News Release

Southwestern is pleased to announce that three of its adjunct faculty members have attained new judicial positions. Hon. Charles McCoy, Assistant Presiding Judge for the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, will become Presiding Judge in January 2009. Hon. Jackson "Jack" Lucky '94, former Deputy District Attorney, was recently appointed to the Riverside County Court bench by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hon. Amy Pellman, former Commissioner/Judge Pro Tem for the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, has been appointed as Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court by Governor Schwarzenegger and was sworn in at Southwestern on December 2. Dean Bryant Garth said "These wonderful appointments confirm our longstanding position as a law school deeply involved with the bench and the bar."

Hon. Charles W. McCoy, Jr., is a member of the California Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the California courts, and has served as Supervising Judge of the Civil Courts in Los Angeles and as Managing Judge of the city's Complex Litigation Courts. Before his appointment to the bench in 1992, Judge McCoy was a partner with the firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton (1975-1992). He earned his B.S. degree in industrial management at Purdue University, and his J.D. degree with honors at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Judge McCoy has been a member of Southwestern's adjunct faculty since 1995, teaching Trial Advocacy. He has been published extensively in law journals throughout the country and is the author of the book Why Didn't I Think of That? Think the Unthinkable and Achieve Creative Greatness, a 2002 Prentice Hall Press publication.

A 1994 SCALE® alum, Judge Jackson "Jack" Lucky will co-teach Selected Problems in Evidence (Evidence Lab) with Professor Deborah Lucky during the January 2009 Intersession. Judge Lucky served as a Deputy District Attorney in the Riverside County District Attorney's Office for 14 years before being appointed to the bench. As a member of the Gang Injunctions Unit, he was chosen to prepare the first civil abatement injunction for criminal street gangs in Riverside County. He also served on the Identity Theft Unit, Gangs/Hate Crimes Unit, Sexual Assault/Child Abuse Unit, General Felonies Unit, and Grand Theft Auto Unit, among others. A frequent lecturer and member of numerous committees of the California District Attorney's Association (CDAA), he also published "Rollin' Stolen and a Bag o' Mail: How to address limited resources in an identity theft case," Firewall (May 2006, CDAA). He earned his B.A. degree at DePaul University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Southwestern.

Just prior to her election as a commissioner in 2005, Judge Amy Pellman was the Legal Director for The Alliance for Children's Rights, a non-profit organization providing free legal services to children living in poverty. In that capacity, she directed litigation and individual legal services for children in foster care, children requiring medical assistance, and children with physical, mental and educational disabilities. Judge Pellman previously served as senior trial attorney and appellate counsel representing children in foster care for Dependency Court Legal Services, and in 2003, she was the recipient of the American Bar Association's distinguished Child Advocacy Law Award. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Section on Family Law. She has authored numerous training manuals and scholarly articles on issues related to children and poverty and is a regular contributor to the treatise California Juvenile Dependency Practice

(Continuing Education of the Bar). Judge Pellman has been a featured speaker at conferences and law schools, and teaches Children and the Law at Southwestern, where she was awarded the Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005. She has also been a Senior Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs since 2004. Judge Pellman earned her B.A. degree at Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. degree at City University of New York, and is a member of both the New York and California State Bars.