Public Law
Public Law Journal: Fall 2014, Vol. 37, No. 4
Content
- Community Choice Aggregation—An Alternative Way to Providing Electricity Service By Local Government
- "Grandfathering" of Emergency Medical Services Under "Section 201" of the Emergency Medical Services Act
- Leggo My Home Rule: Charter Cities and State Municipal Interference
- Legislative Update
- Litigation & Case Law Update
- Masthead
- Message from the Chair
- Public Law Section Forges Partnerships with California Law Schools to Initiate Panel Receptions with Public Officials and Practitioners
- To Ban or Not to Ban: How California Cities and Counties Can Effectively Regulate Oil and Gas Fracking Activity without the Risk of a Total Ban
- University of San Diego Law School Student Wins Public Law Student Writing Competition
- Wendy Patrick Honored as 2014 Public Lawyer of the Year
- Remarks of the 2014 Ronald M. George Public Lawyer of the Year Award Recipient Wendy Patrick
Remarks of the 2014 Ronald M. George Public Lawyer of the Year Award Recipient Wendy Patrick
By Wendy Patrick
The following are Wendy Patrick’s remarks after receiving the Ronald M. George Public Lawyer of the Year Award on September 12, 2014, at the State Bar of California Annual Meeting in San Diego.
It is both an honor and a privilege to accept this award. I would like to thank the Public Law Section, and immediate past Chair Jodi Cleesattle who has been supportive, encouraging and a true leader in the public law arena. And speaking of encouraging, I also want to thank my boss District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, her Chief Deputy Summer Stephan, and also recognize the two biggest encouragers in my personal life, my mother Elizabeth and my sister Jenn, a San Diego attorney who also is president of the National Law Center for Children and Families.
Some people think that being a public lawyer is a thankless job. Overextended, overworked, and underpaid. "Glorified pro bono work" joke of some of my colleagues in the private sector, who have been enjoying six-figure salaries straight out of law school. But having worked as both a public defender and a district attorney over the last 20 years, I can tell you that in my view from both sides of the aisle, the satisfaction of changing the lives of so many people is in a word, priceless.