Serving San Luis Obispo County’s Legal Community March–April 2019 In Remembrance of David Fisher 2019 State of the Courts ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED San Luis Obispo County Bar Association PO Box 585 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 2 March–April 2019 www.slobar.org SLO County Bar Bulletin SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION 2019 Board of Directors CONTENTS President Michael Pick President’s Message: What’s On the Agenda for 2019? 4 Vice President Stephanie Barclay Have You Met…? 5 Secretary/Treasurer The Truth About Grief 6 Trevor Creel In Remembrance of David Fisher 10 Directors Raymond Allen 2019 State of the Courts Address 14 Joe Benson Kevin Elder Tackling Carpenter v. United States 16 James Graff-Radford Matthew Guerrero Right Where I Am Supposed to Be 19 Chelsea Olson-Murphy Martha Spalding Courtside Ministries 21 Ex-Officio Sheryl Wolcott SJMS Merges With McCormick Barstow 22 The Effect of Criminal Pleas on MDOs 24 Sections Secret Lives of Lawyers: Linda Somers Smith 28 Alternative Dispute Resolution Bar Bulletin Editorial and Advertisement Policy 30 Raymond Mattison (805) 544-1232 Civil Litigation Cover painting by David Fisher; cover photo by Christine Joo David S. Hamilton (805) 460-7291 Criminal Defense Matthew Hanley (805) 541-3777 BAR BULLETIN COMMITTEE Estates and Trusts Editor: Raymond Allen — (805) 541-1920 Herb Stroh (805) 541-2800 [email protected] Family Law Photographer: Gail Piedalue — [email protected] Greg Abel (805) 543-3287 Publisher: Joni Hunt — [email protected] Labor & Employment Law Jane Heath (805) 225-1773 Advertising: Nicole Johnson — (805) 541-5930 [email protected] Real Property Law Kevin D. Elder (805) 541-2800 The Bar Bulletin, ©2019, is published six times a year by The San Luis Obispo County Bar Association, P.O. Box 585, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406, (805) 541-5930, and subscription is included in the membership dues. The Bar Bulletin welcomes and encourages articles and Emerging Lawyers letters from readers. Please send them to Raymond Allen at the above e-mail address. The Jonas Bailey (805) 232-4577 San Luis Obispo County Bar Association reserves the right to edit articles and letters for publication. All material herein represents the views of the respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association, its Board of Directors, its committees, and/or its sponsors and advertisers, unless specifically stated. SLO County Bar Bulletin www.slobar.org March–April 2019 3 by Michael R. Pick Jr. What’s on the Agenda for 2019? 019 is off to a great start! • June 20: an overview of • Opportunities to expand We have had some rain marketing law by Joe Benson. your practice by networking and our bench is full. These all are interesting topics with other professionals; As for the San Luis with really good presenters, so • Increase your expertise 2Obispo County Bar Association please mark your calendars. and broaden your knowledge (SLOBAR), we are off to a great * through a variety of start as well, and we are looking In order to be able to keep educational opportunities; forward to another stellar year. the SLOBAR running smoothly, • Stay informed by way of The SLOBAR Board of Directors’ membership in the SLOBAR is updates blasted out by the sincere hope and goal is that in needed. SLOBAR email; 2019 the SLOBAR continues to It is difficult to pin down • Subscription to the Bar provide the same excellent level the exact number of attorneys Bulletin; of service to our community since that practice in San Luis Obispo • Listing in the Bar Directory; its formation in 1963. County as a result of out of town and Over the next six months, we lawyers, satellite offices, and the • Discounts to SLOBAR events. have upcoming MCLE events that ebb and flow of practices and cover a wide array of topics and cases. A reasonable estimate, Membership in the SLOBAR include the following: however, is that there are approx- is very inexpensive. Membership • March 21: a presentation imately 600 lawyers that practice applications can be found on on fertility and surrogacy regularly in San Luis Obispo the SLOBAR website, or please law by Molly O’Brien; County. Out of those lawyers, contact Nicole Johnson at slobar@ • April 18: immigration law fewer than 350 are members of slobar.org. by Madeline Behr, an attorney the SLOBAR. We can do better. Thank you for your continued who has an office in Mexico Along with supporting the support of the SLOBAR. Please and the United States; SLOBAR, membership benefits feel free to reach out with any • May 16: a panel of our in the SLOBAR include the questions. n “newer” bench officers— following: Judge Coates, Judge Guerrero, • Continued professional Judge Baltodano, Judge development by way of Marino and Commissioner MCLE and relationship Childs); building; 4 March–April 2019 www.slobar.org SLO County Bar Bulletin Have you met…? Desi Lance Curtis Abram Tim Brown contract attorney, Lance n associate attorney with ollowing his move to Morro A focuses her practice on AAttala Law, Abram focuses FBay in January 2018, Brown business immigration. Prior his practice on Business Law, specializes in patent and trade- to undertaking contract work, Estate Planning and related mark prosecution as a sole she worked as an immigration Litigation. Before joining Attala practitioner. Prior to his move, attorney at two firms in London, Law, he worked at a large law he worked as an in-house patent England. She earned a bachelor’s firm in Long Beach, where he attorney at a number of biotech degree in broadcast journalism practiced employment and companies in San Diego. from Azusa Pacific University in securities litigation. Brown also spent several 2008 and a Juris Doctor degree Abram earned his bachelor’s years in Washington D.C., where from the John Marshall Law degree in Communications and he served as a patent examiner School, Chicago, in 2014. She Business Management from at the United States Patent and is admitted to practice law in Emmanuel College, where he Trademark Office. As an alumnus Illinois and California. achieved All-American honors as of Cal Poly, Brown knew a return In spring 2018, Lance, her a member of the volleyball team. to the Central Coast was husband, Alec, one-year-old son, In 2015, he earned his Juris Doctor inevitable. Copeland, and basset hound, degree from the University of San In his spare time, Brown Bailey, moved from Chicago to Diego, graduating magna cum enjoys surfing, fishing and Grover Beach. Lance grew up laude. walking his dogs on the beach in San Luis Obispo and Paso Abram, a graduate of San Luis in Morro Bay. He looks forward Robles and is happy to be back Obispo High School, returned to to becoming more involved with on the Central Coast. She loves SLO in June 2018 and is excited the Bar Association and the SLO the beach, Pilates, traveling and to be back on the Central Coast. community. n simply being outdoors with her When not in the office, he coaches family. n a local beach volleyball club team, and you can find him playing volleyball, golf, pickleball, guest- hosting the Sports Bite on ESPN Radio, or walking his young Note puppy, Banner. n If you are a new member of the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association and would like to be introduced to others in the organization, please contact the Bar Bulletin editor for inclusion in an upcoming issue. SLO County Bar Bulletin www.slobar.org March–April 2019 5 The Truth About Grief here is a lot I wish I had known about grief before having to learn the hard way. ​ Everyone has experienced different by Lisa O’Leary degrees of loss in their lives, whether family photos courtesy of the author itT is a significant relationship that ended via divorce/break-up/death, a dream job that turned Image courtesy of Creative Commons out to be not so dreamy, or having to sell the house you always wanted because of a personal financial Naturally, when Patrick died, I expected downturn. to go through approximately one year of hell One of the most significant lessons I have before emerging and getting “back to normal.” learned in my life is that every change is a loss, As anticipated, every event of that first year was and every loss brings grief. Grief is not an painful and draining, but it was survivable based experience reserved for the loss of human life, on my belief that all the firsts would be the hardest though this is of course what society normally and then I would be okay. I was able to continue associates with grief. This also seems to be the working as a litigator because my big city law firm only experience that we are given some latitude to was tolerant of my inability to hit my billable hour grieve, and even then, we place arbitrary timelines quota. People looked at me with concern, squeezed and “stages” on the experience so that we can wrap my arm, and told me, “Everything happened for it all in a nice little bow and put it away when we a reason.” I knew that it was okay to feel terrible, decide that the boxes have been checked. that this was “normal,” and that it would all be Before losing my husband, Patrick, to brain over soon. cancer in 2015, I had gone through various losses I mentally approached the one-year anniversary in my life, like we all do—grandparents, family of Patrick’s death with both dread and hope, almost friends, etc.