| Honoring
Judge Kobayashi - At the March family law luncheon both
bench and bar honored Judge Kobayashi since he officially
retired from the bench in January 2006.
Mary Molinaro spoke on behalf of the family
law section and discussed Judge Kobayashi's personal
and professional accomplishments. He was also honored
by Appellate Court Justice Art Scotland and Sacramento
County Bar President, Jack Laufenberg, who spoke on
behalf of the county bar.
Those honoring Judge Kobayashi focused
on how he has been instrumental towards the improvements
of the family law system and his commitment to families,
expecially children. He was instrumental in changing
the Local Rules, instituting the private mediation panel,
the 730 evaluator panel, improving the mediation process,
and forming the pro per mediation clinic. He was also
instrumental in creating the minor's counsel panel and
revising the local rules regarding minor's counsel including
creating the draft orders and all of the trainings that
have occurred over the years for minor's counsel. He
was a model in this state for improvements to the family
law system, as well as his commitment and work ethic.
Judge Kobayashi initiall moved to Family
Law Court in 1991 and was appointed supervising family
law judge from 1993 to 1998. Then, from 1999 to 2000,
he was the supervising probate court judge. And then
he voluntarily reassigned himself to probate court supervising
judge and family court judge in January 2002 where he
stayed until his recent retirement. He did this because
there was a need for experienced family law judges at
the time and he saw the need and volunteered himself.
His other accolades include being instrumental
in working with the probate bar in making significant
improvements in procedure and access to programs such
as unrepresented litigants clinics, free mediation for
the unrepresented litigants, private mediation and tri-court
coordination.
He was recognized as Judge of the Year
for Sacramento County in 1996 and as Family Law Judge
of the Year by the State Bar.
Judge Kobayashi addressed the bar expressing
his gratitude for being honored and provided a few words
of wisdom for the family law practitioner. His advice
is, first know the facts throughly and be prepared.
Second, do not waste time filing motions to compel.
Third, appreciate the importance of filing timely statements
of issues and moving the case forward to trial when
necessary so that delay does not exasperate the difficulties
of the case. And last, explore mediation and alternative
dispute resolution methnds whenever possible. Judge
Kobayashi felt that most family law cases should be
resolved outside of the courtroom.
Thank you Judge Kobayashi for all
of your contributions to the family law community. You
will be dearly missed!
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