CORPORATE FOCUS: Sport Chalet’s Bottom Line Affected by Recent Drought By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Sales at La Canada-based Sport Chalet may have remained steady throughout most of the first two quarters of 2001, even with a sluggish economy in the works, but that doesn’t mean its bottom line survived intact. You’d think a sporting goods retailer would have seen some impact from the Sept. 11 attacks heading into the winter season, considering the effect the attacks had on the travel industry in Southern California. But, though sales increased by 10.6 percent for the quarter ending Dec. 31, analysts say it ultimately was Mother Nature that took the biggest bite out of the company’s profits for the year. Southern California’s 2001-2002 winter season was the driest on record, limiting the opportunities to participate in cold-weather sports. Net income for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001 was $2.2 million on revenues of $67.4 million, compared to income of $3.0 million on revenues of $61.0 million for the same quarter in 2000. By Thanksgiving, the typical kickoff for the winter ski season, executives were already feeling the effects of what would be one of the worst winter sales periods in years. Instead of the typical onslaught of ski and winter sport sales, accompanied by the Christmas shopping season, the company was forced to implement promotional programs to jumpstart sales and move stock off the shelves. “The slowdown in consumer spending leading up to the holidays created a difficult retail environment that was more promotionally price-driven than last year,” said Sport Chalet Chairman and CEO Craig Levra. Same-store sales for the last three quarters in 2000 and the first quarter of 2001 were in the double digits, amounting to a 16.9-percent increase for the year, a tough act to follow, all things considered. And, although same-store sales were relatively strong at the start of 2001, they began to slip by mid-year 2001 to single-digit levels, the lowest in the third quarter (1.2 percent). “I think part of the problem with this company is in 2001 they were somewhat of a victim of their own success in 2000,” said Joan Bogucki-Storms, who tracks Sport Chalet for Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. “They were going up against double-digit comp sales figures all year long and, with the dry winter and everything else that was happening prior to the holiday season with the economy, they were exposed to mark-down risk because sales for their winter products, which is what they are best known for in this market, never really materialized.” The company’s stock has also taken a mild dip, trading at $8.80 on May 10, compared to a 52-week high of $11.02 in January. Despite soft winter product sales the company remains firmly in a growth mode and is expected to recover quickly, said Bogucki-Storms. Sport Chalet opened stores in Palmdale and Orange County in 2001, as well as its first out-of-state store in Henderson, Nev., just outside of Las Vegas. A second Las Vegas area store is expected to open this fall. There are now 26 stores up and running. “The company has upgraded its management team over the last few years and they are doing a much better job executing their operational procedures,” said Bogucki-Storms. “So I have every expectation that they will start seeing their numbers improve.” She said she anticipates the company’s comparable store sales will climb about 1.5 percent this year and about 3 percent in 2003, primarily because sales for non-winter sports products like camping, hiking and boating equipment during summer 2001 were strong. Levra agreed. He said the expansion program into the Nevada market is expected to eventually help the company lower its dependence on Southern California winter product sales. “Our long-term strategy has been to diversify our product base so that we aren’t so dependent on the winter sales in this region,” said Levra. “But this year was particularly tough for us, although sales from our non-winter products were very good.” And, there are also similarities between Southern California and Nevada that, according to Levra, will ameliorate some of the risks involved in heading into uncharted territory. Levra said, “Depending on what statistics you look at, you’ll see that a large number of the residents in and around Las Vegas have lived in Southern California already and know us.”

MRV Hit Hard by Telecom Fallout, Luminent Buyback By CARLOS MARTINEZ Staff Reporter Officials at struggling computer networking equipment maker MRV Communications Inc. must feel like its deja vu all over again. Declining market share and a stock price that is falling like a rock have the first quarter of 2002 looking a lot like 2001 as the company struggles with declining orders for its high-end computer networking equipment. “I don’t really know what else they can do,” said analyst Bob Lam of Bear Stearns. MRV CEO Noam Lotan said the company was severely impacted by reduced orders from Europe in particular, which makes up 64 percent of its market. Lotan said the company has unified its several separate sales units and is focusing on its newly released fiber optic platform capable of carrying up to 16 high bandwidth channels more than any other company along with new next-generation repeaters and amplifiers for fiber optic networks. “We have not seen any signs of a rebound and we believe revenue will be flat in the second quarter,” he said. For the quarter ending March 30, MRV reported a net loss of $32.5 million on revenue of $62.4 million, compared to a net loss of $54.3 million on $100.1 million in revenue a year earlier. MRV’s troubles are symptomatic of an industry that’s been hit hard by a sluggish economy that forced tech giants like Alcatel S.A. and Cisco Systems Inc. to cut back on equipment orders. “MRV and other suppliers are getting the brunt of an economic climate that shows no sign of letting up,” said Fredrik Hernstrom, an analyst with Hidden Asset Report. Having lost more than 80 percent of its stock value since hitting a 52-week high of $13.75 last May 21, MRV is seen, no longer even as a potential dark horse on Wall Street, but a high risk stock with few buyers. The company’s dependence on an industry that continues to weaken, despite earlier predictions of a mid-year recovery, makes the stock an iffy proposition, Hernstrom said. “They focused in an area that’s taken the hardest hit and they’re trying to work their way around that,” he said, referring to MRV’s focus on the core network business. After spinning off its optical components unit, Luminent Inc., in 2000, the company brought it back into the fold less than a year later in a convoluted stock swap that further depressed MRV’s stock price. MRV closed at $2.22 on April 26. The stock hit its all-time high of $97.44 per share in March 2000. Luminent’s troubles began in early 2001 when the bottom dropped out of the fiber optics market as big operators like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT & T; Corp. abruptly halted plans to build massive proposed networks, said Jonathan Kramer, a Los Angeles-based independent analyst. “Bringing Luminent back just dragged down that stock and it made investors worry,” he said. “Some people couldn’t differentiate between losses from Luminent and losses from MRV.” As part of the restructuring, Luminent laid off 600 workers, or about a third of its total workforce, in mid-2001. Altogether, the restructuring is expected to cost the company an additional $8.4 million over the next two quarters, the company said. Despite a headlong drop in stock price since last summer, it was temporarily bolstered in March by the announced cancellation of the sale of an undetermined number of shares by MRV chairman Shlomo Margalit and company president and Lotan. Most analysts have stopped covering the company, but a few still hold out some hope for turnaround as early as next year. “In the broader picture, you’ve got to look to the customers who are focusing on the edge of the network and, if that opens up, then the core network (MRV’s market) will open up,” said Chet White, an analyst with Well Fargo Van Kasper. The company, which lost CFO Edmund Glazer who was aboard the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, is still optimistic about a possible recovery because of a number of new less-expensive optical components and network infrastructure products.

Public Defender Works Her Way Into Interesting Cases By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Rose Reglos’ alarm clock goes off at 4 a.m. every morning. By 7:30 a.m. she’s well into another day on the job as one of 30 Los Angeles County public defenders at the Van Nuys Superior courthouse. One colleague terms her “our little spitfire” because of her reputation as a sharp-edged verbal sparrer who, at all of 5 foot 2, looks more like a well-dressed teenager than a 38-year-old attorney. She is flanked at her desk on the 10th floor of the courthouse by vases filled with fresh flowers and “goodie jars” crammed with M & M;’s, cookies, pretzels and Jolly Rancher hard candy. If the throw rug on the floor doesn’t make you feel at home, the teddy bear on the file cabinet and the pots of climbing ivy should. Normally, Reglos would be juggling between 25 and 30 cases at once. But she is two years into preparations for her first death penalty trial with the preliminary hearing just a few weeks away. So, much of her workload has been re-assigned to her colleagues, although she’s technically “on call” throughout the day. Reglos has spent the last 12 years with the county public defender’s office, working her way up from an officer grade 1, handling mostly drunken driving, spousal abuse and other misdemeanor cases, to a grade 4, trying the most serious felonies: rape, murder, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. Reglos chose the life of a public defender over a private law practice because, as she put it, “you get to see real lives here.” She may not be able to pick and choose her clients, and the “payoff” for winning is never tied to a financial settlement, but there are perks. She has a secretary and a legal clerk backing her up and, when the occasion calls for it, she can tap the brain trust of her three dozen or so colleagues down the hall. And, contrary to popular belief, not every public defender is underpaid and unappreciated. At grade 4, Reglos makes over $100,000 a year. (Grade 5, the highest level, is usually reserved for management positions.) She sees the judge she’s assigned to every day, along with his staff, the bailiff and the prosecutor sitting on the other side of the podium. It’s like a second family to her. “Think about it,” said Reglos. “I have no one to bill at the end of a case, no overhead expenses and whenever I have a question I have some of the most experienced lawyers to back me up. That’s not something you typically get built into a private practice.” She may pack a serious punch at the podium, but her colleagues also say Reglos knows how to make a case for her clients without ruffling too many feathers in the process. “Diplomacy is important,” said Bill Weiss, head deputy who supervises Reglos and about 40 other public defenders. “And Rose is known for being able to get along with judges and district attorneys in the courtroom. She knows how handle herself in the courtroom and she also knows how to do it without crossing too many swords.” Reglos defends the otherwise defenseless, those who say they can’t afford their own attorneys. Although anyone in custody can ask for a PD, once their case is complete they can be required by the court to help cover the costs of their defense if they don’t meet certain financial requirements. Her clients come from all walks of life: a Mexican immigrant arrested in a case of mistaken identity; a “psychotic” Vietnam veteran accused of stomping his 84-year-old aunt to death; a 20-something Valley man facing life in prison for his involvement in a robbery. Next month, it’s the trial of a Valley man accused of stabbing and strangling his girlfriend to death and leaving her body in the trunk of her own car. He faces a death sentence. Reglos admits she doesn’t always like her clients. They can be ungrateful, violent, intimidating. But, she says, they all deserve her time, even those she suspects may have done what they’re accused of. “There’s always doubts,” Reglos said. “You wonder: have I done all I could? Is there anything I’ve overlooked? A lot of cases keep you up at night. But they aren’t all murder or rape cases. I’ve had DUI cases that kept me up at night.” “But even if I think they might be guilty, the law says they are all entitled to a defense,” Reglos said. “So my job is to just get all the facts that are out there, present them to the jury and let them come up with a decision.” Early in her career, Reglos tried clerking for a private attorney. That didn’t interest her. Then, in her third year at UC Hastings College of the Law, she clerked for a senior public defender with the city of San Francisco, her hometown, and immediately was hooked. “It was so much more interesting to me,” said Reglos. “It’s not just looking at a case and reading about it. You are in it. The clients are usually very appreciative. That’s the payoff.” Reglos says there’s little truth to the myth that public defenders rarely get to the trial stage, that pleas are the rule rather than the exception and that judges toss out their cases right and left. “I think because of the volume of cases we do a year, it looks that way percentage-wise,” she said, “but actually we do go to trial a lot. I’ve probably done 110 trials in my career. It’s true, you push a lot of paper, but then so do private attorneys.” She estimated that she’s won 25 percent of the cases she’s tried. There is truth to the myth, however, that public defenders often have to make a case for themselves to gain the trust and cooperation of a client. “You get clients with attitude,” Reglos said. “They come to you and you know they are thinking, ‘I’m not getting a real attorney so why should I co-operate with you?’ That’s very frustrating. I just try to tell them to give me a chance.” Just as with private attorneys, public defenders often take on cases that can last for months. They can make as many as 100 visits to a client’s jail cell over the years it often takes to prepare for a complex jury trial. Family members get thrown into the mix, and all parties involved can and often do get close over time. Take the 1996 case in which she tried to clear a Valley man accused of a home invasion robbery. “It was a seven-month trial, but I prepared for it for two years,” Reglos said. “Over the course of the time, I got very close to the family. The mother and father were both in court every day. I got close to my client. It was sometimes an acrimonious situation in the courtroom, a very high-energy case.” That one, she lost. Her client, and his two accomplices, now face life in prison. Appeals are pending. “That case haunts me,” Reglos said. What keeps her coming back? “A lot of attorneys say, ‘Oh, I’ll work as a public defender for a few years and then get out on my own.’ I came in here thinking I didn’t know how long I’d be around. But here I am. When it’s not interesting to me anymore, that’s when I’ll move on.”

Water Torture, Valley-Style, Repeats Itself 87 Years Later COMMENTARY – From The Newsroom by Michael Hart The first time cityhood for the San Fernando Valley was seriously considered, water was an issue. Here we are again. When the Valley officially became an annexation target in the first part of the last century, the carrot in front of it was the water crashing through the Los Angeles Aqueduct on its way from the Owens Valley – via the San Fernando Valley – to the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains. Los Angeles, which had the power to turn the spigot on, was the stick. Become a part of the city, and tap into the water supply; that was the lure. Remain independent, and stay bone dry; that was the ultimatum. Today, as the campaign for secession moves into a new phase, you might as well say history is repeating itself. Last week, LAFCO director Larry Calamine gave his breakup blueprint to his commission. Valley VOTE did a good job of putting its fingerprints all over it. If the plan for secession reaches voters in somewhere close to the shape it is now, the Valley will get much of what it has wanted: – Most of the city’s capital assets in the Valley – libraries, fire stations, public buildings and even the Van Nuys Airport – would become property of the new city. – The new city would have time, a few years at least, to build its own departments and services, gradually weaning itself off of a dependence on L.A. for police and fire protection, garbage pickup, etc. – A new mayor and city council would have the chance to prove they can do what they say they can: run a city of a mere million and a half more cheaply and efficiently than L.A. now runs a city of 5 million. Everybody involved has been absorbed, rightly so, in the minutiae of municipal law and finance. However, it’s time to look up. The politics of secession now moves beyond the inside baseball that has been played for several years to a wide open campaign for the hearts and – face it – simpler minds of the electorate. The average voter in Chatsworth or Angelino Heights, in Hancock Park or Sherman Oaks, is not interested in the formula used to derive alimony payments or the rules to determine eligibility for retirement benefits of police officers and firefighters. The millions of people in this city who haven’t thought twice about secession yet will now make their decisions the same way they always do in elections: by responding to a few basic, and very simple, arguments. Secession advocates have theirs down: Smaller is better, regardless of which side of the hill you live on, and, if you’re on this side, 87 years of second-class citizenhood is enough. However, they will have to be ready to fight their war on the two fronts the opposition appears to be preparing, neither of which can be considered a surprise attack. First, expect that old white-flight-to-the-Valley chestnut to be revived. It’s frustrating for those of us who live and work here to have to listen to, and those running the opposition know it isn’t true. Nevertheless, voters in the rest of L.A. will be told secession is an attempt by middle and upper-middle class white people to abandon the poorer and more culturally diverse Los Angeles. Statistics certainly can make the case, but if you live in the Valley, you don’t need the U.S. Census Bureau to tell you that Latinos make up 38 percent of the area’s population and Asians another 9 percent. Caucasians account for 45 percent of the Valley’s population. A recent report commissioned by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley on ethnic diversity indicates that poverty in the Valley is far less segregated than anywhere else in L.A. The idea that the Valley is an outpost of white affluence is, for those of us who live here and know, just not true. But it is an argument that may be easy to make to voters in other parts of the city who have never been to the Valley. The second front will be a permutation of that water issue from nine decades ago. LAFCO’s belief all along has been that it can compel the city of L.A. to charge citizens of a new Valley city the same for water and electricity as it does its own citizens. In the past week though, city officials have taken a “Did I say that?” attitude to this particular topic, insisting there are no guarantees when it comes to what it might charge the Valley for utilities. LAFCO believes it has the law on its side with this issue, but it might be complicated enough to scare voters in the Valley into believing they could be buried under massive water and electricity rate hikes. I’m like every other average voter. I don’t have the slightest idea of whether LAFCO has the authority to tell the city of L.A. how much it can charge non-city residents for utilities, but getting to the truth has long-costly-legal-battle written all over it. And it’s a perfect campaign issue for secession opponents: Scare enough Valley residents into thinking they’ll pay more for water and you’ve got all the votes you need to defeat this. And once again, for at least the second important time in its history, the Valley will have been victimized by its desire to keep the water spigot on. Michael Hart is editor of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

25 Attorneys at the Top of the Valley Legal Community Gary L. Barr Alpert & Barr Encino Gary L. Barr likes trial work, has liked it ever since he worked for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office some 20 years ago. But all things being equal, Barr would rather settle a case without going to trial, and his ability to negotiate settlements so successfully has won him the admiration of colleagues and peers. “He wants to do the best for clients and to create equitable settlements without the need to spend all the money going to court and getting into protracted trials,” said Greg Lippe, managing partner for Lever, Lippe, Hellie & Russell LLP. Take the case last year in which Barr represented a developer threatened with foreclosure when his joint venture partner tried to prevent him from selling a home he had just completed and from building another home originally planned on the lot. Barr was able to get control of the project back into the hands of his client, but not before threatening to see the case through to trial. “Although I don’t like litigating unnecessarily, in this case we knew the only thing that would get this woman to cooperate was a hearing staring her in the face,” said Barr. “We turned out to be right, and settled the night before the hearing.” Barr, a past president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, says successful mediation depends upon relentless attention to detail, the power of persuasion, the flexibility to adjust strategies as opposing arguments are presented and the ability to manage a client’s expectations. “I have this belief that, if you can demonstrate to a court or jury that you know your case, you’re organized and have thought of the issues, it helps you a lot in terms of credibility,” Barr said. “I don’t like leaving any detail unresolved.” – Shelly Garcia James E. Blatt Law Offices of James E. Blatt Encino James Blatt knows a good case when he sees it. After more than 30 years as a criminal defense attorney, Blatt has built himself a reputation as one of the area’s best. Perhaps most notable is Bajakajian v. United States in which Blatt’s client, Hosep G. Bajakajian, was accused of not reporting the $357,000 in cash he had in a suitcase at a Los Angeles International Airport terminal. Blatt contended the government had illegally seized Bajakajian’s money even though he had not acquired the money through illegal means. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 and Blatt won. “We introduced the cultural defense, which says a person’s cultural background can be a factor in determining the degree of guilt,” Blatt said. Valley-based attorney James Felton said Blatt is a good litigator who gets results. “If there’s a high-profile criminal defense case in the Valley, Jim Blatt is handling it,” he said. Blatt was named Trial Lawyer of the Year and received the San Fernando Valley Bar Association’s Professional Achievement Award in 1998. He is a UCLA graduate with a law degree from Loyola Marymount University. -Carlos Martinez Lilianne G. Chaumont Chaumont Law Group Calabasas When executives in relatively specialized alarm and security companies have legal problems, they call upon Lilianne G. Chaumont. As one of the premier security and alarm law attorneys in the United States, Chaumont is in a league of her own when it comes to hashing out complex legal or regulatory issues for the industry she has made her own. “There is no one in the San Fernando Valley who has a higher degree of knowledge or skill in this complicated area,” said Calabasas-based attorney Richard D. Marks. “She is recognized as a masterful authority by her clients, providing them with the legal as well as common sense advice needed to weave their way through the regulatory web,” he said. A few years ago, Chaumont’s expertise was recognized when she was asked to sit on the board of directors of the Southern California Security Assn., the leading industry trade group. She also will be the featured speaker at the Central Coast Police Security Summit, a meeting dealing with legal and regulatory issues facing the security industry later this year. “What really stimulates me is that I have a very direct impact on my clients’ business,” said Chaumont, a UCLA School of Law graduate. “It’s really about helping my clients grow their business and grow it right. I don’t cut corners and I don’t let them cut corners either.” – Carlos Martinez James E. Curry Bollington, Stilz, Bloeser & Curry Woodland Hills James E. Curry is known throughout his profession as a skilled advocate who has no trouble finding time to help colleagues learn the ropes. Curry, in-house counsel for 21st Century Insurance, was named a partner at his firm in 1987. “My first contact with James was when he was working as a mediator,” said Mike Convey, whose Sherman Oaks firm, Silva, Clasen & Raffalow, serves as in-house counsel for a competitor, Mercury Insurance Group. “Although he wore the hat of an attorney, he was able to steer both sides to agreement. And I know he volunteers his time in the court system as a mediator and an arbitrator, even though he’s also in charge of managing a number of lawyers and training them. “He always has valuable information on process and procedure that is helpful to the judges and the association as a whole. I’ve seen him stand up and say, ‘Here’s the way we do it.”‘ -Jacqueline Fox Neal Dudovitz Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County Pacoima “Neal is pushing the envelope,” said Valley Economic Development Center President Roberto Barragan. And apparently, Neal Dudovitz has been doing so for the last 29 years. Dudovitz, executive director of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, has spent his entire legal career in the public sector. “Anyone who works in the nonprofit world, they are looking to create change,” Barragan said of Dudovitz. “That’s what drives him.” Early in his career, after earning his degree from Northeastern University School of Law, Dudovitz was a public interest attorney working on behalf of the disadvantaged, often as a litigator and often in federal court, including two cases he tried before the U.S. Supreme Court. Since taking over as director of Neighborhood Legal Services in 1993, Dudovitz has certainly expanded geographically (most recently, by moving into the San Gabriel Valley) the scope of the agency that works on behalf of those who can’t typically afford legal counsel. But also as part of the agency’s outreach to low-income communities, he has overseen the formation of programs such as Disaster Legal Services, the Health Consumer Center of Los Angeles, the Van Nuys Self-Help Legal Access Center and VIDA, a community health advocacy project. “He’s expanded it to a lot of issues,” Barragan said, “everything from housing to health, all in a time when the federal government is cutting back on all kinds of these services.” – Michael Hart David Fleming Latham & Watkins Universal City Trail a finger down the list of boards, committees, civic and business groups David Fleming is associated with and it’s hard to imagine how he ever found time to practice law. His involvement with and commitment to business-related issues in the Valley certainly have earned him recognition from business leaders, but also from City Hall insiders, despite his open support for San Fernando Valley secession. Fleming’s career as a corporate attorney spans more than 40 years, the last 10 of which he has spent with Latham & Watkins where he is now of counsel. Along the way, he managed to spearhead the city’s charter reform movement with former Mayor Richard Riordan. He now serves as chairman of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. board and the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Children’s Services Planning Committee. He is the current chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and was recently appointed to the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. With former State Assemblyman Richard Katz, he created the Valley Transit Strike Force to lobby for transportation funds for Valley transit projects in Sacramento. “Not only is he a great lawyer, with a long list of loyal clients who’ve become lifelong friends, but his skill as a visionary has translated into him being an over-the-top civic activist, and that’s a fabulous combination,” said Bonnie Herman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. -Jacqueline Fox Fred Gaines Gaines & Stacey Woodland Hills Fred Gaines’ specialties are land use, zoning, environmental law and political advocacy. Which means he’s spent a great deal of time speaking on behalf of clients in front of the California Coastal Commission, often representing developers in their efforts to meet zoning and land use requirements. Gaines is also a tireless activist on behalf of the business community. After he was appointed chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association last year, his first order of business was to reinvigorate a long-fought campaign to reform the gross receipts tax the city of Los Angeles levies on all businesses. Along with the city’s Business Tax Advisory Committee and others from the Valley business community, Gaines has formed a coalition to “ax the tax” and begun talks with the Los Angeles City Council, which has, in the past, remained staunchly opposed to negotiating the issue. “He’s a very, very sharp real estate guy,” said Greg Lippe, managing partner, Lever, Lippe, Hellie & Russell LLP. “If there is one attorney I would recommend in that area, he’s the one. He’s honest and efficient. He doesn’t drag cases out. And he’s the kind of guy that’s got credentials pouring out of his body.” Those credentials include a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and a law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley. – Jacqueline Fox Eric P. Geismar Medtronic MiniMed Inc. Northridge Compared to the dramatic conventional view the public has of litigators or perhaps criminal defense attorneys, the world of the in-house counsel can sound pretty mundane. Unless, of course, you happen to also be the vice president and senior counsel of one of the most successful companies in the San Fernando Valley. Eric P. Geismar joined what was then MiniMed Inc. in 1997 as director of legal services and assistant general counsel. “Eric has been around there for a lot,” said Bruce Ackerman, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. “He saw them through both the move and then through the merger.” In the first case, Ackerman was referring to the complex negotiations that accompanied the move of MiniMed, the maker of the insulin pump, from its then-cramped quarters in Chatsworth to a new facility at the northern edge of the Cal State Northridge campus and an ongoing partnership with both the university and the Northeast Valley. In the second case, he conducted the negotiations that led to last year’s acquisition by Medtronic Inc. of MiniMed, which transformed the company founded by Alfred E. Mann into Medtronic MiniMed. Being at the heart of both major transitions in the life of a fast-growing company has put Geismar in a position of authority with influence over a number of issues affecting the biotech giant, not just its legal affairs. Prior to joining MiniMed, Geismar was an associate with the Los Angeles law firm of Dewey Ballantine where his practice consisted of securities, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and general transactional work. – Michael Hart John B. Golper Ballard, Rosenberg, Golper & Savitt Universal City John B. Golper started out his career with visions of advocating for worker’s rights and against the establishment. It wasn’t long before he switched sides. “I started out as a labor attorney working for a firm that did work for unions. After a couple years, what I realized was an enlightened employer would accomplish more for employees than unions,” said Golper. Since then, Golper has specialized in labor and employment law on behalf of management. His practice includes litigating wrongful discharge, employment discrimination and other employment disputes in federal and state courts, collective bargaining and arbitration and management representation to administrative agencies. He is recognized as a national authority on gender-based wage discrimination and comparable worth. Golper served on Governor Deukmejian’s California Comparable Worth Task Force, co-authoring a report that advocated against the adoption of comparable worth legislation. In the mid-1990s, Golper argued a case on behalf of Anheuser-Busch against an employee who claimed he was forced to resign. The employee cited working conditions in place more than two years earlier but had never shared those complaints with management, circumstances under which a number of workers at many different companies were making claims at the time. “A lot of people still cite the case that, if something goes on for two-and-a-half years and then you quit, it’s unlikely it forced you to quit,” said Golper. As in the case of Turner v. Anheuser-Busch, Golper often balances his time between defending employers and offering advice and counsel on good employment practices. “His strength and breadth of experience in employment law is pretty much incomparable,” said Helen Wasserman, a partner at the firm. – Shelly Garcia Lawrence P. Grassini Grassini & Wrinkle Woodland Hills To win membership in the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates, a personal injury attorney must have won at least one jury trial with an award in excess of $1 million. Lawrence P. Grassini has eight verdicts in excess of $10 million under his belt. Among them, Grassini won a record-breaking award of $51.6 million in the case of Burch v. Children’s Hospital of Orange County and a jury verdict of $27.5 million in the case of Fortman v. Free Enterprise. In the mid-eighties when that trial took place, it was the largest single personal injury verdict in the U.S. Grassini has also successfully taken on corporate behemoths such as General Motors and Ralston Purina, and has worked on behalf of those who have been victims of age discrimination, wrongful termination and sexual harassment. He is a three-time winner of the Plaintiff Trial Lawyer of the Year award from Verdictum Juris, the only attorney to win the award more than once, and a two-time Trial Lawyer of the Year, according to the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association. “He has had just some incredible results,” said Lyle Greenberg, a principal at Greenberg & Sedley. “But it’s also a reflection of his personality. He is truly concerned about the individuals he represents and wants to do his best for them.” – Shelly Garcia Arthur Greenberg Greenberg & Bass Encino As the first member of his family to finish law school, Arthur Greenberg had notions once of becoming a top-notch criminal defense attorney. But things didn’t work out that way. “The first firm I joined did bankruptcy and business law, and I realized that I liked that,” said Greenberg, who has since become arguably one of the most highly respected bankruptcy attorneys in the region. “In the old days, bankruptcy law wasn’t looked at with much repute. But when the Bankruptcy Reform Act (of 1980) went into effect, it totally changed the practice,” he said. The law allowed many companies and individuals to continue to operate their businesses without liquidating all their assets to pay off debts. Greenberg, who began his practice in 1976, went on to handle a variety of cases, including what was then the largest partnership Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing west of the Mississippi River in 1993 when the accounting firm of Pannell, Kerr and Foster sought his services. Veteran attorney Scott Spolin credits Greenberg’s skill for his success: “He is a superior advocate and any client would be lucky to have him,” he said. Greenberg is a Missouri native and UCLA graduate with a law degree from Loyola University Law School. -Carlos Martinez Lyle Greenberg Greenberg & Sedley Woodland Hills Civility, in the world of litigators, is worth a lot, according to Kenneth Drake of Rushfeldt, Shelley & Drake and a recent opposing counsel to Lyle Greenberg of Greenberg & Sedley. “That’s the hallmark of what really makes commenting on Lyle Greenberg an easy thing,” Drake said. “He’s a very civil civil litigator.” Greenberg, currently president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, specializes in personal injury work on behalf of plaintiffs, focusing on health care issues, medical malpractice, product liability claims and litigation prevention. Drake recently opposed Greenberg in a medical malpractice suit that included product liability claims. The case was ultimately settled. “He can be a very aggressive advocate,” Drake said of Greenberg, “but he also knows when a cooperative attitude benefits his client.” Known throughout the Valley legal profession as a sharp litigator, Greenberg is known just as well for his extensive community involvement. Along with his active participation in the bar association, he has been chairman of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce more than once and is a track coach at Oak Park High School. Drake said, “As a firm, we want in the future to move toward the kind of community involvement Lyle has.” “We all need to take the cue from him,” Drake said, “and he’s been an inspiration for me to get more involved.” – Michael Hart David Gurnick Arter & Hadden Woodland Hills When he was a kid, David Gurnick used to ride along with his dad as he bought produce and delivered it to his restaurant customers. Years later Gurnick says, what he learned on those runs is one of the most important skills he brings to his franchise, distribution and intellectual property law practice. “If there’s one factor that’s more important in this field, it’s getting yourself at one with the client in terms of the problems and challenges,” Gurnick said. “I relate what these clients are going through to what I saw growing up with my father in his small business.” Gurnick, an adjunct professor of law at the San Fernando Valley College of Law, is a widely known expert in the area of franchise law, according to Gregory Fast, dean of the school and a professor, who also called him a “model lawyer.” Thanks to an intimate knowledge of his clients’ businesses, Gurnick was able to draft a non-compete agreement that withstood court scrutiny even though such agreements are rarely upheld in California courts. The agreement spelled out how Gurnick’s client had developed its trade secrets and the lengths it went to in order to protect them. As a result, a former employee who tried to set up a competing business was prevented from doing so. Understanding the way businesses work also helps Gurnick, whose book, “Franchising Depositions,” has just been published, negotiate franchise agreements more effectively, colleagues say. “What happens too often is that when people go to negotiate, they negotiate strictly from what they want,” said Greg Lippe, managing partner at CPA firm Lever, Lippe, Hellie & Russell LLP. “You first need to find out what the other side needs. When you understand what the other person’s needs are, it’s easiest to come up with an approach that they will listen to.” – Shelly Garcia David R. Hagen Merritt & Hagen Woodland Hills Debt is a four-letter word to David Hagen. And it’s a word he gets to toss around a lot. As one of the best known bankruptcy attorneys in the San Fernando Valley, Hagen’s firm specializes in helping clients, typically small businesses, resolve their financial challenges and rebuild. But filing for bankruptcy, says Hagen, is not always necessary to achieve what he calls “financial wellness.” He believes in providing educational counseling to help clients first clear out debt and then restructure the framework of their businesses. A self-help advocate, he’s created an audiotape called “10 Ways to Financially Prosper” and a CD that advises clients on how to avoid getting into credit card debt. “Many bankruptcy lawyers have to clean up messes,” says Hagen. “We see ourselves as fresh-start attorneys. It’s very gratifying to take an individual or a small business that has gone through hard times and help them set up a strategy to grow and prosper.” Hagen is an active member of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association. He also sits on the board of directors for Tree People, which educates and motivates others to care for the environment through tree planting and recycling, and Neighborhood Legal Services, which provides legal services to those who can’t readily afford it. – Jacqueline Fox Barry T. Harlan Lewitt, Hackman, Shapiro, Marshall & Harlan Encino A practicing attorney for the last 34 years, Barry T. Harlan still enjoys his work. “It’s really about finding common ground and a resolution that will benefit everyone,” said Harlan, who specializes in several aspects of family law, including child support, child custody, spousal support and the drafting of pre-nuptial agreements. Harlan has represented a number of high-profile clients from throughout Southern California, perhaps most notably the 1972 case involving Juan Abel Vargas, a bigamist who died and left two wives to squabble over his estate. “He was a man who had a wife and had five children, and later met another lady and then married her and had four children, all without either wife knowing about the other,” Harlan said, “and they lived five miles apart.” Harlan, who represented the second wife, was able to reach a settlement for his client in a case that established precedent for other such cases. Attorney James Felton said Harlan’s strength is in his problem-solving skills. “In a world of fighting tooth and nail, he wants to minimize the pain to the parties and get the matters resolved, so the divorce process can move forward,” Felton said. Harlan is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a law degree from Loyola University Law School. -Carlos Martinez Jonathan J. Kissel The Law Offices of Jonathan J. Kissel Tarzana As a kid, Jonathan J. Kissel, along with other members of his family, would serve as a kind of mock jury at home while his dad prepared for a trial. The experience gave Kissel an early appreciation of the legal profession, but it wasn’t until many years later that he really came face to face with what it takes to practice criminal law. In the early 1980s, Kissel was defending one of six co-defendants in what was, at the time, one of the largest drug busts in Ventura County. At the conclusion of an eight-month trial, Kissel’s client was convicted only of the lesser charges and sentenced to time served. “I learned that my abilities and my hard work and presentation was every bit as good as these high-profile defense attorneys (who represented some of the other co-defendants),” said Kissel. “I wasn’t afraid to argue what I knew was correct and do it aggressively and zealously. I realized I had the ability to convince people, and that’s what I believe has made me such a good litigator.” In the intervening years, Kissel has tried more than 100 cases in state and federal court. But he has handled several thousand more criminal cases, a record that has required his powers of persuasion even more often outside of the courtroom. “Jon is a lawyer who everyone knows and he seems to know everyone,” said Philip Israels, a partner with Cron, Israels & Stark, who has worked with him. “He knows who to talk to and who not to talk to.” – Shelly Garcia Peter Korn Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney Van Nuys More than one colleague and quite a few adversaries in the criminal bar have called Peter Korn “one of the best prosecutors in the Valley.” They also say they will not be surprised if eventually they get the chance to vote for him when he runs for elected office. The George Washington University School of Law graduate joined the district attorney’s office in 1990 and is assigned to the Van Nuys Branch Office. He received the Deputy District Attorney of the Month award for obtaining convictions in two high-profile, back-to-back Valley jury trials. Once case involved the brutal slaying of a Valley woman in which the defense attempted to prove Korn’s witness for the prosecution was the actual killer, not the defendant. The other case led to the conviction of a Valley man charged with hiring hit men to kill his prostitute-mistress. Before the jury began its deliberations, the judge would twice shut down the trial temporarily because the victim arrived in court under the influence of narcotics and later attempted to take her own life. – Jacqueline Fox Herbert Lapin Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney Van Nuys Herbert Lapin supervises all of the San Fernando Valley-based prosecutors in the L.A. District Attorney’s office. It’s a busy job, one that Lapin has had a long time, and the type of chore that could turn into a bureaucratic grind for many a good attorney. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with Lapin, who is widely respected both in and out of the Van Nuys Courthouse and among prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys alike. “He has the keenest sense of fairness and justice I’ve ever seen,” said criminal defense attorney Gerald Fogelman. Fogelman was one of many who said Lapin manages to move the criminal justice system beyond a conflict of adversaries to an environment in which justice is served. “Both sides respect Herb,” Fogelman said. Fogelman said Lapin’s sense of ethics and fairness allows many criminal defense attorneys including himself to be open and candid when discussing their cases with him. “On a serious murder case,” he said, “I would take everything into Herb and say, ‘What do you think?’ He is one of very few I’d do that with.” – Michael Hart Allan Oberman Law Offices of Allan Oberman Woodland Hills Allan Oberman doesn’t like litigation, he loves it. “But I learned that it’s more important to try to work things out,” said Oberman, recognized by many of his peers as one of the top business attorneys in the San Fernando Valley. But it wasn’t always like that. A graduate of Cal State Northridge, Oberman worked as an elementary school teacher for five years while he attended night classes to get his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law. Having worked with clients from a number of companies in a variety of industries, Oberman considers himself something of an expert dealmaker. “I find each case fascinating unto itself. Each represents its own set of facts and circumstances that make it interesting,” he said. Barbara Reinecke, an Encino-based attorney, said Oberman’s work is well-regarded in the legal community. “He’s extremely hard working and diligent and his word is gold he’s the absolute opposite of the shark that some people talk about,” she said. Oberman is a member of several civic and charitable organizations, including the San Fernando Valley Bar Association and The Executives, a support group for the Jewish Home for the Aging. – Carlos Martinez Barbara Jean Penny Law Offices of Barbara Jean Penny Granada Hills Barbara Jean Penny didn’t begin her professional life as an attorney. In fact, it was the furthest thing from her mind. “I worked for this attorney as an office manager and I ended up doing all the work, so I thought, ‘If I can do this, then I should be an attorney,’ so that’s what I did,” Penny recalled. By the mid-1970s, she had established her own family law practice with a steady flow of clients. Divorced herself at a young age with a small child, Penny grew to understand the needs of her clients. As her practice grew, Penny often ignored the advice of colleagues who encouraged her to charge higher fees and seek a high-powered clientele. “I consider myself a small-town practitioner, and never even wanted to be on Ventura Boulevard,” she said. “What was really meaningful to me was going to Haven Hills (a battered women’s shelter) in the Valley,” Penny said. “I would go there twice a month and counsel the women with regard to their legal rights.” Her community work includes serving as a small claims court judge, president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association’s Valley Community Legal Foundation and activities with the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. “She’s a caring person who always does her best and is respectful to others, no matter what,” said Encino attorney Gary Weyman. “She’s just very good at what she does.” – Carlos Martinez Rose Reglos Los Angeles County Public Defender Van Nuys It’s common knowledge that public defenders don’t typically get too much time in the limelight. They often spend years processing defendants for drunken driving, spousal abuse and third-strike cases at the lower end of anybody’s pay scale for attorneys. But Rose Reglos, a public defender since 1989, has stayed the course and it’s paying off. She is now an officer grade four with the Public Defender’s Office, which means she has the opportunity to try death penalty cases, the first of which she began earlier this month. “Rose has an element of charm about her in that she gets along with judges and prosecutors and is very hard-working,” said Bill Weiss, the head deputy who supervises Reglos and about 40 other public defenders. “She prepares her cases probably better than anyone I’ve ever seen,” said Weiss. “She’s small and almost looks like a little girl but, let me tell you, she packs a powerful punch. Some lawyers are just as strong as she is, but they ruffle feathers.” – Jacqueline Fox Alice A. Salvo Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo Woodland Hills According to all reports, Alice A. Salvo knows probate and estate planning. And, her associate Marlene S. Seltzer said, the kind of law practice Salvo is involved in is closely linked to the kind of person she is and the activities she takes part in away from her professional life. “Alice has a genuine interest in helping people,” Seltzer said, “and goes out of her way to make everyone feel comfortable in a lawyer’s office, whether or not they can afford her services.” Salvo has been certified by the State Bar as a “specialist” in estate planning, trust and probate law, a distinction that is awarded to less than one half of 1 percent of all California attorneys. She is a past chairperson of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association Probate Section, past president of the Southern California Council of Elder Law Attorneys and past president of the San Fernando Valley Estate Planning Council. At the moment, she is also a member of the Bar Association Board of Trustees. Seltzer said, “As a mother of a special needs child, Alice is aware of the need to educate others on the availability of government benefits and provides her clients a compassionate support team.” – Michael Hart Sandor E. Samuels Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. Calabasas You might say Sandor E. Samuels spends much of his time clearing away a lot of trees. That’s because, as senior managing director and general counsel at Countrywide Credit Industries, Samuels has to be certain the forest is always in view. “He combines several attributes that make him very successful,” said Carlos M. Garcia, senior managing director for banking and insurance at Countrywide, who has worked with Samuels on several projects. “He perseveres and he makes things happen. Number two, he has a strong command of his legal profession. He’s also an excellent communicator. He gets things down to their essence. And he does it all with a good spirit.” Samuels’ work involves him in everything from government affairs he’s working with legislators to find a way to clamp down on predatory lending practices without curtailing the ability of lenders like Countrywide to make loans to lower-income borrowers to overseeing the company’s culture committee, a body that ensures Countrywide’s vision and goals are communicated throughout the organization. Every now and then, he says, he’ll even handle a customer complaint. Samuels joined Countrywide in 1990, and today manages a staff of nearly 40 attorneys. In addition to overseeing all the firm’s legal and governmental affairs, he sits on Countrywide’s executive committee and is involved with strategic planning. But it is the bigger picture that most drives Samuels. “What we do has a very dramatic impact on people’s lives,” Samuels said. “It’s a very, very important thing for the family, the community and the country.” – Shelly Garcia Glen H. Schwartz Law Offices of Glen H. Schwartz Encino Glen Schwartz, a sole proprietor, when told he was on the Business Journal list of top lawyers in the Valley, expressed great interest in how he stacked up against the rest of the San Fernando Valley’s attorneys who specialize in family law. The short answer to that came from another attorney, James Felton, who described Schwartz as “the divorce lawyer that lawyers use.” But Schwartz’ interests, notoriety and legal reputation go far beyond the scope of the Valley’s family law community. Over the past decade, he has made a name for himself throughout the United States as a defender of the rights of non-biological fathers. A Wall Street Journal profile of him pointed out that his victories in the courtroom “are forcing appellate judges to consider a legal definition of fatherhood that acknowledges men who act as a parent, but lack biological ties to the child or even formal ties to the mother.” Along with his family law practice, Schwartz routinely writes and lectures on paternity litigation and appears frequently on national television and radio as an expert in the field. – Michael Hart Steve K. Wasserman Wasserman Comden Casselman & Pearson LLP Tarzana Steve Wasserman is a senior partner at Wasserman Comden Casselman & Pearson LLP, one of the largest law firms in the San Fernando Valley. “I’m sort of amazed myself,” Wasserman said. “Sometimes I look around here and say, ‘How did we do this?'” By “this,” he isn’t just referring to the Valley firm with the most attorneys, but one that made the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s “Top 10 Verdicts of 2001” list of major civil lawsuits in the state – twice. Wasserman Comden represented the plaintiff, Border Business Park, in California’s second largest verdict last year ($94.5 million) against the city of San Diego. “Most private companies don’t have the capability to take on a public entity,” Wasserman said, “but had it not been for our office hanging in there, the injustice to our client would have been complete.” His firm represented the defendant in another well-known case last year, Tutor-Saliba-Perini v. L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and won. “The county was sued,” he said, “and the county prevailed. They’re not the ones that started the fight, they’re the ones that ended it.” Accountant Charles Schnaid of Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co. LLP has worked closely with Wasserman over the years and says he takes on what turn out to be the big cases and the big projects because he’s a “visionary” who “can look beyond the immediate return for his firm and into the future.” – Michael Hart

VALLEY FORUM: What Makes a Good Lawyer? In this issue of the Business Journal, we recognize the top lawyers in the Valley. At the same time, it is clear that there are many different kinds of people practicing law for very different constituencies. So, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal asks: Who do you consider a good lawyer? Carole Gallien Director of Occupational Medicine West Hills Hospital & Medical Center West Hills Someone who has a reputation for getting the job at hand done successfully. For that I would seek a referral from either an individual who has had similar needs as mine or through other legal professionals I know. Then it would be based on how comfortable I felt with them, their availability and even appearance. Gary Clark CEO 5th World Technology Thousand Oaks A good lawyer is someone who has competence in the area of law for my business and contacts. Forming a good relationship and networking is important. In addition, knowledge of financial advisors, accountants, investors and other professionals is an important factor to help business grow. John Sehrer Vice President Wells Fargo Commercial Banking Group Woodland Hills I look for people who have integrity, compassion and competence in the area of issue. In addition, I look for people who are very responsive and have excellent communication skills. Carolyn Corpolongo Government Affairs Coordinator Precision Dynamics Corporation San Fernando A good lawyer is one who takes the time to get to know the client and the client’s needs, and then becomes actively involved in doing what is absolutely best for that client. Henry Rosenblit Business Development Manager EDGE Industrial Design Westlake Village Someone who is attentive and sensitive to the needs of their clients. It is also a person with effective communication skills and knows how to follow-up.

OJ Verdict Was Watershed for Justice System By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter Jonathan J. Kissel had a client who insisted the Ecstasy he was arrested with wasn’t what police claimed. So Kissel had the substance re-tested. “It wasn’t Ecstasy,” Kissel recalled. “It was something close to it, but it wasn’t an illegal substance.” Welcome to criminal defense lawyering in the post-O.J. era where little, if anything, is taken at face value. Not government-run lab tests; not expert witnesses or the testimony of authority figures; and perhaps least of all, not the integrity of defense attorneys. “As a general proposition, the O.J. case cast a very negative pall over the entire criminal justice system and probably over criminal defense attorneys in particular,” said Kissel, a sole practitioner based in Tarzana. The double murder trial of O.J. Simpson six years ago may have been a spectacle hardly representative of the way the criminal justice system usually works, attorneys say, but it nonetheless changed the way that system is perceived, by the defense, the prosecution and by juries alike. In some cases, such as that involving Kissel’s Ecstasy, that has proven a boon to defense strategy. In others, it has been a hindrance. Either way, the lessons of the Simpson trial and the subsequent revelations about the Los Angeles Police Department brought on by the Ramparts scandal have irrevocably changed the way criminal prosecutions and defenses are conducted. “There’s been a sea change,” said Gerald Fogelman, an Encino-based criminal defense attorney. “O.J. put DNA on the map. If I could say there’s a good thing that came from O.J., I would say that DNA can be a valuable defense to the defense. But it’s just not going to be swallowed whole unless you follow all your protocols.” The Simpson trial exposed just how much room for error there can be in government-run laboratory testing. It revealed police bias and, at least for those who thought Simpson was guilty, pointed up the ways in which an expensive defense can manipulate the system. “It’s kind of a subtle thing,” said Robert A. Schwartz, a sole practitioner whose defense practice ranges from DUI cases to gang-related crimes and murder. “Most of us are extremely careful about not doing anything the jury is going to perceive as being misleading or deceitful. Most of us have always operated under the principal that candor with the jury is a virtue. That’s been reinforced since O.J.” Cases that are difficult to prove are now far less likely to go to trial because Simpson’s criminal acquittal was considered a very public failure by prosecutors, defense attorneys say. Other cases, especially those involving domestic violence, end up in courtrooms far more often. “You go around the courthouses in cases involving violence and there’s a high percentage of guilty verdicts, and the message of all that is the public in general has a very low tolerance for violence, for games and for people who don’t take responsibility for their lives,” Schwartz said. One reason for the increase in guilty verdicts, attorneys say, is simply that prosecutors have become far more selective about the cases they choose to bring to trial, picking those in which the evidence is so overwhelming, a guilty verdict is almost assured. By the same token, some of the rules have changed since the O.J. trial, particularly when it comes to domestic abuse. “Before, they had a tremendously valuable tool to deal with domestic violence diversion,” said Fogelman. “I used to divert them and they would go through counseling, and at the end they’d be better for it. Now because of O.J., it’s not available. They still have to go through the program, but they have to be convicted.” Traditionally, those involved in domestic violence have been “diverted” to counseling and anger management classes, but no such condition was placed on Simpson after he pleaded no contest to wife beating charges in 1989. In the aftermath of Nicole Simpson’s murder, domestic abuse became a political football. “There was a tremendous overreaction, and it stems from the fact that O.J. beat the crap out of her numerous times and nothing happened,” said Schwartz. “Now prosecutors are afraid that if they’re too lenient that the guy is going to go out and murder her, so I think they err on the side of harshness and I don’t know if that’s ever going to change.” But if the Simpson criminal trial closed some options for defense attorneys it also opened others, especially where DNA and other laboratory testing is concerned. The trial pointed up the ways in which all kinds of tests can be mishandled, opening the door to new strategies for the defense. “One thing that Simpson’s case proved was that the reliability of the laboratories, the state-run laboratories, is way over-placed and can be easily challenged,” said Kissel. Such challenges can increase the price of a defense two-fold, but attorneys point out that, in many cases, DNA or other testing done early can save the far more expensive cost of a trial if it exonerates their client. Not that the system always works that way. “Just recently one of my clients screamed that the substance which he was arrested with was not entirely methamphetamine,” said Kissel. “He insisted on having a portion of the evidence re-tested, and he was right. It wasn’t meth. It was cocaine, so he got into more trouble.” The problem with many of the new options available to the defense, these attorneys say, is that some clients convince themselves that they are unfairly accused, and if they insist on these tests, a defense attorney has little choice but to go along with the client’s wishes. “What you can’t do is create an adversarial atmosphere with the client,” Kissel said. Still, the more careful scrutiny being given all evidence by jurors as a result of the O.J. trial has proven to be helpful in many defenses, these attorneys say. Criminal attorneys have always believed that police and other expert testimony should be evaluated just as any other witness report, but prior to the Simpson case, they were also acutely aware that putting forth a defense around the idea that such testimony was mistaken or false could backfire. Juries were inclined to believe the testimony of authority figures without question. The Simpson trial, in which police and experts were discredited by the defense, went a long way toward changing that. So did the Ramparts scandal, although attorneys say that the pendulum may now be swinging back in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. “When your client presents a defense that the police are being untruthful, you are much more likely to put that defense forward than you would before,” said Fogelman.

Warner Music May Consolidate Operations in Burbank Real Estate by Shelly Garcia The real estate market has been grim in Burbank lately, but at least one developer may soon be singing a different tune. Warner Music Group has been negotiating for about 200,000 square feet in M. David Paul’s Pinnacle project to consolidate some or all of its divisions at the newly constructed facility. The deal, if completed, is not likely to make a big net difference in Burbank’s occupancy rate, which has risen dramatically in recent months. But it would go a long way to ease the pressure on M. David Paul & Associates, which has all but completed the first phase of its 585,000-square-foot development and has so far failed to attract any office tenants. (The company did lease retail space to two restaurants, Morton’s of Chicago and Prego.) Officials at M. David Paul did not return phone calls. But a WMG request for building signage was recently considered and approved by Burbank’s planning board. “It’s a very good indication that they’re well on their way to doing this project in Burbank,” said Bud Ovrom, Burbank city manager. In one group of materials submitted to the planning board, Warner’s signage designs included names and accompanying logos for five divisions. They are: Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, Elektra Records, Warner Strategic Marketing and Warner Entertainment Arts. However, it is likely the names were placed for illustrative purposes and do not indicate the actual names of the divisions that would move into the building. Warner Entertainment Arts, for example, is probably WEA, Warner Electra Atlantic Inc., the company’s distribution arm. And Warner Strategic Marketing is the name of the corporate division through which WMG reports. WMG’s record companies include Atlantic, Elektra, Maverick and Warner Bros. Records. WMG is the result of a string of mergers and acquisitions, most recently with AOL Time Warner Inc., and the company’s divisions have been reporting financial information in separate quarters as a result. For the first quarter, WMG reported a 4.8-percent increase in revenues to $947 million. “It was always a logical solution,” said one local broker. “Because of the reorganization in the corporate hierarchy, it makes sense to be under one roof.” The slowdown in entertainment industry leasing and the dot-com meltdown brought Burbank’s office vacancy rate to 13.7 percent in the first quarter of 2002. Because several of the WMG divisions are currently housed in Burbank (others are scattered on the Westside and in Santa Monica) and the companies would vacate those premises, a lease deal with M. David Paul would have only a small impact on those numbers. But a deal could persuade M. David Paul to resume work on the second phase of Pinnacle. Sherman Oaks Development Sherman Oaks may soon get a new development. A joint venture between PCS and Chandler Partners has entered escrow to acquire a three-acre parcel on Ventura Boulevard east of Hazeltine Avenue. The nearly block-long property is the site of the former Barone’s restaurant, which has been shuttered for some time. PCS, very active in residential redevelopment in the area, with projects including the Premiere at Sherman Oaks, a luxury apartment complex on Woodman Avenue, is in talks with the community and city officials to determine a use for the site. “We’re just in the midst of trying to work through some early ideas,” said Paul Jennings, CEO of PCS. “We’re working with the community to try and determine the best use.” Jennings said he has no “preconceived ideas” for the parcel, and he hopes to establish a use based on meetings with local homeowners over the next few months. Once he and the community agree on what to develop, he plans to begin the entitlement process. Westlake Sale Arden Realty Inc. sold a 59,981-square-foot office building in Westlake Village for $8.3 million. The buyer is Metro Properties. The building, Renaissance Court, at 31416 Agoura Road, is fully leased. Michael Slater, Tom Dwyer, Mark Perry and Bonnie McRae, brokers with CB Richard Ellis, represented both the buyer and the seller in the deal. San Fernando Rehab A team from NAI Capital Commercial is marketing a newly renovated industrial facility in the city of San Fernando. Voit Development Co. acquired the property, at 675 Glenoaks Blvd., about six months ago, and has remodeled it to include 24-foot clearance and the kinds of landscaping typically found in Class A industrial buildings. The 210,283-square-foot building is for sale at $15.45 million, or for lease at $0.58 per square foot. David Young, senior vice president at NAI, who is marketing the property along with NAI’s Chad Gahr, said he expects strong demand for the facility despite the slowdown in the Class A industrial sector. “The areas having problems with those sizes are, one, Conejo, because everything is astronomically priced out there, or Valencia, where all the developers came out of the ground with exactly the same product at exactly the same time so you have a number of buildings competing against each other,” said Young. “But if you look in the San Fernando Valley, there really isn’t that much to choose from.” Although the vacancy rate has risen for industrial properties recently, Young said it is still under 5 percent in the Northeast Valley, where there has been a dearth of available properties. Calabasas Lease Qmedtrix Systems Inc., a software developer, has leased 22,000 square feet at 26677 W. Agoura Road in Calabasas. The six-year deal is valued at $3.4 million. Bryan Lewitt of CRESA Partners represented the tenant. Jeff Johnston of The Johnston Group, represented the landlord, Malibu Canyon Office Partners Inc. Senior reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 676-1750, ext. 14 or by e-mail at [email protected].

The Digest A ROUNDUP OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY NEWS OCP Settles Patent Suit Optical Communication Products Inc. has resolved its pending patent infringement lawsuit with Stratos Lightwave Inc. The lawsuit, originally filed by Methode Electronics Inc. in October 1999 against OCP and Infineon Technologies Corp., alleged that OCP’s 1×9 pin configuration products and its gigabit interface converter (GBIC) products infringe on one or more of Methode’s patents. Stratos Lightwave, a Methode spin-off and assignee of the patents-in-suit, was added as an additional plaintiff to the lawsuit in June 2000. The settlement resolves all claims in the lawsuit among OCP, Stratos Lightwave and Methode Electronics. As part of the settlement, OCP has entered into a license agreement with Stratos Lightwave covering Stratos Lightwave’s portfolio of optoelectronic transceiver patents. First State Bank Plans Stock Split First State Bank of California has proposed a two-for-one stock split of the bank’s common stock. Although the split is subject to approval by the California Department of Financial Institutions and the required filings with the California Secretary of State, it is anticipated that the stock split will be effective and will be paid to shareholders during the second quarter of 2002. As of March 31, the bank’s total assets were $126 million, compared to $94 million on March 31, 2001, a 34-percent increase. Over the same period, total deposits increased from $84.4 million to $114.5 million, representing 35-percent growth. First State Bank of California is headquartered in Granada Hills and also has a full service branch in Burbank. Wireless Becomes 2KSounds Wireless Synergies Inc., an integrated music company located in Woodland Hills, and 2KSounds Inc. have consummated their previously announced merger and 2KSounds is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wireless. John Guidon, Michael Blakey, Bruce Gladstone and J. Michael Nixon, each a member of the 2Ksounds board, were appointed to serve as the directors of Wireless until the next annual meeting of Wireless stockholders. Wireless Synergies issued 15.5 million shares of its common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of 2KSounds. That represents 77.5 percent of the total number of outstanding shares of common stock of Wireless. Following the closing of the merger, the new board announced that it had approved a change in the name of Wireless to 2KSounds Corp., and that the company intends to complete a 20-for-1 forward split of its outstanding common stock. Boesky Signs On to Help Tremor Tremor Entertainment Inc. in Burbank has retained Boesky & Company to assist it with strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, as well as organizational and marketing development. Prior to establishing Boesky & Company three years ago, Keith Boesky was President of Eidos Interactive Inc., where he focused on expansion of Eidos properties, including “Tomb Raider: Starring Lara Croft, ” into film, toys and publishing, as well as the acquisition of new properties, such as “Fear Effect” and “Final Fantasy VII.” Tremor has developed games for Sega Dreamcast and Sony Playstation II. Tremor is currently developing an original title under the Microsoft label. Jackson Fed Buys Glendale Branch Jackson Federal Bank has bought a Glendale branch of Fremont Investment & Loan with $108 million in deposits. The branch is on Brand Boulevard in Glendale. The deal increases the number of Jackson Federal branches in Southern California to 15. Lockheed Martin Settles Skunk Works Suit Lockheed Martin Corp. has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle all outstanding claims by residents who contend they were sickened by chemical contamination at the company’s former Skunk Works in Burbank. The settlement ends a six-year legal battle over lingering toxins at the 300-acre site where the F-117A stealth fighter, among other military aircraft, was designed, tested and built. It was declared a federal Superfund cleanup site in 1986. Since 1996, Lockheed has paid $66 million in three legal actions over toxic contamination. This was the only remaining case. The lawsuits focused on the dumping of perchloroethylene, or PCE, and trichloroethylene, or TCE, from the old Lockheed plant into the air, soil and ground water near homes. Another Home Sales Record Residential real estate activity in the San Fernando Valley increased 9 percent in March even as the number of homes listed continued to drop. According to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, a total of 1,192 single-family homes closed escrow in March, 12.7 percent more than in March 2001 and 38.4 percent more than in February. Condominium resales of 457 were virtually the same as a year ago, but up 29.8 percent from this February. The 2,677 active listings at the end of March were down 36.8 percent from a year ago. The median price of a single-family home hit a record high of $285,000, surpassing the prior record set this January. The median price was 15.6 percent higher than a year ago and 3.1 percent ahead of the median posted in February. The condominium median resale price of $175,000 was up 14.4 percent from a year ago and up 6.1 percent over the previous month.

Pacific US Sells Neighborhood On Residential With Shopping By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter In most instances, efforts to build large commercial developments meet with cries of “too much traffic” from neighboring residents. But a proposed development in Santa Clarita passed muster, not in spite of its commercial component, but because of it. Golden Valley Ranch, which was just approved by Santa Clarita city officials, is a 1,300-acre planned community with about 500 homes and a retail center of about 575,000 square feet. As is the case with most developments of that scale, the developer, PacificUS Real Estate Group in Pasadena, will also be setting aside 960 acres for open space as an enticement to the existing residents to embrace the project. But the real selling point was the retail component. “The current homeowners don’t want the Newhall Land and Farming kinds of developments gobbling up Canyon Country,” said Paul Giuntini, president of PacificUS, the managing division of PacSun LLC, “but they do want and need retail shopping opportunities. If they want to go shopping (now), they have to drive clear across Soledad Canyon.” PacificUS, which acquired the property east of the Antelope (14) Freeway between Via Princessa and Golden Valley Road in the mid-1990s, is in the process of selling the retail acreage to GMS Realty LLC, a Carlsbad-based company that owns and operates 3.5 million square feet of shopping centers, mostly in Southern California. GMS has agreements with Target and Kohl’s to anchor the Golden Valley Ranch shopping center, a $60 million to $70 million development expected to service residents in the immediate area as well as the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce to the north. “It’s going to be a lifestyle community center,” said Greg Whitney senior associate at CB Richard Ellis, who is marketing the retail space. “The balance of the first phase will be made up of promotional and soft goods retailers and a pedestrian-oriented food court and sit-down restaurants.” Until now, most of the development in the Santa Clarita Valley has been concentrated on the west side of the region, where Newhall Land and Farming Co. has designed a planned community of residences, commercial developments and retail. But the eastern end of the region has been growing steadily in recent years. “We think, with a bifurcated trade area with San Fernando Road as the western barrier, there’s already about 90,000 people within the trade area,” said Jeff Sterk, vice president of real estate development for GMS. New homes planned or under construction should expand that population by about 10 percent, he said. Along with the 500 homes that will be built in Golden Valley Ranch, Pardee Homes and other developers are under construction or have plans to add another 3,000 or 4,000 homes on the eastern end of the Valley. But retail development has lagged behind the steady pace of residential building. With the exception of a Costco, residents on the east side of town have to travel across Soledad Canyon Road to the nearest shopping centers. As the population has grown, that five-mile trip has gone from a short hop to what can be a half-hour excursion at certain times of the day. So sparse has retail development been that when the city of Santa Clarita conducted a study to determine whether a new center would pose competitive issues for existing retailers, it came up empty. “The concern of Golden Valley was, would a new shopping center drain businesses on Soledad Canyon Road?” said Jeff Lambert, director of planning and building services for Santa Clarita. “Because they’re putting in stores that don’t exist, it won’t be a concern.” Golden Valley, not currently within the boundaries of the city of Santa Clarita, is winding its way through an annexation process. When it is built, the shopping center will supply more than $1 million a year in tax revenues to the city. “Density up until recently hasn’t been there,” said Giuntini, “and there hasn’t been a location that’s appealing to major retailers. But the fact that we’re on the freeway and will be accessed by the new and improved Golden Valley Road makes this site desirable.” PacificUS plans to grade and build the infrastructure for the development and then sell lots to several merchant builders, who would then construct and market homes ranging from about $300,000 to $750,000. At current land prices, the company could never have afforded to set aside nearly 1,000 acres of open space, but PacSun bought the land when Southern California’s recession was at its peak and the parcel was in foreclosure. At first, the company intended to develop over 800 residential lots, but local residents opposed the scale of the project. At the same time, the escalating prices in the area made a smaller project financially viable. “Because values in Santa Clarita are so high (now), we could reduce the density and still get the return,” said Giuntini. Work on the development is awaiting the completion of the annexation process and final resolution to the agreement concerning open space. Homeowners have asked for certain assurances that the land will remain undeveloped, and an agreement is being completed, Lambert said. PacificUS hopes to have lots ready in the fall of 2003 and expects that homes will go on sale early in 2004. The retail development is expected to open in mid-2004.