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2010 BERNARD E. WITKIN AWARD RECIPIENTS
The Law Library is proud to announce the 2010 Witkin honorees:
Jeffrey Joseph, Associate Dean and General Counsel at Thomas Jefferson Law School for his Distinguished Service as an Educator
The Hon. Sharon Majors-Lewis from the Governor's Office for her Distinguished service as an Attorney
State Sen. Christine Kehoe for her Distinguished Service as Community Leader
The Hon. John J. Hargrove (ret.) for his Distinguished Service as a Judge
Jeff Joseph graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969 with a B.A. in history and the University of California, Davis, law school in 1972 with a J.D. degree. From 1972-1979 he served as Deputy Attorney General in the California Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Joseph handled over 200 appeals and was the first Deputy Attorney General in San Diego to be assigned to the felony trial division of the District Attorney’s Office where he tried a wide variety of criminal cases.
In 1979, Mr. Joseph was appointed to the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Attorney General’s Office where he and two assigned investigators handled cases involving sophisticated crime including organized crime figures.
In 1980, Mr. Joseph joined the California Department of Transportation where he tried countless personal injury cases involving state highway accidents, eminent domain matters, environmental and employment cases. Mr. Joseph was appointed Deputy Chief Counsel in charge of the seventeen lawyer San Diego Office in 1992 and served in that position until his appointment as Associate Dean and General Counsel at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in July 2006.
Since 1990, Mr. Joseph has served as an adjunct professor of law at Thomas Jefferson teaching the following courses: Civil Procedure, California Civil Procedure, Trial Practice, Environmental Law, American Legal History and Legal Writing. He has been a member of the San Diego Superior Court Judge Pro Tem panel presiding in jury and non-jury trials and has served on the Court’s arbitration and mediation panels hearing well over 1300 judicial and non-judicial cases.
Mr. Joseph has an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell and has been named to San Diego Super Lawyers for the past three years. He is a member of the United States Supreme Court, the Eastern and Southern Federal District Courts and the California Supreme Court. He serves on the San Diego County Bar Association’s Conference of Delegates to the California State Bar as well as the San Diego Superior Court’s ADR committee. He and his wife of 28 years have two grown children.
Sharon B. Majors-Lewis graduated Magna Cum Laude from National University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1980. She obtained her JD degree in 1985 from the National University School of Law, where she was a member of the Student Honors Advisory Program, and received American Jurisprudence Awards in Torts, Wills and Trusts, Domestic Relations and Administrative Law, and a Corpus Juris Secundum Award in labor relations. She was also an F. Lee Baily Moot Court Finalist.
She was admitted to practice in California on December 13, 1985, and before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on December 29, 1987.
In her sole practice she handled family law and law and motion matters, provided pro bono services through the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer’s program and represented indigent criminal defendants by appointment of the Court of Appeals under the Appellate Defenders assistedcase system.
She was sworn in as a San Diego County Deputy District Attorney in February 1987 where she became a trial attorney specializing in violent crimes including abusive head trauma child homicides. She was promoted to Assistant Chief of the Family Protection Division, a division that handled child abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, statutory rape, and child abduction cases. She was cross designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, for the Southern District of California in the Violent Crimes Division. Secretary Majors-Lewis completed over 90 jury trials during her career as a Deputy District Attorney.
Secretary Majors-Lewis was promoted to Division Chief of the Central Pretrial Division, making her the first African American female Division Chief in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. She later became the first African American female to become a Chief Deputy District Attorney in the office. In addition to managing several divisions, she also handled sensitive special projects for the District Attorney and completed other complex matters, including reviewing homicide cases that were the subject of habeas petitions. Secretary Majors-Lewis served on the Capital Case Review Board, the attorney selection committee, was in charge of the Certified Legal Intern and Graduate Law Clerk programs and handled the office’s travel and training budget.
In February 2007, Secretary Majors-Lewis was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be his Judicial Appointments Secretary. She is the first woman and first person of color to ever hold the position in California.
In 2007, 2008, and 2009, she was selected by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 Leading Lawyers in California. In January 2008, San Diego Magazine named her one of the top 50 People to Watch.
She is a member or past member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, San Diego County Bar Association, American Bar Association, Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association National College of Prosecutors, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Young Women's Christian Association in San Diego.
Christine Kehoe is forging the path for a new generation of effective California legislators, by setting a high standard for integrity and accomplishment.
Elected to the State Senate in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, Kehoe represents the 39th Senate District which includes much of San Diego, the cities of Del Mar and Lemon Grove, and neighboring communities.
During her time in the Senate, Kehoe has focused on the environment and good government measures. She chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, and is a member of the Banking, Finance & Insurance Committee; Budget & Fiscal Review Committee; Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee; Local Government Committee; Natural Resources & Water Committee; Transportation & Housing Committee; and the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security.
She also serves on the Select Committees on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs; Biotechnology; California-European Trade; California's Horse Racing Industry; Coastal Protection and Watershed Conservation; the Colorado River; and the Defense and Aerospace Industry.
Prior to being elected to the Senate, Kehoe served two terms as State Assemblymember representing the 76th District from 2000 through 2004.
During her time in the State Assembly, Kehoe distinguished herself by becoming the second woman ever – and the first woman from San Diego – to be elected Speaker pro Tempore, the second highest-ranking position.
Prior to being elected to the Assembly, Kehoe served seven years as City Councilmember representing San Diego's Third District. She served as chair of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, and led efforts to improve and beautify San Diego, reduce street crime, and improve recreational opportunities for families.
Community Activist
Kehoe was a pioneer activist in 1978 as a volunteer with the Center for Women's Studies and Services. In 1980 she was San Diego County's chair for the campaign to defeat the Lyndon LaRouche AIDS discrimination initiative.
In 1984 she became editor of the award-winning San Diego Gayzette newspaper. She was an early director of the AIDS Assistance Fund, which grew into the San Diego AIDS Foundation.
She served as the executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association, where she worked for small business owners to cut red tape and improve communication with city government.
Kehoe is a member of the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women (NOW), National Women's Political Caucus, Uptown Democratic Club, California Women in Government, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the Women's Transportation Seminar. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the California Elected Women's Association for Education and Research (CEWAER).
Record of Accomplishment
As a City Councilmember, Kehoe worked to strengthen public schools and improve public safety in neighborhoods. She helped fund the expansion of three elementary schools and expand the city's “6 to 6” Extended Day School Program. She helped the City of San Diego become partners with Price Charities and CityLink Investment Corporation to redevelop 11 blocks in the City Heights neighborhood. Today, the City Heights Urban Village is a nationally recognized model for combining educational, housing, and recreational facilities in a revitalized urban area.
Kehoe also helped launch the city's Hate Crimes Registry, concentrate efforts to remove graffiti, improve street lighting, provide better supervision of parolees, and reduce crime in Balboa Park.
In response to her efforts to improve San Diego's neighborhoods, the United States Secretary of Housing appointed Kehoe to chair the San Diego Regional Partnership for Home Ownership, work later honored by the American Planning Association.
Kehoe is a relentless fighter for civil rights. She called hearings on the City's Equal Opportunity Ordinance to provide stronger protections for women, successfully led efforts to enact domestic partner benefits for city employees, and provided major grant funding to strengthen the San Diego LGBT Community Center.
As a legislator, Kehoe works to ensure that San Diego receives its share of state funding for essential programs. She secured more than $12 million for the San Diego River, which is being used to restore wetlands and wildlife habitat and improve water quality. She also acquired almost $1 million for improvements at Balboa Park.
As an Assemblymember, Kehoe wrote legislation forming the San Diego River Conservancy; designating the portion of State Route 163 that runs through Balboa Park as a Historic Parkway; and outlawing unsolicited fax advertisements. She responded to California’s energy crisis by writing legislation to increase energy supplies and fight higher energy prices. It was part of a legislative effort to create the largest, most aggressive conservation effort ever launched in the United States.
Prompted by the Southern California wildfires of 2003, Kehoe worked with Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi on a package of landmark legislation to provide greater consumer protections to home and property insurance policy holders.
As a Senator, Kehoe has established herself as an environmental leader and dedicated ‘good government’ advocate. In 2006, she sponsored the most important redevelopment reform bill in more than a decade. Following the 2007 wildfires in Southern California, she drafted a handful of bills to protect homeowners, compensate local governments for their wildfire fighting costs, and prevent the spread of future blazes. She also steered legislation into law that reforms the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, strengthens the San Diego River Conservancy, and protects open space in the City of San Diego.
Kehoe lives in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood with her partner Julie Warren.
Former Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge, John Hargrove was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on September 30, 1985. He was elevated to the position of Chief Judge in 2000. Judge Hargrove retired from the court in 2008.
Judge Hargrove received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1964, and his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1967, where he was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha. Judge Hargrove served as Captain in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam conflict, and thereafter served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve until 1990 when he retired as a LtCol. During his military service, he held positions as a trial lawyer and a General Courts-Martial Judge with the military Sierra Circuit at Camp Pendleton, California. His military awards and decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” device for service with the 1st Marine Division, Republic of Vietnam.
Judge Hargrove also served as the National President of the Notre Dame Alumni Association from 1988 to 1989, and served continuously on the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors from 1985 to 1989.
Judge Hargrove has dedicated his time in retirement in San Diego County to the significant youth program called CARE, the Credit Abuse Resistance Education program. This program educates secondary school children on financial CARE is a free financial literacy program which makes bankruptcy professionals available to educators, students and the public to illuminate the dangers of credit abuse. CARE has a presence in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Judge Hargrove was one of the early participants in this program and had devoted noteworthy time to develop fiscal responsibility in our youth.