Whittier Law School

-- Deirdre Newman South Coast Plaza developer Henry Segerstrom is being honored by Whittier Law School for his dedication to the city and the Orange County community. Segerstrom will receive an honorary degree during Whittier Law School's 34th commencement on May 19 along with Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Bruce Sumner. Segerstrom is managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons -- developer, owner and manager of South Coast Plaza, Metro Pointe and most recently Home Ranch.

COSTA MESA -- Robert Scott Wylie has been named director of the Whittier Law School Children's Rights Clinic, which is expected to open in September. "Scott Wylie is a highly respected leader in public interest law in Southern California. He is well known in the community as a fine educator and administrator and we are pleased to have him associated with our law school," said Whittier Law School Dean John A. FitzRandolph, who appointed Wylie. Wylie, who most recently served as executive director and general counsel of the Public Law Center in Santa Ana, has been the head of the center, the only private public interest law firm in the county, for seven year.

Shawbong Fok Walk along one of the fluorescent-lighted hallways of Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa and you will see a row of wood-framed pictures, listing its graduates, year by year in chronological order. At the end of the row, there is the 2003 graduating class frame, in which you see names like Robina Ali, Man Thi Nguyen, Horacio De La Vega, Bradford Cormany Beckett and Jameika Williams. Such diversity underscores the recent change in the legal profession, historically the bastion of white males, according to Robert Wylie, associate dean of Whittier Law School.

Student charged with insurance fraud The San Bernardino County District Attorney's office on Monday filed four counts of felony insurance fraud against a 21-year-old Whittier Law School student, officials said. Prosecutors alleged that 21-year-old Roopinder Goraya of Fontana submitted a claim to Safeco Insurance saying his car stereo had been stolen. Officials said Goraya provided a receipt that was fraudulently prepared by a friend, 24-year-old Samir Rai of Chino Hills.

COSTA MESA — Arlene Cole settled into a chair at Whittier Law School at 5 a.m. today and prepared to spend most of the next 18 hours there. The Costa Mesa resident was among those signing in voters on Super Tuesday after she and her fellow volunteers devoted Monday to setting up voting booths in a spare room at the school on Harbor Boulevard. She had never volunteered all day for an election before, and she hoped that her stamina would hold up. “You can say it’s exciting, but after the excitement ends, you’re numb,” Cole said.

COSTA MESA - Noted sports attorney Leigh Steinberg will speak on his life, career and best-selling book, "Winning With Integrity: Getting What You're Worth Without Selling Your Soul," Monday at 7 p.m. in Classroom 7 at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa. Steinberg has 25 years of sports business experience and is the founding partner of Steinberg & Moorad, a law firm representing more than 150 high-profile professional athletes. He is also the chairman and CEO of Assante Enterprises, a multi-billion-dollar Canadian wealth management firm that handles financial matters for clients such as Tom Cruise and David Letterman.

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SATURDAY Torah Study Temple Bat Yahm, 1011 Camelback St., Newport Beach, hosts its weekly Torah Study from 9 to 10:30 a.m., followed by the Saturday Shabbat Service at 10:40 a.m. Guests are welcome and childcare is available. For more information, call (949) 644-1999 or visit http://www.tby.org. Lemon Drop Dance Club Newport Beach-based Lemon Drop Club, which hosts singles parties in Orange County geared for adults around the age of 40 and older, will have its next singles party from 7 to midnight at the Costa Mesa Marriott, 500 Anton Blvd.

County Supervisor John Moorlach’s chief of staff, Mario Mainero, will resign at the end of this month. Mainero, who worked for Moorlach for about 2 1/2 years, will start teaching law full time at Chapman University, where he had taught this past year, he said. Mainero cited personal reasons as a factor, saying his wife had concerns about his health and would rather see him in the classroom. The news “came as a surprise,” said Moorlach, who received the resignation June 29. “I respect his wanting to leave, but if I had my druthers, I’d love to have him stay,” he said.

Assemblyman Van Tran wrote a bill introduced Tuesday that aims to make it easier for companies to defend themselves against class-action lawsuits. Especially given the state of the economy, Tran said, California’s legal code needs to be more business-friendly. “California is notorious in class-action law to be anti-defendant,” said John H. Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Assn. of California, the lobbying group that sponsored the bill, AB 298. The provisions Tran is seeking to change, however, are in place to protect consumers and other individuals from being steam-rolled by the legal teams of big corporations, according to the dean of Whittier Law School, Neil Cogan, who has taught classes on class-action law. For a class-action suit to go forward, a judge must certify that the people who are claiming they were wronged by a company have similar claims.

Whittier Law School officials have announced that a family law expert with experience in Latin America has been chosen as the school’s new dean. University of Denver law professor Penelope Bryan will take over as dean July 1 at the Costa Mesa-based school, following a national search that began in September. A search committee reviewed about 100 applications before winnowing them down and selecting Bryan, said Keith Rodenhuis, president of the school’s alumni association in Orange County and the Orange County deputy treasurer.