County Bar Rates Judge Bacigalupo `Well Qualified' for Superior Court; Candidate Receives Several Key Endorsements.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2002

Judge Paul A. Bacigalupo, one of four candidates running for Superior Court Office No. 67 on March 5, has received a "well qualified" rating from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, it was announced today.

The "well qualified" rating is the highest issued by the County Bar and is awarded to candidates who "possess the professional ability, experience, competence, integrity and temperament necessary to perform the judicial function with a high degree of skill and effectiveness." (For more information, please see www.lacba.org.)

Bacigalupo also received the endorsements today of the Los Angeles Times, which noted his "maturity and breadth of experience for the job," and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

He has already been endorsed by a number of key organizations and individuals, including the Los Angeles Police Protective League, United Firefighters of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Los Angeles County Supervisors Don Knabe and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Bacigalupo currently serves as the statewide Supervising Judge of the State Bar Court, which administers attorney discipline for the California Supreme Court. In addition to his management and regular judicial duties, Bacigalupo is overseeing the implementation of the State Bar Court's attorney discipline and substance abuse rehabilitation program, the first of its kind in the country.

For 12 years prior to his appointment as a Judge of the State Bar Court, Bacigalupo practiced law in Los Angeles and served for five years as a volunteer judge pro tem in Van Nuys and West Los Angeles Superior and Municipal Courts. Bacigalupo resides in Encino. He is married, has two children and one grandchild.