Uncontested
candidate from Bakersfield wins seat on Board of Trustees
By Laura
Ernde
Staff Writer
A Kern County
prosecutor will join the State Bar Board of Trustees later this year after
being deemed elected in District 5.
 |
| Stallings |
No one filed
to run against Brandon N. Stallings in District 5, comprised of the
Central Valley counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus,
Tulare and Tuolumne.
Stallings,
31, of Bakersfield, will join the board for a three-year term in October along
with the winner of an election in District 4, which covers Imperial, Inyo,
Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.
Stallings has
been a deputy district attorney in Kern County since he was admitted to
practice in California in 2009. He has also been active in the Kern County Bar
Association.
“I have seen
the necessity of training young attorneys to represent our profession in a
manner that personifies our ethical standards,” he said in his candidate
statement.
A graduate of
Oak Brook College of Law, Stallings grew up in Colorado and lived in New
Zealand after college working as a counselor for juvenile delinquents.
Meanwhile,
ballots were mailed Dec. 31 to attorneys in District 4, who will have three
people to choose from.
The
candidates are Teresa A. McQueen, 49, of Irvine, who practices
employment litigation; Scott C. Smith, 56, of Irvine, a land use attorney;
and Todd F. Stevens, 52, of San Diego, a civil litigator.
McQueen, who
has been active in the Orange County Bar Association and the State Bar Solo and
Small Firm Section, describes herself as “a proactive leader” who believes that
“giving back to our profession means taking responsibility.”
Smith touted
his leadership experience with his firm, Best Best & Kreiger LLP, where
he’s worked for 29 years in the municipal law practice group. “My greatest
fulfillment in practice has been recruiting and mentoring lawyers,” he says in
his candidate statement.
Stevens, a past
president of the San Diego County Bar Association, said he supports education
for new and diverse members of the profession and encouraging pro bono service.
“Lawyers, with the right opportunities and tools, affect positive change in the
profession and society,” his statement says.