Mark A. Easter
So, this is the last column I am writing as RCBA President. When I joined the RCBA Board in 2018, I believed that we had a very special legal community in Riverside County. In my years on the board and then serving as the president the last 20 months or so, I have had the privilege of having that belief confirmed over and over again by observing and working with many of our members serving the legal community and the community at large. And the traits I have repeatedly observed in our members are 1) generosity with their time; 2) concern for the legal community as a whole and not just their individual practices; 3) joy and enthusiasm about serving; and 4) an appreciation for fellowship and collegiality with other members. It is because of this culture that I have encouraged and continue to encourage our younger members to look for places to serve and resist the all-consuming “pull” that the practice of law so often has on practitioners. I would like to take this “final” opportunity to highlight and call out some of our members (and judges) for exhibiting these traits (and I apologize in advance for anyone I overlooked; this is far from a complete list):
—First and making sure I do not ignore what is right under my nose, Jacqueline Carey-Wilson, Melissa Cushman, Abe Feuerstein, and others do an amazing job putting together our monthly magazine. Each month the appearance, format, and content of Riverside Lawyer reflects positively on the professionalism of our legal community. Jacqueline also does a great job organizing our annual Reading Day with a local elementary school.
—The RCBA benefits from all of the attorneys who serve and have served as chairs of our various RCBA sections. In particular, this year I appreciated the efforts of Jeremiah Raxter with our probate and estate planning section. Jeremiah showed great enthusiasm for promoting that section and making sure that its meetings were both well attended and meaningful. Jeremiah has since been appointed Commissioner. Congratulations, Jeremiah!
—Each month the RCBA Civil Litigation Section holds a lunch hour civil litigation roundtable, giving local litigators an opportunity to hear from one of our civil judges on the litigation process, and ask questions. Judge Craig Riemer (Ret.) started this program, and upon his retirement, Judge Harold Hopp took over these sessions.They have generously and enthusiastically given their time to this program, and have been a very valuable resource to our local litigators.
—RCBA has a judicial evaluation committee, which meets and evaluates applicants for our local superior court and court of appeal. Paul Grech does a tremendous job chairing that committee. He and the other committee members take the time to seek the input of other members of our bar on judicial applicants, and I’ve been very impressed with the concern that they show for the quality of our local bench and making sure that our applicants are fairly and accurately assessed.
—I really appreciate Chris Jensen’s dry and honest sense of humor, but also, his interest and enthusiasm for the history of the RCBA and our legal community, and his efforts to ensure the ongoing success of our county’s Dispute Resolution Service.
—I have had the opportunity to observe the New Attorney Academy in session and participate in several New Attorney Academy graduations. This is a tremendous program, and I encourage any of our newer attorneys to sign up for it. Robyn Lewis, Greg Rizio and I’m sure others do a tremendous job organizing and presenting this program.
—For years, Melissa Moore, and John Wahlin before her, have faithfully and fairly chaired the Steering Committee for the Riverside County Mock Trial Competition. Having served on the Steering Committee, I know that doing so can be stressful, unseen, and underappreciated. But their service has been vital to the tremendous success of our county competition, which is recognized on a statewide and even nationwide basis. Likewise, our local attorneys and judges, including but not limited to Judge Jack Lucky (Ret.), Judge Eric Keen, Commissioner Kelly Moran, Josh Hanks, Carlos Monagas, Yoginee Braslaw, Ben Hampton, Goushia Farook, and (my “teammate” for years) Victor Wolf, have served as attorney coaches, and have done so with great joy, intensity, dedication, good sportsmanship, and love for their students.
—The Project Graduate program provides a tremendous opportunity to foster youth who are not living in homes, perhaps one of the neediest and most overlooked “people groups” in our county. Alexandra Fong has demonstrated her passion for that program, organizing fundraisers and a graduation program every year. Luis Lopez, Commissioner Malvina Ovanezova, Alex Barraza and others have also faithfully served as student mentors.
—Our Elves program, which takes place every December, has been a tremendous blessing to hundreds and hundreds of underprivileged families throughout our county. Each year dozens of members of our legal community, along with their families, serve as shopping elves, wrapping elves, delivery elves, and/or money elves, and I applaud you! But the continued success of that program would not have been remotely possible without the hard work and dedication of Elf in Chief Brian Pearcy.
—-As president, I have now had the opportunity to attend two RCBA Past Presidents dinners. I have really enjoyed these events, especially this past year, which was one of my first nights out after getting home from the hospital in April. Judge Sophia Choi and Robyn Lewis are the enthusiastic organizers and “hosts” of these dinners. Thank you!
—And I of course have been very blessed to have some outstanding officers and board members assist me and cover for me in the last two years: Megan Demshki, Lori Myers, Elisabeth Lord, Goushia Farook, Malvina Ovanezova, Alex Barraza, Summer DeVore, David Rivera, Heather Green, Lauren Vogt, Chris Johnson, Erica Alfaro, and Christopher Jensen. Special shout out to Lori Myers, who after serving in all of the RCBA officer’s positions, including president-elect and president, is about to complete her second full year as past president. Our Board meetings won’t be the same without her wise, direct, and spirited observations.
—Finally, I am very thankful for all of the help I have received from Charlene Nelson, Lisa Yang, and the rest of the RCBA staff. You have not only been very capable, but always kind, positive, and very helpful. The lawyers in our community are very fortunate to have your support. I know because there was no greater partaker of that support in the past year than myself.
I look forward to more opportunities to interact, circulate, and collaborate with my fellow Riverside lawyers in the months and years to come, and I am grateful to God for preserving my life this past year so that I could be around to do so.
Our installation dinner for incoming President Megan Demshki will be on Thursday, September 11, 2025, at the Mission Inn. Please put that date on your calendar and plan on joining us. In the meantime, have a great rest of your summer!
Mark A. Easter is the president of the RCBA, a partner at Best Best & Krieger LLC, and has been residing and practicing law in Riverside since 1989.
