JUDGE HOPEFULS RATED BAR CALLS ALL QUALIFIED; NONE MAKES A LIST.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - None of the five candidates running for two Antelope Valley judges' seats in the March 7 election received the top rating of ``well-qualified'' from the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

The candidates - David Bianchi, William Clark, Chris Estes, Larry Layton and Pamela Rogers, an incumbent judge - were all rated as ``qualified'' by the Bar Association.

While some candidates disagreed with their ratings, others said they were happy with the evaluations they received as potential judges.

``It's a rigorous process. To have a group of other lawyers say you are qualified is at least a pat on the back,'' said Clark.

Bianchi, a civil attorney, and Estes, a deputy district attorney, are running for the seat being vacated by Judge William Seelicke, who is retiring.

Bianchi said he was marked down because of his lack of experience in criminal cases. He noted that 63 percent of the filings in Lancaster Superior Court are civil and that he has 20 years of experience in litigation, including 15 years in which he has sometimes served as a judge pro tem.

``In all honesty, I think it's a little unfair. I think I should have been (rated) well qualified, and basically they dinged me because of a lack of criminal experience,'' Bianchi said.

Estes said he respects but disagrees with the Bar Association's findings.

``I believe my experience as a deputy district attorney and a civil litigation attorney justifies a `well qualified.' Qualified is qualified. I'm happy with that,'' Estes said.

In the other judicial election, incumbent Rogers, who said she is satisfied with the Bar Association's rating of her, faces challengers Clark and Layton.

In unsuccessful bids for judicial office in 1994, 1996 and 1998, Layton was rated ``not qualified'' by the Bar Association.

``Let's just talk about this time. This time they put that I've got the professional ability to do the job. I filled out all the papers. I had a hearing with them,'' Layton said. ``They say I've got the competence, integrity and temperament. I feel they are justified in their analysis.''

In a written statement, officials of the Bar Association said candidates are labeled well-qualified if they possess ``professional ability, experience, competence, integrity and temperament indicative of superior fitness to perform the judicial function with a high degree of skill and effectiveness.''

The association rates candidates as qualified if they possess ``professional ability, experience, competence, integrity and temperament indicative of fitness to perform the judicial function satisfactorily.''

Candidates rated ``not qualified'' lack one or more of the qualities ``indicative of fitness to perform the judicial function satisfactorily,'' according to the Bar Association statement.

Candidates are interviewed by a committee of attorneys whose recommendations are released by the association's board of trustees. Candidates receiving ratings other than ``well qualified'' can appeal their evaluations.

Bianchi's practice is in family law, adoptions, estate planning and probate law. He was deputy city attorney for Lancaster between 1984 and 1987 and has served as a volunteer judge pro tem.

After graduating from Pepperdine University Law School, Estes worked as a civil attorney for three years before joining the District Attorney's Office in 1994.

Clark, who has lived in the Antelope Valley since 1968 and is a resident of Palmdale, is an attorney who handles defense, family law and bankruptcy matters.

Layton owns and operates the Larry H. Layton School of Law. He has been in private practice since 1975 and in Acton since 1987. In the 1980s, he volunteered as a judge pro tem handling small claims traffic and civil cases.

Rogers has been a judge since 1995. Before that she was a prosecutor in the District Attorney's Office in Lancaster and a professor at La Verne College of Law.