Community News

n Judicate West, one of California’s n Expanding its partnership, leading providers of private dispute CaseyGerry—a San Diego-based resolution services, welcomes retired personal injury and complex San Diego County Superior Court litigation law firm—has promoted Judge Jeffrey B. Barton to its roster Srinivas Hanumadass to partner. of neutrals. He is based in the Hanumadass, who concentrates his San Diego office and available for practice on serious personal injury, mediations, arbitrations, and private judging assignments statewide. “We JUDGE JEFFREY B. BARTON is a “much-welcomed addition to our growing partnership,” said are thrilled to add Judge Barton CaseyGerry’s managing partner, to our exclusive roster of neutrals. David S. Casey, Jr. “Since joining our During his 40-year legal career both as an attorney and firm as an associate attorney in 2015, he has demonstrated a superior court judge, he has gained the reputation for an unwavering dedication to his clients and our firm, excelling in everything that he does, and he will be a attaining numerous multi-million results. He is also a tremendous addition to our roster,” said Mark Kaufman, proactive community leader and has focused his efforts Executive Vice President of Market Development with on promoting diversity in the legal profession.” He served Judicate West. “Judge Barton has exhibited exceptional two terms as president of the South Asian Bar Association, leadership as a Judge and, prior to his appointment to the one term as vice president of the San Diego County Bar bench, as a trial attorney in the San Diego and statewide Association and was past scholarship committee chair of legal community, and we are certain he will be a great fit the Lawyers Club of San Diego. for our clients statewide.” n Trust and estate planning, n Dinsmore & Shohl LLP has tax, and nonprofit attorney Julie welcomed partner of counsel David Dewberry has rejoined Higgs Marion as the newest member Fletcher & Mack (HFM), effective of the firm’s national Corporate May 3, 2021. In her practice, department and Mergers & Dewberry advises domestic Acquisitions practice group. He will and international families, practice out of Dinsmore’s growing entrepreneurs, and executives on San Diego office. the tax-efficient accumulation,

He joins from Nossaman LLP preservation, and transfer of assets. and is the second attorney to come In addition, her work includes mitigating interfamily to Dinsmore in San Diego in as disputes, planning for spendthrift children, and creating many months, following commercial litigation associate practical solutions to novel problems. She has experience Meredith Montrose earlier this spring. “Dinsmore’s in the design, operation, and succession of familyoutstanding reputation, national platform and growing owned businesses, and she also represents nonprofit corporate department are a great fit for me and my client organizations, assisting them in their formation, relationships,” Marion said. “I am thrilled to join Dinsmore obtaining tax-exempt status, and their ongoing and look forward to all the benefits the firm’s resources operations. Dewberry is licensed in both California will provide to my contacts.” Marion has practiced for and Virginia. “Julie is a fantastic attorney,” said Steve over 20 years, representing corporations, LLCs and Cologne, HFM’s Managing Partner. “We are excited to partnerships with formation, mergers and acquisitions, welcome Julie back to Higgs Fletcher & Mack and look divestitures, intellectual property licensing and general forward to working with her again.” corporate and contract matters. His clients span a diverse array of industries, including food and beverage, technology, manufacturing, sports, consumer products and telecommunications.

DAVID MARION SRINIVAS HANUMADASS

JULIE DEWBERRY

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Wilson Turner Kosmo

n Wilson Turner Kosmo, one of the largest women-owned law firms in California, is home to 14 attorneys selected for inclusion on the 2021 San Diego Super Lawyers list that includes no more than 5 percent of attorneys in the region. The firm’s named partners were all recognized: Claudette G. Wilson for employment litigation (defense), Vickie E. Turner for personal injury (products defense) and Frederick W. Kosmo, Jr. for business litigation. Partners Carolina Bravo-Karimi, Michael S. Kalt, Lois M. Kosch, Robin A. Wofford and Leonid M. Zilberman were acknowledged for their employment litigation (defense) practices, while partner Meryl C. Maneker was celebrated for her practice in defense of class actions. This year also saw five WTK attorneys being recognized as Rising Stars.

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Following Ancient Traditions and Family History in Modern Criminal Defense

JOURNALS

CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY ALEXANDER H. FUQUA

by Dan Baldwin

ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH 2021

With criminal defense you encounter numerous people and a vast array of personalities. I put myself in my clients’ shoes and think about the fact that they’re going through something I’m not going through. Their lives could be greatly affected by the charges they are facing, and I have to think what I would want if I was in their shoes. I have an empathetic approach to each client’s case as I envision myself in their position and that helps motivate me to fight even harder for my clients. I do everything I can to handle their case in the best way possible,” says Criminal Defense Attorney Alexander H. Fuqua.

Fuqua is an attorney with Sevens Legal, APC, San Diego’s premier criminal defense firm of seven lawyers.

Born in Singapore, to a mother from India and a father from England, Fuqua proudly sports a tattoo on his arm of the Sixth Sikh Guru, Hargobind. The guru, a historical figure, carried two swords. One was to smite the oppressor and the other for protecting the innocent. “Hargobind stood for justice, so it’s quite appropriate that I have his name and that I’m an attorney,” Fuqua says.

A Home Invasion, a Grandfather, and a Career

“I knew from my early childhood that I would someday be an attorney and that I would dedicate my life to defending people in challenging circumstances,” Fuqua says.

His grandfather was a major influence on that decision. “I greatly admired my boisterous, joking grandfather and when I was old enough to realize he was an attorney I decided that’s what I want to be when I grew up. His legacy continues to inspire me.”

As a kid, Fuqua’s parents would send him and his sister to Malaysia for the summers where he would spend a significant portion of the day in the law firm run by his uncle and grandfather. It was a small firm, and everyone seemed to get along very well with each other. He vividly remembers his uncle taking him to court in Malaysia where he experienced how attorneys handled themselves in the

The premier criminal defense team at Sevens Legal, APC. San Diego.

courtroom. In fact, the first case he observed as a child was a criminal case. Those experiences added to his inspiration to become an attorney.

Fuqua’s parents divorced and he and his sister moved with their mother to Los Angeles. When Fuqua’s grandfather came to the U.S. to earn his LLM at McGeorge School of Law in northern California, he would visit the family. “My grandfather had a terrific work ethic. He spent a year in the states away from his wife and family to better himself in the legal profession. He was the first person I called when I learned I’d passed the bar exam.”

His mother was equally influential in his career path and his drive to succeed in that path. She brought Fuqua and his sister to United States when they were two and four, respectively. The small family lived with two aunts in a small apartment in downtown Los Angeles. She became very successful in real estate, but never lost the desire to keep being successful. “She didn’t stop when she reached the top of her game and I try to bring that into my life,” Fuqua says.

Another incident, a traumatic experience, had an equally powerful effect on his desire to become an attorney. When he was a child, his family was a victim in a home invasion robbery. He clearly remembers being sound asleep, hearing the bedroom door slam open and seeing three masked people barge into the bedroom. One of the assailants carried a machete and they were all screaming, yelling, and ordering him to be quiet. Terrified, he remained silent as they put a blanket over his head and used a hanger to bind his hands and legs together. He also remembers being hit in the head with a hand or a fist as they were rummaging through the room.

“This experience probably should have inspired me to pursue a career in law enforcement or prosecution,” he says. However, the incident propelled him into the career path of helping people who commit crimes. “I realized that my personality is best suited for criminal defense. Sometimes there are more than two sides to a situation and I’m keenly aware that innocent people are incarcerated. I am passionate about taking the time to hear the entire story to assist me in seeing the bigger picture. I strongly believe in second chances and that giving someone a second chance can do more for the person in the long run.”

Banking on a Legal Career

Fuqua earned his BA in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his J.D. from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2010.

One of the classes that proved to be formative while he was at UCI was called Legal Implications of the Drug Trade, which was taught by a federal judge from Orange County. The instructor brought in a defense attorney as a guest lecturer one evening. Something in the man’s

presentation was intriguing and prompted the idea that a career in that arena would be something really rewarding professionally, but also on a personal level. He also had a constitutional law class, a pre-law class, taught by a professor who was an attorney. That course was his first real exposure to the meaning of the fourth amendment and that got him interested in law, especially criminal law.

Fuqua’s joy of and commitment to the law comes considerably from his experiences in the business world outside the legal profession. He took time off before going to law school and tried banking. “I was a teller and an account rep selling home loans. I hated it and quickly realized it was not for me. That’s why I went to law school. I was awful at banking.”

Today, Fuqua is an attorney at Sevens Legal, APC. His experience in handling cases is considerable and includes homicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, drug possession, driving under the influence, juvenile, misdemeanor, and felony cases throughout San Diego County. He has also represented clients throughout Southern California in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties. He has experience handling major federal cases in the Southern District Federal Court as well as throughout California and the Eastern District of Louisiana.

“As criminal defense attorneys, Sevens Legal attorneys are usually fighting an uphill battle from the get-go. Having a supportive network of coworkers who can help you with strategy can help push you up that hill,” he says.

Adapting Aggressively to Changing Legal Environments

The banking industry’s loss is the firm’s clients’ gain. For example, Fuqua handled a challenging case where his client, 17 at the time, was arrested and accused of shooting and killing two people. He was charged as an adult in criminal court. While his case was pending, the law was changed where a juvenile arrested for something, such © Bauman Photographers as murder, could not be directly filed on in the adult court. The attorneys and clients would have to go back to juvenile court and face a special proceeding to get back up into adult court. When that happened, Fuqua filed to have his client go back through juvenile court. That issue was taken up on other cases where the court wasn’t sure if that law applied retroactively or to only to prospective cases. “It was empowering to write a motion to argue that the law applied retroactively,” Fuqua says. The California Supreme Court eventually ruled that the law does apply retroactively. That brought his client’s case back to juvenile court. Then the prosecutor had to go through the motions to have the case brought back to adult court. The case was novel, and it was eventually resolved. The client is still going away for a long time, but because he is so young, he will be eligible for youth offender parole when he obtains a certain age. “In the long run that’s going to benefit him and his family because he was looking at life in prison and now, he does have the possibility of parole. It was a case I was ready to take to trial,” Fuqua says.

No Fluff for the Hard Core

Experience and having more confidence in handling more complex cases motivated Fuqua to start handling the tougher, more hard-core cases, which at times has him representing “hard core” clients. His policy with those, and all clients, is to be direct and honest with his opinion of their case and possible outcomes—no fluff.

“When somebody comes in, I go over the facts. When the first meeting occurs before an arraignment and we don’t have the police reports, I have to get the facts from my client. In doing so, and after listening to what is shared, I provide defenses but most importantly, I inform the client as to the reasons why law enforcement or the prosecution would look

at their case and want to prosecute it. A lot of times people have justification as to why what they did may not be as bad as it first appears. I do play devil’s advocate. That’s how I apply that ‘no fluff’ aspect. I let them know what the consequences are and how I can help them. Honesty when you’re facing a problem not only opens you up to the realities of the problems you’re facing, but also to options.

His policy is to treat people the way he would want to be treated. “It’s easy to think, ‘Okay, this person killed somebody, they must be a bad guy.’ When it comes down to it, knowing the circumstances, knowing how the event went down, and their point of view, it allows me to go beyond my client being just another case number. My work can be very humbling. I try to establish positive relationships with everybody—my client, judges, prosecutors—I just feel that I can foster better outcomes when I am at least someone they can trust,” he says.

Outside the Office, Inside the Community

Fuqua has an active personal, family and community lifestyle.

He moved to San Diego in 2007 for law school and has been here for the majority of the last fourteen years. Fuqua hung his shingle in Pasadena, near where he grew up, from 2014 to the end of 2015. He has three sons, Preston (8), Andrew (5), and Ethan (2).

Fuqua enjoys running. This year he signed up for several races including two spartan races, one tough mudder, and the San Diego rock n roll ½ marathon. He played baseball from little league through high school. Having grown up in Los Angeles, the Dodgers have always been “his” team. He enjoys golf and has been teaching his oldest son to skateboard. He coached his oldest son’s T-ball team and was his cub scout den leader and was coaching his middle son’s T-ball team last year just prior to the pandemic shutdown. He also loves deep sea fishing.

On the weekends he can be found grilling and smoking foods, as well as preparing home-cooked Indian meals.

Fuqua has had a broad spectrum of life experiences which he brings to his professional life. Channeling and filtering those experiences to best serve his clients, he desires to impart a sense of hope and a feeling that justice was accomplished for his client. n

Contact Alexander H. Fuqua Sevens Legal, APC 3555 Fourth Avenue San Diego, CA 92103 Office: (619) 297-2800 Cell: (858) 405-8266 www.sevenslegal.com

EXPERIENCE

» EDUCATION

• Thomas Jefferson School of Law, JD 2010 • University of California, Irvine, BA in Political Science, and minor in Philosophy, 2006

» HONORS/AWARDS & REVIEWS

• Super Lawyers Rising Star: 2016 – 2021 • Avvo—5 Star Rating as of 5/17/2021 (19 reviews) • Google Review: Sevens Legal, APC—5 Star Rating as of 5/17/2021 (330 reviews) • National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys,

Nationally Ranked Top 10 under 4—2016 • American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys—10

Best Attorneys 2018 – 2020 • National Trial Lawyers Association

» HOBBIES/INTERESTS

• Running • Deep sea fishing • Punk rock music

• Cooking • Family