Speaker: Hon. Josephine Broussard

Moderator: Orlando Ruff and Hon. Sharon Velzy

Judge Josephine K. Broussard is a Workers’ Compensation Judge at the Van Nuys Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.  Prior to becoming a judge, she worked as a Senior Associate Attorney with Pearlman, Brown & Wax where she focused in the defense of complex workers’ compensation claims including a focus in the area of sports litigation.

Prior to attending law school, she was a military spouse and worked in the area of financial services from 1998 to 2011 serving as Assistant Vice President for Wells Fargo Personal Lines and Loans Operation Center and Director of Compliance and Customer Contact Center for ING obtaining her securities license in Series 6, Series 26, and her Six Sigma Green Belt.

She attended the University of Dayton School of Law graduating third in her class and received ten CALI Excellence for the Future Awards.  While in law school, she was a member of Law Review and served as a Staff Writer and Business Manager for Law Review.

Most importantly, Josephine likes to spend time with her husband and five children.

Speakers: Hon. Therese de Silva and Laura Chiyono Rosenthal

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Hon. Sharon Velzy

Since 2012, Judge Therese da Silva has served as Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) at the Division of Workers’ Compensation in Oakland, the busiest venue for litigation in the northern half of California. She’s had several decisions reach the Court of Appeal, most of which have been upheld. Past speaking engagements include a variety of topics tailored to the needs of applicant’s attorneys, claims adjusters, qualified medical evaluators, as well as other WCJ’s during DWC’s annual judge training. Judge da Silva has been of member of DWC QME Quality Committee since its inception and she is an active contributor to other industry organizations. Judge da Silva opines that the best part of her job is interacting with professionals who truly care about resolving the pressing and often difficult issues facing injured workers.

Laura Chiyono Rosenthal is a certified specialist in workers’ compensation law and shareholder with Meechan, Rosenthal & Karpilow, P.C. Ms. Rosenthal’s greatest influence was her mother, a teacher, who empowered her to champion workers. Her grandparents were Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii, from whom she inherited a strong work ethic and dedication to family. She volunteers for and serves on many boards and committees, and teaches legal writing as an adjunct law professor. In 2023, she was selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers list, as well as the Top Injured Workers Attorney list by Workers Injury Law Group, a national organization. When she is not working or volunteering, she enjoys time with her family, friends, her beloved French bulldog Koa Blue, and an unreasonably large shoe collection

Speaker: Michael Wapnick

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Michael Wapnick is the National Account Manager at CourtCall and oversees the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Division.  Michael specializes in customizing CourtCall’s solution to meet the needs of Workers’ Compensation Courts, State Courts, Administrative Agencies and their stakeholders.  Michael is a Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLM) and has been a frequent presenter at the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judges. 

Michael is a native Angeleno and is a graduate of the University of Southern California.  In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, golfing and cheering on USC’s Football and Basketball Teams. 

Speaker: Dr. Robert Larsen

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Dr. Bob Larsen’s is that of the director for the Center for Occupational Psychiatry, Inc. Dr. Larsen entered private practice in San Francisco in 1982 after completing his residency training at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute of the University of California at San Francisco.

Dr. Larsen’s training includes his receiving an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado, a medical degree from Northwestern University and a master’s in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. He received additional post-graduate training as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar when he studied health policy issues and in specific examined the topic of impairment in professionals.

He has publications on the topics of psychiatric injury, substance abuse, physician impairment, professional training, group therapy, occupational psychiatry, ethics and fitness-for-duty examinations. He has presented at national meetings of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Academy of Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the University of California, San Francisco.

As a Clinical Professor at the University of California at San Francisco (volunteer faculty 1984-2017), Dr. Larsen has taught in the Division of Occupational & Environmental Medicine as well as in the area of Forensic Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. He is past president of the California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery. He was a member of the Industrial Medical Council for the State of California as a Senate appointee beginning in 1990, serving throughout the Council’s 13 year tenure. Dr. Larsen has been elected to membership in the American College of Psychiatrists and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He is frequently called upon to offer opinions in complex cases as an AME or IME.

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Judge W. Kearse McGill is a judge in the Review Department of the California State Bar Court and was first appointed to the position by the California Supreme Court on November 1, 2016, and re-appointed on August 18, 2022.  Previously, he served as a Hearing Department judge in the court for 18 months.  Prior to his appointment to the State Bar Court in 2015, Judge McGill was a workers’ compensation judge for ten years in Stockton, the last two as the presiding judge.  Prior to his position as a workers’ compensation judge, he was legal counsel to a California state senator and was in private practice for ten years.  

Judge McGill is currently an appointee to the California State Bar’s Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System, which is tasked with recommending reform proposals regarding the attorney discipline system to the bar’s Board of Trustees.  He was also a member of the bar’s Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC) before his appointment to the State Bar Court and taught as an adjunct professor of law for several years.  Since 2006, Judge McGill has presented numerous seminars to local, state, and national attorney and judicial organizations, primarily in the subject area of professional responsibility and legal ethics.

In 1991, Judge McGill graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.  He graduated magna cum laude with senior departmental honors from Clemson University in 1988 with a double major in Political Science and German.

Speakers: Angel Chreston and Rodman Joseph Martin

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Angel Chreston is an associate attorney at Hanna, Brophy, MacLean, McAleer & Jensen, LLP. She defends self-insured employers and insurance carriers in all aspects of workers’ compensation litigation, and her practice covers the Bay Area. Angel gives regular in-house presentations to insurance carriers, third party administrators, and public entities on new workers’ compensation laws. She also works on writing and presenting Hanna Brophy’s Workers’ Compensation Bingo, a case law update and game the firm puts together each year. Angel graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and a minor in English. After earning her undergraduate degree, she attended the University of California Davis, School of Law (King Hall), where she graduated with her Juris Doctor and a certificate in public interest. In her free time, Angel enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and cooking.

Rodman Martin has been a workers’ compensation applicant attorney since 2009. He received his Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  Before joining the Law Office of Jon Marlowe, Mr. Martin represented injured workers as an attorney and partner at Ivancich, Martin & Costis from 2009 – 2018.  Mr. Martin is a Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.  He also serves as a member of CLA’s Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee.  Mr. Martin is also a certified mediator, a member of CAAA, and has volunteered through the workers’ rights clinic for the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. 

Speakers: Hon. Mykil Bachoian and Hon. James Finete

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Judge Finete graduated from Santa Clara Law as a Public Interest Legal Scholar. His initial entry into the workers’ compensation field was as a certified law student performing services for a pro bono legal project in San Jose. He subsequently was employed as an associate attorney for a workers’ compensation defense firm for 10 years followed by ten plus years operating his own defense firm and conducting arbitration proceedings. He is certified as a specialist in workers’ compensation. His defense practice included representation of municipalities, self-insured private employers, professional sports teams, and non-profit organizations. After 25 years of legal practice, he is now a workers’ compensation judge at the Anaheim District Office, and at the Van Nuys District Office before that. When he is not sitting on the bench, Judge Finete enjoys water sports, bicycling, snowboarding and spending time with his family.

Judge Mykil Bachoian grew up in Van Nuys and attended Grant High School.  He graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a double major in Sociology and History.  In 2011, Judge Bachoian graduated from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he was a Managing Editor for the Law Journal for Social Justice, published 2 articles, and was a certified mediator for small claims disputes in Arizona justice courts. 

Before becoming a judge in Van Nuys, Judge Bachoian practiced workers’ compensation law for the entirety of his career as an attorney.  After his first law job as an applicant’s attorney, he worked at the private defense firm Armstrong & Sigel from 2012 to 2019 defending various employers and insurance carriers.  For the last five years, Mykil served as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, and earned a position leading the unit of workers’ compensation attorneys representing the LA Fire Department.

Mykil is married to Amy, a Lead Appellate Attorney on the California Court of Appeal, and is a proud dad to his 4-year-old son Asher.  He is an avid sports fan, occasional tennis player, and big foodie. 

Speaker: Hon. Martha Henderson

Moderators: Orlando Ruff and Sharon Velzy

Prior to becoming a Workers’ Compensation Judge with the Van Nuys District office, Judge Martha Henderson was employed as an attorney with various firms and insurance carriers.  Most recently, she served as senior litigation counsel for Zenith Insurance Company, where she handled some of their most complicated matters ranging from novel AOE/COE claims, death cases and intricate, multiple-party cases with significant exposure. 

During her 33 years as an attorney Judge Henderson has litigated and resolved thousands of cases on behalf of applicants and defendants, and has taken on civil and criminal claims on behalf of her clients while in private practice. She is a member of various organizations that work to educate and assist the bar. She also serves as a trustee for her college where she focuses on diversity. When not working, she enjoys traveling with her family, working out and writing.