The San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates won the 2022 Small Chapter of the Year award at ABOTA’s Annual Awards Gala in Whistler, British Columbia, Aug. 19.
Small chapters are organizations with 99 or fewer members. The other finalists were the Rio Grande Chapter and the Tennessee Chapter.
“Under the leadership of Chapter President Judge (John) Pacheco, a hard-working Executive Committee, and the active engagement of chapter members, the chapter had an extraordinary 2022,” said Steven Quattlebaum, national ABOTA president, by email Nov. 16.
“The chapter received this recognition not just for one effort, but many. The members consistently cultivated a spirit of loyalty, fellowship, and professionalism within the legal community. Particularly noteworthy are their civic education programs for the teachers and area students to prepare the next generation of leaders.Their active role in educating our youth stands as a shining example of the contribution an engaged ABOTA chapter can make within its community and was certainly recognized by their fellow ABOTA members across the nation. This chapter serves as a model for other chapters around the country and its accomplishments reflect the dedication and commitment of its members.”
In 2022 the officers were Pacheco, president; Steve Geeting, vice president; Charles Mayr, treasurer; Margaret Warner, immediate past president.
The achievements
Among the chapter’s accomplishments in 2022, according to its application for the award, are growth, increased diversity, pro bono work, volunteering with the Riverside County Bar Association’s New Lawyers Academy, volunteering for San Bernardino Superior Court’s Settlement Week and presenting the Civility Matters Program at the University of La Verne College of Law.
But it was one event that member Bryan Reid, who wrote the application, thinks locked in the win.
“In the spirit and name of ABOTA’s James Otis Lecture Series, in 2022, our chapter presented what is certainly one of the most meaningful, impactful, far-reaching educational programs our community has experienced,” he wrote on behalf of the chapter.
“On Sept. 15, 2022 our chapter undertook a James Otis Lecture, which rekindled interest and pride in our community’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement by profiling and recreating a local case that ultimately proved to be at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.”
The event re-created oral argument in the matter of Lopez v. Seccombe, a case stemming from San Bernardino’s racially discriminatory operation of the community pool: San Bernardinans of Mexican descent could only use the pool one day a week, the day before it was cleaned. The case struck down the city’s rule, and created legal arguments that were later cited in landmark desegregation cases. About 150 high school students saw the event in person, in addition to a live stream audience and subsequent viewers of the recording.
The program ignited a renewed interest in the case. It featured not only chapter members in the case reenactment, but also local Latino leaders who had personal connections to the Lopez case.
“We are very proud of this JOL effort and believe it not only brings significant attention to ABOTA as well as an important moment in the Civil Rights Movement which may have been on the verge of being lost to history,” Reid wrote in the application. “We are informed that because of our efforts, work is underway to create a movie about the fascinating case of Lopez v. Seccombe as well as the many notable people and personalities which all combined to move our society toward desegregation.”
In a phone interview Nov. 16, he talked about how the event served ABOTA’S mission.
“In ABOTA, you become more influential and more connected to the issues society is facing today — preserving the integrity of our courts and ensuring we have residents who understand how our government is supposed to work and the role our courts play in that,” Reid said.
“These JOLs give our students – soon-to-be adults and jurors and members of our society – a perspective of just how important our judicial system is and its key role in our democracy.”
What is ABOTA?
Founded in 1958, ABOTA is a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges. ABOTA membership consists of more than 7,300 lawyers — equally balanced between plaintiff and defense — and judges spread among 95 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter of ABOTA was chartered in 1974. It’s active in CAL-ABOTA and national ABOTA with two members having served as CAL-ABOTA President and member Greg Rizio will be the third to hold that position in 2024. The chapter defines itself as active, supportive of ABOTA’s mission, and innovative.
“The core mission ABOTA was founded on was one component of the U.S. Constitution – the Seventh Amendment right to a civil trial by jury,” Reid said by phone. “ABOTA was founded at a time when California was contemplating developing a no-fault system for resolving all sorts of personal injury cases and in particular car accident cases, basically abolishing the civil system for those and making it more like a workers’ comp system.
He said the organization has evolved over the past 65 years to prioritize advocacy for the third branch of government.
“You can’t have a jury trial if you don’t have a strong judiciary. Judges can’t defend themselves when they’re attacked. In order to protect the right to a civil trial, we have to protect the judiciary.”
Civic education on civility has grown from that founding too.
In fact, this month, CAL-ABOTA is recognizing Pacheco with the William W. Bedworth Judicial Civility Award. He will be the third recipient, including the award’s namesake, who received it in 2017.
“We talk to law students, lawyers, really anyone who will listen, about how important civility is to our profession,” Reid said.
To be an ABOTA member you have to be a civil, ethical, professional lawyer, Reid said. The criteria for membership includes trying 10 cases.
“The number of trials is the gatekeeper,” he said. “Once you get to the gate, we investigate and find out if the people you’ve litigated against think you’re civil and give you high marks.”
