Jo-Ann, as a LACBA trustee in 2015-16, was a key player in the effort which led to the LACBA election of 2016 in which a slate of reform-minded candidates was chosen by the membership to take over the governance. The reformers wanted to end the fiscal folly — LACBA was depleting its reserves by giving away $1 million a year to causes that were worthy but which it could not continue to subsidize without going into bankruptcy — to increase transparency (neither sections nor individual members could obtain copies of the finances, or even the bylaws) and to boost responsiveness to the needs of members and to end the effort to regiment the sections, the backbone of the organization. It was the "Council of Sections" — a group that owes its formation to Jo-Ann's call to action in 2015 — that spearheaded the 2016 election effort. It endorses Jo-Ann in the present contest. The first reform president was Mike Meyer, followed by Brian Kabateck, Ron Brot, and Tamie Jensen, the current president. They support Jo-Ann. So do other major participants in the reform effort, past presidents Harry L. Hathaway and John Taylor, as well as Nowland Hong, a founder and two-time president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association. The association, under current leadership, is on the rebound. Jo-Ann wants to keep LACBA on course toward revitalization (including boosting sagging membership) and financial stability.
Below is information on Jo-Ann's background. CLICK HERE for her list of endorsers.
A Message From Jo-Ann:
LACBA's Top Priorities Should Be Staying on Course, Serving Members
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Jo-Ann was the Federal Women’s Program coordinator for the Los Angeles District, headed the Women’s Committee of the Federal Executive Board, and was a member of the USC Advisory Committee on the Continuing Education of Women.
Corporate transactional lawyer, As general counsel for the Metropolitan News Company, she handles contractual, tax, employment, and real property matters. As co-publisher of the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, she is keenly aware of legal issues and is cognizant on a daily basis of appellate court decisions as they are handed down. Jo-Ann has been a member of, and has led, the LACBA delegation to the Conference of California Bar Associations; she drafted a bill which the conference endorsed without opposition, was carried by a state senator, and was enacted into law, reforming judicial elections. Her Leadership Style The publication of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Assn. in 2004 observed: "Jo-Ann speaks softly, not bombastically—and listens. She’ll never be described as flamboyant or abrasive. Her style of leadership is to carry the ideas of others to the table, fully credited, and, when the occasion arises, to be firm, without being strident. [¶] "She seeks to persuade based on reasoning, not volume. Diplomacy is her trademark." |
Present Activities
Past Activities
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