ATTORNEYS PICK BEST ON BENCH : LANE, LONG COUNTY'S JUDGES OF THE YEAR.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Two former civil attorneys - one a legal late-bloomer who rose through the judicial ranks, the other a former business lawyer who relishes the most complex litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. - are the county's Judges of the Year. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane and Municipal Court Judge David Long were chosen by members of the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association. Attorneys who otherwise spar before the judges laid down their barbs barbs the primary, delicate filaments that are given off the shaft of a bird's contour feather. They project from the rachis and bear the barbules. at a dinner last week, choosing instead to collectively toast the judges and recognize their achievements. ``I'm deeply touched,'' Long said. ``It is a profound honor to get this kind of recognition . . . from a real cross-section of people whom you can either most please or most offend.'' The trial lawyers association includes all types of attorneys, from prosecutors to the criminal defense bar, business litigators to the county counsel. Lane and Long hail from the civil side of the bar. Both are also transplants from the East Coast who now live in Ventura. Long, 55, was born in Baltimore and grew up in various locations around the country before settling here in 1968. Before entering the Ventura College Ventura College is a California-state funded community college located in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a 112-acre campus with an enrollment of 13,000 students. The college is part of the Ventura County Community College District. of Law at age 38, Long spent 17 years in insurance claims, including several years as a legal assistant with the county's oldest law firm, Benton, Orr, Duval, Buckingham. He mostly did private civil work before being selected as a court commissioner in November 1993. He was appointed to the Municipal Court in October 1995, but is cross-assigned like other county judges to hear both Municipal and Superior court cases. Most cases on his current docket are civil jury trials. Lane, a 49-year-old University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School, located in Ann Arbor, is a unit of the University of Michigan. The Law School, founded in 1859, currently has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students, most of whom are earning the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) or Master of Laws (LLM). graduate, came to California in 1975 and spent more than a decade doing business, employment and insurance litigation in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and Ventura. She was appointed to the Municipal Court bench in 1986 and elevated to the Superior Court two years later. She sat as presiding judge presiding judge n. 1) in both state and federal appeals court, the judge who chairs the panel of three or more judges during hearings and supervises the business of the court. of the Juvenile Court juvenile court Special court handling problems of delinquent, neglected, or abused children. Two types of cases are processed by a juvenile court: civil matters, often concerning care of an abandoned or impoverished child, and criminal matters, arising from antisocial for a few years and now handles some of the county's most contentious civil litigation. She is the one judge in the county designated to hear environmental suits generated not only here but in places like Los Angeles, such as further development in Malibu. ``I like the complex, thorny thorn·y adj. thorn·i·er, thorn·i·est 1. Full of or covered with thorns. 2. Spiny. 3. Painfully controversial; vexatious: a thorny situation; thorny issues. types of cases,'' she said. ``You get excellent lawyers on those cases and that makes it very fun.'' A Ventura resident since 1981, she was both surprised and honored to be named a judge of the year. ``It's certainly nice to be recognized for something you enjoy doing so much,'' she said. |
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