ADI’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As a nonprofit corporation chartered since 1972 under the laws of California, Appellate Defenders, Inc., is governed by a 13-member board of directors. The board, which also governs Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., selects and oversees the executive director of each organization. It meets approximately monthly to discuss the business of the organizations and the projects of the board as a whole.

The board names four officers – President (two-year term) and the Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer (one-year term). To facilitate its work it has a number of committees, both standing and ad hoc. Examples include Finance, Management Liaison, Awards and Annual Dinner, Board Development, Nominating, Audit, etc.

At the annual Defender Dinner, which it sponsors, the board presents the Paul Bell Award for excellence in appellate advocacy and the E. Stanley Conant Award for excellence in trial advocacy. Each year it also awards the Paul Bell Fellowship for newer appellate lawyers. In addition, the board confers recognition for lifetime achievement and other outstanding accomplishments.

Members are chosen by the present board for three-year terms. They receive no compensation for their service. At present they include:

President: Elizabeth Missakian, criminal defense attorney, criminal law specialist, former ADI panel attorney.

Secretary: Julie Greenberg, professor of law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

Vice President: Ezekiel Cortez, criminal defense attorney, criminal law specialist.

Treasurer: Gerald Blank, criminal defense attorney.

Charles Bird, civil appellate attorney, Luce, Forward, Hamilton et al.

Arthur Campbell, professor of law, California Western School of Law.

Jerry Coughlan, criminal defense attorney, Coughlan, Semmer & Lipman.

Ferrara, Jami, criminal defense attorney.

Alex Landon, criminal defense attorney, criminal law specialist.

John Mitchell, criminal defense attorney.

Jean Ramirez, professor of law, University of San Diego School of Law.

Patricia Robinson, criminal defense attorney.

Non-directors serving on an advisory basis to the Audit Committee are Clancy Wilson, an attorney with Branton & Wilson, and Kim Ufford, Certified Public Accountant with Levitzacks.