President’s Message By Roman E. Darmer* Roman E. Darmer FBA/OC President FBA/OC Officers Roman E. Darmer President Amy J. Laurendeau President-Elect Van V. Nguyen Treasurer Dean J. Zipser Secretary Page 3 Spring/Summer 2017 I am delighted and honored to serve as president of the FBA/ OC chapter this year. I have been fortunate in my career to have had the opportunity to practice in federal court both as a government lawyer and a private practitioner in both civil and criminal matters. As members in the Southern Division of the Central District, we are all fortunate to practice before an outstanding bench in a beautiful courthouse with and against a federal bar comprised of highly skilled federal prac- titioners. The mission of the Federal Bar Association is to strengthen the fed- eral legal system and administration of justice by serv- ing the interests and needs of feder- al practitioners, both public and private, as well as the federal judici- ary and the public they serve. As the result of the hard work and dedica- tion of many lead- ers of this chapter who have preceded me as President, the FBA/OC continues to be at the forefront of those efforts. We are off to a busy start this year. On May 11, the FBA/OC presented our annual Civil Practice Seminar featuring Geoff Shepard, author of The Real Watergate Scandal, and a panel including Judge Guilford and Magistrate Judge Early, dis- cussing some of the ex parte contacts between the judge who presided over the Watergate grand jury and the special pros- ecutor. On May 30, the FBA/OC hosted our annual Pro Bono Opportunities Luncheon at the Pacific Club. This event high- lighted several different ways that federal practitioners can get involved in pro bono work in Orange County. Among the pro bono programs highlighted were the Central District Civ- il Rights Panel, the Ninth Circuit Pro Bono Appeals Pro- gram, Legal Aid Society of Orange County, Veterans Legal Institute, and Public Law Center. On June 14, we rolled into summer with our first Bench and Bar Luncheon featuring speaker Judge Staton, who helped us all avoid future “motion sickness” with a compelling (and occasionally har- rowing) presentation on potential pitfalls in motion practice in federal court. We followed that on July 26 with our second Bench and Bar Luncheon, featuring Magistrate Judge Jay Gandhi and Judge George H. King (Ret.) of JAMS. Judge Gandhi and Judge King addressed some of the more compli- cated issues that can arise in mediating your case before tri- al as well as some helpful do’s and don’ts. Our summer Bench and Bar Luncheon events are great opportunities to (Continued on page 4) “I am delighted and honored to serve as president of the FBA/OC chapter this year.”