2010-07-25 19:23:04 -

Bill Hebert : , a partner at Calvo and Clark in San Francisco, today was elected the 2010-2011 president of The State Bar of California.

For the first time in nine years, all five third-year members of the Board of Governors ran for the top board position. Besides Hebert, they were Rex Heinke : of Los Angeles, Paul Kramer : of Sacramento, Michael Marcus : of Los Angeles and Patti White : of San Jose. It took four rounds of voting to elect the new president.

Hebert, 49, will be sworn in as the 86th president of the 228,000-member organization at the State Bar’s September annual meeting in Monterey.

Hebert

promised that, as president, he would do what he has done as chair of the Discipline Oversight Committee and involve all members in decisions. "One of the jobs of the president is to ensure cohesion among the board," he said. Hebert also told board members that while he favors the current configuration of the board with a majority of lawyers and a minority of public members, he would not be averse to studying a proposal from an academic watchdog group that calls for a different appointment/election system and a different proportion of public and attorney members. He also said he favors requiring malpractice insurance for lawyers under certain conditions, such as making sure it is affordable and making sure it doesn't discourage lawyers, especially those who are retired, from doing pro bono work.

A graduate of Stanford University and Boalt Hall School of Law at UC-Berkeley, Hebert represents clients in business litigation, patent and trademark infringement, false advertising and California's Unfair Competition Law. He serves on the boards of the San Francisco Legal Aid Society and the Public Interest Law Project.

Hebert lives in Oakland with his wife, Morrison and Foerster attorney Lori Schechter, and their two children, Nicole, 11, and Jordan, 9.

Founded in 1927 by the legislature, The State Bar of California is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, serving the public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80 years. All lawyers practicing law in California must be members of the State Bar.

By July 2010, membership reached 228,000.


Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6372014&lang=en :



State Bar of CaliforniaDiane Curtis, 415-538-2028 diane.curtis@calbar.ca.gov : mailto:diane.curtis@calbar.ca.gov