On Oct. 6, the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) will host a 90-minute debate via Zoom between L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and challenger George Gascón. The debate will take place at 5 p.m. Criminal law and procedure expert from UCLA Law School, Professor Beth Colgan, will be moderating the event. The John M. Langston Bar Association of Los Angeles, the Mexican American Bar Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, the Italian American Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Consumer Attorneys of California, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association Criminal Justice Section will be co-sponsoring the debate.
“We are honored to host this debate in the most-watched district attorney election in the nation,” said Adam Siegler, who will begin his term as BHBA’s President on Oct. 1. “There has been a tremendous amount of interest in this race from our members and the members of the co-sponsoring bar associations. We have hundreds of registrants to date and they’ve submitted dozens of suggested questions to our moderator. It’s energizing to see this level of engagement in this important local election, and we look forward to having both candidates share their ideas with our local legal community and with the voters,” Siegler said.
The BHBA and Beverly Hills Bar Foundation recently swore in welcomed Siegler and other new officers at its 2021 Launch event, hosted on Zoom. The officers include Anthony D. Ross as President-Elect, Malcolm McNeil as First Vice-President, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs as Second Vice-President, and Nadira Imam as Secretary/Treasurer. The Association will also swear in a new cohort of local attorneys as Governors: Jeffrey Bils, Lynda Chung, Vince Farhat, Terry Magady, Erin Prouty, Alphonse Provinziano, Mathew Rosengart, Alessandra Tarissi de Jacobis, and Jeffrey Wolf.
The Beverly Hills Bar Foundation, the Association’s charitable arm, will continue to be led by current president Linda Spiegel and welcomed Pierre Pine as Vice President for Scholarships and Orit Gadish as a Director. Steven E. Young was sworn in as Secretary and re-sworn as Vice President for Development. The Barristers, BHBA’s lawyers who are 36 or younger or who have been licensed for eight or fewer years, welcomed president David Wagmeister.
BHBA is entering its tenth decade of serving more than 16,000 lawyers who live or work on the Westside of Los Angeles, and throughout southern California and the world. BHBA supports and advocates for legislation and legal decisions supporting equal rights and the independence of the judiciary, advocates for justice by offering continuing legal education, networking events, publications, a personnel referral service, offers leadership and professional growth opportunities, pro bono programs, and legislative advocacy activities for members.
Members of the public who wish to watch the debate may register at BHBA.org/debate or tune in to the event which will be broadcast via Facebook Live.
