Pasternak elected State Bar president

Los Angeles attorney David J. Pasternak was elected last month as president of the State Bar of California for 2015-2016.

Pasternak, 64, will be sworn in at the State Bar’s Annual Meeting in October in Anaheim, as the 91st president of an entity that oversees more than a quarter-million licensed lawyers in California and is the largest state bar in the country.

“I am deeply honored by the support of my colleagues on the Board of Trustees and I look forward to continuing to help the State Bar continue its mission of public protection, following in the footsteps of outgoing President Craig Holden,” Pasternak said.

Also elected last month and assuming office in October are James P. Fox, 70, former San Mateo County district attorney, as vice president; and Danette E. Meyers, 57, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, as treasurer.

Pasternak’s work on the Board of Trustees has included serving as an active member of multiple committees and task forces, including the Executive Committee; the Regulation, Admissions and Discipline Oversight Committee; Senior Lawyers Working Group; Planning and Budget Committee; and the Task Force on Admissions Regulation Reform. He also chaired the Stakeholders and Access to Justice Committee and, among other things, co-led the board oversight of the State Bar’s Case Management System and Board Book revision projects.

Pasternak, of Pasternak & Pasternak in Los Angeles, previously served as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, president of Bet Tzedek Legal Services and president of the Chancery Club.

He also chaired a Los Angeles City Council advisory committee and dozens of committees for an array of bar associations, including the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and the American Bar Association. He is the first Supreme Court appointee to the board.

Pasternak earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and a law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. His wife, Cynthia Pasternak, is former president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.