Two new executives join State Bar
The State Bar Board of Trustees has hired Leah T. Wilson as
its first chief operations officer and Vanessa L. Holton as general counsel.
The two executives, along with incoming Executive
Director/Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth
Rindskopf Parker, will start their jobs this month.
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Wilson |
Wilson, 42, previously was the court executive officer for Alameda
County Superior Court, which has a staff of nearly 700 and a $100 million budget.
She is a graduate of the University of California Diego and received master’s
and law degrees from UC Berkeley.
As chief operations officer, Wilson is on contract to the
board, but answers to the executive director and will provide operations
oversight and support for the organization, including information technology
(IT), budget, personnel, facilities and other areas.
“The board is pleased to welcome a talented and innovative
administrator with experience in addressing the fiscal, programmatic, and
organizational cultural issues that often define an organization’s success,”
State Bar President Craig Holden said. He called Wilson and Parker “our ‘dream
team’ of State Bar management.”
Wilson said she is honored by the opportunity to “tackle
head-on the operations issues facing the organization.”
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Holton |
Holton, 63, comes to the bar from the California Department
of Industrial Relations, where she has served as assistant chief counsel and as
chief counsel to the legal unit of more than 75. She has worked there since
1988.
Before that, Holton served for five years as an attorney for
the Communications Workers of America, where she represented the labor
organization in arbitration, collective bargaining and other matters. She has
also served for many years as a consultant to the National Conference of Bar
Examiners and to the California Bar Exam and Legal Specialization Unit. She is
a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law.
“I am excited to serve as the chief legal officer for the
State Bar, and I am looking forward to grappling with the diverse legal issues
it faces in pursuing its highest priority of protecting the public,” Holton
said.
Holden said the board was impressed with Holton’s acumen and
is “pleased to welcome such a savvy and experienced attorney to provide sage
counsel to the State Bar on a wide range of legal issues.”