Judges’ Training: Perspectives of the Honorable Judge Mykil Bachoian of the Van Nuys District Office of the WCAB

Interviewed by The Honorable Judge Therese DaSilva of the Oakland District Office of the WCAB

Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs) and lawyers employed by the State of California are exempt from mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) under Business and Professions Code section 6070(c). Not to worry:  pursuant to Labor Code section 5311.5 prescribing continuing education for WCJ’s,  the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) provides annual training for all WCJs on topics specific to our mission of providing judicial services to assist in resolving disputes in order to minimize the adverse impacts of work-related injuries for Californians. In October, all WCJs attended two days of in-person training in Los Angeles. This was the first in-person WCJ training in five years due to the COVID pandemic. In several offices, half of the judges were hired after the onset of the pandemic, and it was their first time seeing over 200 colleagues in-person. Judge Mykil Bachoian was sworn in as a judge in DWC Van Nuys earlier this year. We caught up to Judge Bachoian to get his impression on WCJ training.

Welcome, Judge Bachoian! Please tell us about your background in workers’ compensation and why you wanted to become a Workers’ Compensation Judge.

I was born and raised in Van Nuys and I am happy to be here! Van Nuys is a diverse district of Los Angeles. I feel that it is important for residents to be able to see and hear from someone who grew up here. Though the practice has changed, and practitioners can practice statewide, the injured workers still tend to be from surrounding areas and I am proud to be a judge who is representative of my community. 

Before coming to the Van Nuys DWC, I worked for the City of Los Angeles in the City Attorney’s Office for five years and my cases were exclusively workers’ compensation, primarily police and firefighter cases. Before that, it was the Armstrong Law Group in Los Angeles who mentored me into the practice. I had wonderful mentors, interesting challenges, and great professional relationships in my past jobs, but I have always wanted to be judge, even in law school. Being a judge is the purest form of being a student of the law. Judges apply the law and try to decipher right from wrong as opposed to advocating positions within an adversarial framework. I try to do the right thing based on what is presented to me.

As a new judge who is now exempt from MCLE, what were your expectations going into WCJ training?

I actually did not realize that workers’ compensation judges and State lawyers are exempt from MCLE. I had no expectations of the WCJ training because several judges in Van Nuys as well as any judge hired in 2020 onward had never been to in-person WCJ training. I was open-minded and eager to soak in my first experience. 

What were the highlights for you?

There was so much information in a short time span. There was a good balance of practical versus academic information. Most of the presentations featured two or three sitting judges, so speakers had a solid understanding of our challenges as WCJs. As the judges presented topics, they would often have a brief digression to share real life experiences. It was good to see how judges in other venues handle different scenarios. Now that we are more of a statewide practice with remote hearings, things are becoming more uniform. Still, what happens in other venues may not work in Van Nuys, but I can apply the information as I see fit.  

The topics were timely and those that we all see frequently such as non-IBR petitions, QME issues, penalties, and sanctions. The presentations were insightful, and I appreciated the written material to reference in the future. We had two full days of sessions, but I wish there were more opportunities for mingling and networking. 

What was your big takeaway from your first WCJ training?

Overall, there was a feeling that the judges support one another. Van Nuys is a popular and well-liked venue because it is user friendly, and the judges in Van Nuys have been very supportive of me. It turns out that this attitude largely transcends statewide. It is not a competitive community; judges are not angling to outdo one another. This is unique: the practice of law can be competitive and not everyone has your best interests in mind. The support I felt as a new judge cannot be overemphasized. It was really helpful to know that everyone is learning every day. So it was a nice welcome for me as a new judge: the other judges were happy for me, happy to share tips, and happy to provide contact information. It felt like it’s a statewide community with an overarching desire to have you succeed as a new judge. Now that I have a WCJ training under my belt and am more familiar with the format, next year I am looking forward to meeting more judges and offering guidance to future new judges.