lawyer.

Judge Maas did not initially have any plans to become a judge because he loved being an attorney and litigating cases before a jury. However, shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor, then-attorney Maas saw an opportunity for a judicial seat based on his civil law experience and thought it would be healthy to sit on the other side of the bench to help make a difference to the community.

After his appointment, Judge Maas knew his initial assignment would be in the family law department. At first, he was hesitant about the assignment knowing that it had a reputation of having heavy caseloads and being emotionally taxing. However, now that he has been in his assignment for over three years, he is pleased in his position. He believes he now has a better understanding of family law which allows him to be even more effective in his job. Although the assignment is only three years long, he has committed to at least another year in his assignment.

Judge Maas’ main goal on the bench is to be a part of the solution. He does not want to focus on how the parties got to his courtroom, but rather how they will leave it by fixing the problems before them and maintaining focus on finding a solution. Maintaining such focus also helps reduce the emotional taxation of family law cases. Also, he realizes that there are no “perfect decisions,” helping reduce the stress of his position. If one solution does not work out, he’ll then work with the litigants to find one that will.

Judge Maas believes strongly in his independent obligation to protect the best interests of children in all matters before him. He says he appreciates the camaraderie and cooperation he sees between family law attorneys, and finds it to be something unique to family law. He believes that this cooperative attitude helps in reaching an amicable resolution to the problems before them which is most often in the best interests of the children involved.

A very important concept to Judge Maas is that every litigant should feel that their case is important and that they were able to be heard by the court. A lot of litigants need to express their frustration and perspective of the case before they can focus on resolution and adhering to the court’s orders. It is very important to Judge Maas that attorneys appearing before him have met and conferred prior to the hearing rather than the attorneys speaking five minutes before the courtroom opens. He believes most issues that come before him could have been resolved simply by the attorneys or litigants talking to each other.

Do not expect to meet and confer on a case after court is in session. Discussions during a court session are strictly prohibited in Judge Maas’ courtroom. Not only should attorneys have already attempted to resolve the case before the court date, but, because of the design of Judge Maas’ courtroom, he and his court reporter cannot hear the litigants if anyone is conferencing or coming and going. So, please, be respectful of this rule.

Judge Maas believes the most common mistake he sees attorneys commit in his courtroom is not recognizing and addressing conflicts of interest. This is especially complicated in the family law arena because the matters can last for over 10 years. An attorney may have specially appeared for someone on a case, and then five years down the road that same attorney substitutes in on the case without ever remembering the special appearance they made. This results in a failure to disclose the appearance to their new client which may be a direct conflict of interest because when an attorney specially appears for another attorney, the duty to their client also attaches.

Judge Maas further recommends not specially appearing for an opposing counsel on a specific matter when you are appearing for a stipulated continuance. Merely inform the court that opposing counsel has stipulated; there is no need for specially appearing on their behalf. Judge Maas was an attorney with Maas, Miyamoto and Bernstein from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, he was an attorney and a shareholder with Chapin, Shea, McNitt and Carter. He was also a shareholder in the law firm Thompson, Alessio and Maas. He was an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law teaching professional responsibility, and hopes to re-enter the classroom in the future if the opportunity arises. When asked what he misses the most from being an attorney, Judge Maas stated he missed litigating jury trials. He litigated almost 50 of them before his appointment and said it is where he felt the most at home. He does not, however, miss the business aspect of practicing law, and is now free to focus on the law and of helping people.

“Commissioner Jeanne Lowe,” by Erin Guzman

Published in North County Lawyer, Vol. 25, No. 6, June 2008

Commissioner Jeanne Lowe, one of the newest members of the North County bench, is serving as a Family Law Commissioner in Department 18. Although new to North County, Commissioner Lowe is an experienced Family Law practitioner.

Before beginning her legal career, Commissioner Lowe was a homemaker caring for her two children in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. In 1985, she graduated from the University of Nevada-Reno majoring in political science and history. After her son died in a 1985 automobile accident, Commissioner Lowe moved to San Diego and began what she wanted to do since she was 13 years old - be an attorney.

Commissioner Lowe attended law school at USD, met her second husband and received her J.D. in 1989. Commissioner Lowe and her husband’s first law office was their living room. Her husband practiced mostly criminal law while Commissioner Lowe practiced family law. Commissioner Lowe became a certified family law specialist in 1998.

In 1998, Commissioner Lowe signed on with the pilot program for the Family Law Facilitator’s Office. She was excited to be a part of a program that provided legal assistance to those who could not afford it. Initially only funded to provide support assistance, the program has grown significantly as a result of the program’s success.

The San Diego County Family Law Facilitator’s Office has become so successful that it is now the model program for the entire state of California. Commissioner Lowe is very proud of the program and believes her experience with it helps make her a successful commissioner. In February 2003, Commissioner Lowe became a court commissioner. She started in Department 43 downtown, hearing matters with the Department of Child Support Services. After 4½ years, Commissioner Lowe moved to Department F9 at the Madge Bradley Building. After six months there, she moved to the North County Courthouse.

Commissioner Lowe is very pleased with her assignment and has no aspirations in becoming a judge. She believes she is right where she belongs.

“Judge-Elect Garry Haehnle,” by Erin Guzman & Jeffrey Lacy

Published in North County Lawyer, Vol. 25, No. 7, July 2008

Judge-elect Garry Haehnle, due to be sworn in in January, was elected to the bench on June 3, 2008. Prior to being elected, he has been a commissioner with the North County bench since August 2006 presiding in Departments 11, 33, and 34—alongside Commissioners Gross and Jones—hearing traffic matters, unlawful detainers, and small claims matters. He previously spent time at the courthouse in Kearny Mesa hearing traffic matters.

Judge-elect Haehnle believes his previous assignment as a commissioner has prepared him for his new assignment as a judge in that he oversaw approximately 1,000 traffic and small claims cases per week. Because a majority of these cases were with self-represented litigants, he has learned how to balance his courtroom demeanor to accommodate most of the public’s first-time experience with a court.

With more than two years of experience as a commissioner, Judge-elect Haehnle believed it was a natural next step to become a judge. He decided the most likely way to accomplish this goal was through election rather than appointment and based his campaign on his experience both as an attorney and as a commissioner. He relied heavily on word-of-mouth and his reputation, and it paid off. He believes his new position is a privilege and not a right, and intends to treat it as such.

Practicing law since 1990, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson School of Law during which time he clerked at the U.S. Attorney’s office for juvenile dependency attorneys. Although he initially believed he wanted to become a transactional attorney, he realized after his clerkship that he wanted to be inside the courtroom as a litigator.

 After passing the bar, he joined the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office where he began practicing in the juvenile court. After spending approximately 17 months in South Bay prosecuting misdemeanor offenses and appearing for preliminary hearings, he joined the child abuse task force downtown in 1993 where he prosecuted offenders for about three years. In 1996, he moved to Vista where he prosecuted domestic violence cases, then, in 1998, was promoted to supervising the child abduction and family protection unit downtown.

 He began overseeing this unit when there was only one additional attorney; however, by the end of his tenure there, the unit had increased in size to seven attorneys because of its success. He is very proud of his experience with the child abduction unit and enjoyed working closely with Mexico and the judicial branch in that country. He believes it to be a very important experience for each country to meet their counterparts in order to better address many of the mutual and serious issues involved.

Judge-elect Haehnle graduated in 1979 from Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in Forestry, then continued his education there receiving a master’s degree in the same field in 1981. He worked in the forestry industry in South Carolina for a number of years, then, shifting gears a bit, eventually opened up a restaurant in South Carolina that he ran for over two years.

After taking a vacation in San Diego to visit a friend who lived on the beach, he moved out here permanently in 1986 and initially dabbled in modeling for clothing catalogs and was also a stockbroker for a brief period of time. Responding to an advertisement in the paper, he applied to Thomas Jefferson School of Law (then Western State School of Law) where he was enrolled and taking classes within one week of submission of his application. He received his JD in 1990 and has been practicing law since then recognizing that this is his true calling in life. He enjoys participating in moot court competitions throughout the state and with the San Diego County Bar Association’s high school outreach programs. He has also participated in Youth in Court, teaching children about the judicial system. In his spare time, he breeds, trains, and shows German Shepherds. He is a member of a local German Shepherd club and has four dogs of his own.