BB&K Partner Ruben Duran Appointed Chair of the California Bar Board of Trustees
Duran to Lead Trustees for One-Year Term
For Immediate Release: September 27, 2021
Media Contact: Bethany Chieffallo • (202) 370-5302 • bethany.chieffallo@bbklaw.com
LOS ANGELES — Best Best & Krieger LLP Partner Ruben Duran has been appointed to serve as chair of the State Bar of California Board of Trustees. Duran was sworn in on September 24 by the Honorable Joshua P. Groban, associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, and will serve in the role for one year.
“I’m tremendously honored to lead the work of the Bar Board of Trustees. Thank you to my predecessor, who has demonstrated exemplary service during a very difficult year professionally and personally for many of us. He’s a sharp legal mind and a calming spirit,” Duran stated after the swearing in ceremony. “Our state, nation and indeed the world are coming out of some dark days … and yet there is light in the strength, adaptability and resilience we see all around us. With this, I’m so grateful for the opportunity and faith in my abilities. I look forward to a fun and exciting year.”
The State Bar of California oversees the licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys in the state. It is also charged with advancing the ethical and competent practice of law, and supporting access and inclusion within California’s legal system. The Board of Trustees is the Bar’s governing body, which develops guiding policies and principles. Attorneys on the 13-member Board are appointed by either the Supreme Court or the Legislature, while six non-attorneys are appointed by the Governor and the Legislature.
Duran was initially appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2018 by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. He is the second Latino to serve in the role of chair.
“Trustee members are the stabilizers of the stabilizers, the stewards of the stewards and the rock supporting the rock. It’s an important and crucial role,” Justice Groban stated.
Duran has worked with and for public agencies for the entirety of his career. As managing partner of the firm’s Ontario office, he brings a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to the practice of public law. With an emphasis on open government and transparency and complex conflicts of interest issues, as well as elections law, land use and planning issues, Duran also provides special counsel to cities, school districts, public health plans and special districts. He serves as city attorney for the cities of Ontario and Fontana and general counsel for the Oxnard Harbor District, which owns and operates the commercial Port of Hueneme in Ventura County. He also serves as board counsel to the Southern California Association of Governments, the state’s largest Metropolitan Planning Organization representing more than 190 jurisdictions across six counties.
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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With more than 200 attorneys, the law firm has 10 offices nationwide, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter or @bestbestkrieger on LinkedIn.
