Entertainment Ethics and Malpractice Year-in-Review: "The Ethics Factor"

Ellen A. Pansky is the founder of Pansky Markle Attorneys at Law, South Pasadena, California, specializing in State Bar disciplinary defense and Bar admissions, legal ethics consultations, professional liability litigation and expert testimony. Ms. Pansky is a California State Bar Certified Legal Malpractice Specialist. Ms. Pansky has had extensive experience before the State Bar Court, and State Superior Courts, and has been admitted to practice before several districts of the U.S. District Court. She is a California State Bar certified MCLE provider. Ms. Pansky is active in the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (President, 1996), which awarded her the prestigious Charles W. Kettlewell Legal Ethics Advisor Award in 2016. Ms. Pansky served as President of the National Association of Women Lawyers (2003). She is an inaugural member of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, and she served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She also was a member of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers Manual on Professional Conduct (2004-2007). She is a member of the United States District Court, Central District, Standing Committee on Discipline (2008-present). Ms. Pansky served as an Assistant Vice President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Board of Trustees and is a longstanding member of the L.A.C.B.A Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee (chair 1996-97).

Marta Alcumbrac is certified as a specialist in legal malpractice law by the State Bar of California. She has successfully represented lawyers and law firms in numerous legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty cases. She regularly identifies strategy for early resolution by quickly obtaining and accurately analyzing the relevant facts and developing a litigation plan for bringing the case to conclusion.

Marta brings the same creativity and determination to the practice of law that she used as a principal founder of the Los Feliz Charter School for the Arts, a public school started when Marta realized that parents in her community wanted another educational option for their children. Before joining Robie & Matthai, she practiced at Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O’Keefe & Nichols, where her practice focused on the defense of medical malpractice cases. When medical issues are relevant (as they often are in legal malpractice cases arising out of personal injury cases), her medical malpractice expertise is an invaluable asset.

Marta currently is the President of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel.

Neville L. Johnson is Senior Partner at Johnson & Johnson. Neville L. Johnson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley (1971). He received his law degree from Southwestern Law School (1975), graduating near the top of his class. He has tried over 28 civil jury trials and over 70 civil trials and arbitrations without a jury. He is a member of the invitation-only American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA since 2005), the Board of Directors of the national organization Public Justice, and on the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association 2013-2015 and 2020-2022 (BHBA). Johnson is a long-time member of the invitation-only Los Angeles Copyright Society, and on the Board of The California Society of Entertainment Lawyers.