Faculty & Leadership

We are a group of judges and practicing attorneys who work together to provide education and training to build skilled and ethical trial attorneys.

2023 Officers and Directors

Patricia P. Hollenbeck, President
Deborah Dixon, Vice-President
Rhonda Mallory, Treasurer
Joshua Brisbane, Secretary
John Gomez, Immediate Past President
Darin Boles

Hon. Mark Cumba
Hon. Francis M. Devaney
Cherie Enge
Hon. Kevin A. Enright
David Gallo
Hon. William Q. Hayes

Amy Martel
Hon. Lilys D. McCoy
William Miller
Catherine Richardson
Hon. Robert J. Trentacosta
James J. Wallace

Featured Lecturer

The Honorable Robert Trentacosta

Judge Robert J. Trentacosta completed his term as the Presiding Judge of the San Diego Superior Court in December 2013. Formerly, he held multiple leadership positions within the court including: Assistant Presiding Judge, Supervising Criminal Judge and Supervising Judge of the South County Division. He is presently presiding over Juvenile Justice matters.

Judge Trentacosta is currently a member of the California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions (CJEO) providing ethics advice to all judicial officers in the State of California. He previously served as the Chairperson for all Judicial Leadership Education in the State of California. Judge Trentacosta is an Adjunct Professor of law at California Western School of Law teaching “Trial Practice.”

When he was a practicing trial lawyer, Judge Trentacosta was the President of the Plaintiff’s Trial Bar (2000) and the President of the San Diego Inn of Court, College of Advocacy (1997). He has been honored as “Outstanding Jurist of the Year” several times by various trial lawyer and bar organizations.

Robert J. Trentacosta, judge for the Superior Court of San Diego County

Program Volunteers - Attorneys

Steve Amundson
Denise Asher
Edward “Skip” Babbitt
Darin Boles
Joshua Brisbane
Brian Burchett
John Culver
Thom Diachenko
Deborah Dixon
Cherie Enge
Randolph Finch, Jr.
Robert Francavilla
John Freni
David Gallo

Anton Gerschler
John Gomez
Charlie Grebing
Max Halpern
Sarah Havens
Patricia Hollenbeck
Ben Howard
Clark Hudson
Robert Juskie
Price Kent
Rebecca Lack
Paul Leeds
Stephen Lopez
Jeremiah Low

Rhonda Mallory
Amy Rose Martel
Domenic Martini
Lilys McCoy
Nelse Miller
Will Miller
David Munoz
Virginia Nelson
Kim Oberrecht
Ross Peabody
Regina Petty
John Philpott
Jim Pokorny
Roger Popeney

Catherine Richardson
Mike Riney
Dwight Ritter
Neal Rockwood
Brent Schreiber
Sean Simpson
Chris Todd
Ken Turek
Jon Vanderpool
Jim Wallace
Chris Welsh
Dan White
Allison Worden

Program Volunteers - Judges

Hon. James T. Atkins
Hon. Wendy Behan
Hon. Daniel Belsky
Hon. Michael Berg
Hon. Vic Bianchini (Ret.)
Hon. Frank Birchak
Hon. Laura Birkmeyer
Hon. Matthew Braner
Hon. Jill Burkhardt
Hon. Anthony Campagna
Hon. Yvonne Campos

Hon. Karen S. Crawford
Hon. Debbie Cumba
Hon. Mark Cumba
Hon. Frank Devaney
Hon. Kevin Enright
Hon. Eugenia Eyherabide
Hon. Ron Frazier
Hon. Loren Freestone
Hon. William Gallo
Hon. David Gill

Hon. Allison Goddard
Hon. Ernie Gross
Hon. Judith L. Haller
Hon. William Q. Hayes
Hon. Keri Katz
Hon. Linda Lopez
Hon. Pennie McLaughlin
Hon. Kenneth Medel
Hon. Michael Orfield (Ret.)
Hon. Leo Papas (Ret.)

Hon. Pamela Parker
Hon. Victor Pippins
Hon. Linda Quinn (Ret.)
Hon. Chandra Reid
Hon. Terrie Roberts
Hon. David Rubin
Hon. Robert Trentacosta
Hon. Leonard Trinh
Hon. Joel Wohlfeil
Hon. Rohanee Zapanta

"Taking this type of a course is really a great refresher, and even though it’s outside of my comfort zone, the staff and the instructors, and the other people in our group are really great at just being encouraging and making us feel comfortable so that we can really just get down to practicing."

Carree Nahama Esq.

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