Five Boxer & Gerson, LLP workers’ compensation attorneys took turns on the dais as panel members at the 2017 Summer Convention of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association (CAAA) last month. The semi-annual continuing education event was held over four days at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco, playing host to nearly 600 attorneys from around the state. Formal panel discussions and exhibits were complemented by a host of informal gatherings across the bay from Boxer & Gerson’s downtown Oakland offices.
Arjuna Farnsworth led off the firm’s convention involvement on Thursday, June 22 by being one of four expert panelists on a presentation titled, “Benson Revisited.” Diane Benson was the plaintiff in a much-chronicled workers’ compensation case in 2007 that was later appealed and continues to reverberate today. Farnsworth has long studied the case for its implications in the field.
Later that day, Boxer & Gerson Partner and Workers’ Compensation Specialist Maria Grasso served as moderator for a panel on ““Immigrants’ Rights in Workers’ Compensation.” Sager has a longtime interest in the topic, on which she speaks regularly both to the legal community and in public presentations. She frequently touches on the subject in a monthly radio interview show on the Spanish language station KIQI in San Francisco.
The conference’s second day saw two Boxer & Gerson associate attorneys serve on morning panels. Warren Pulley, a former California State Bar Workers’ Compensation “Defense Attorney of the Year,” lent his nearly three decades of experience to a panel entitled, “Evidence: Procedure and Substance.” It examined a range of issues on deposition and trial procedures, rules of evidence, and pre-trial preparations.
Associate Attorney Jenny Jerez then served on a panel addressing “Applicant Depositions,” which ranged from how-to’s regarding deposition preparation to complex modern developments with respect to privacy rights, immigration, social media exposure and 5th amendment concerns. Jerez currently serves as vice president of CAAA’s East Bay Chapter, one of 18 local chapters that meets monthly for continuing education and advocacy purposes.
Longtime Partner Bert Arnold, who served as president of the Statewide CAAA in 2015 and East Bay chapter president in the previous decade, concluded Boxer & Gerson’s participation in formal presentations by moderating a Saturday morning panel on “Protecting Your Client’s Rights in Settlement Documents.” It addressed a number of fine points such as unpaid medical expenses, a case settlement’s effect on Medicare/Medi-Cal and Social Security, and limitations on future medical costs.
The CAAA was founded in 1966 with the purpose of helping California workers injured on the job to heal and return to work. Besides offering continuing education opportunities for its members, it engages in ongoing legal, policy and educational advocacy activities.
“Our firm’s active participation in CAAA through conferences and in service as officers to the local and statewide organization is not unusual,” commented Boxer & Gerson Managing Partner John Harrigan. “We believe wholeheartedly in CAAA’s great benefit to injured California workers and the attorneys who represent them. The fact that so many of our attorneys are actively involved and invited to participate in these conferences speaks well of their professional reputations. We’re just very pleased to continue helping attorneys statewide in their collective pursuit of strong advocacy for injured workers.”
Left to right: Arjuna Farnsworth, Maria Grasso, Warren Pulley, Jenny Jerez, Bert Arnold
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