New Board Members Elected, Virtual Installation Ceremony Slated for Friday, December 10

SAN DIEGO (November 15, 2021) — Seasoned ethicist and litigator David Majchrzak, whose practice focuses on the law of lawyering — attorney and law firm risk management, discipline defense, and legal malpractice claims and other disputes involving lawyers and firms — at Klinedinst PC, will serve as President of the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) for 2022.

Majchrzak is a certified specialist in legal malpractice law by the State Bar of California, and is a shareholder and Deputy General Counsel at Klinedinst PC, where he also chairs the firm’s writing committee and attorney training college. He has devoted a substantial portion of his career to counseling clients on how to ethically achieve their professional goals and performs law office risk management assessments and training involving a wide variety of topics covering virtually every aspect of the practice of law.

Majchrzak’s service to the legal ethics community includes a just-completed, two-year term as co-chair of the California Lawyers Association’s first Ethics Committee and as a member of the organization’s Future of the Profession Task Force. He is a director of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and a member of its Future of Lawyering Committee, a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and a member of the ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility Planning Committee. He has served as a three-year member of the State Bar of California’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct, where he chaired the outreach committee. He is a former secretary of the Association of Discipline Defense Counsel, and has also taught professional responsibility as an adjunct law school professor.

Prior to being elected President of the SDCBA, Majchrzak served as the organization’s Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, and is a recent past chair of the SDCBA’s Legal Ethics Committee. In 2015, Majchrzak revived the then-abandoned Ethics Quarterly, and has continued as one of its two editors.

“I love our profession,” Majchrzak said. “What we do, as lawyers, is special. People with expansive vision, unshakable drive, and an insatiable appetite for justice dedicate their professional lives to solving clients’ problems in ways that often have profound, enduring impacts. And, in San Diego, we do that with the civility, integrity, and professionalism that pay homage to such noble pursuits. I am proud to be part of an organization whose reason for being is to support such devoted and principled individuals.”

Majchrzak holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a J.D., summa cum laude, from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He is rated AV®-Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a San Diego Super Lawyer, as well as a Top Lawyer by San Diego Magazine. He is a frequent speaker, writer, and lecturer on topics relating to legal ethics and has been deeply involved with other parts of our community, including the American Inns of Court (including four years of service as president of the William L. Todd Jr. American Inn of Court), San Diego Teen Court, Tom Homann LGBT Law Association, RESOLVE Law San Diego, Knights of Columbus, and Kiwanis Club of Poway.

Melissa Johnson has been elected to succeed Majchrzak as President in 2023 and will serve as President- Elect in 2022. Johnson is a partner at Johnson Heeder LLP, and represents workers in employment-related matters. Johnson currently serves as the SDCBA’s Treasurer and Vice President, and previously served as its Secretary. She currently serves on the Executive Board of the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA), the preeminent bar association for California plaintiffs employment attorneys, and she serves as a Commissioner on the County of San Diego’s Civil Service Commission. Johnson is also a United States Air Force Veteran.

Current SDCBA President Renée N.G. Stackhouse will serve as Immediate Past President in 2022.

Michelle Gastil will serve as the 2022 Treasurer and Roxy Carter will serve as the 2022 Secretary.

Additionally, Leslie Abrigo, Rebecca Kanter, Tatiana Kline, Spencer Scott, and Fanny Yu have been elected by the SDCBA’s membership to serve three‐year terms on the Board. Roxy Carter, Warren Den, Michelle A. Gastil, Stacey A. Kartchner, Brenda Lopez, Angela Medrano, Wilson A. Schooley, Robert M. Shaughnessy, L. Marcel Stewart, and Kimberly Swierenga will continue their service on the Board in 2022. The Chair of the Association’s New Lawyer Division Jake Zindulka will also serve a one‐year term on the Board.

The 2022 SDCBA Board of Directors will take part in an installation ceremony at its annual Stepping Up to the Bar, the Association’s annual holiday reception, on December 10 at 5:30 p.m. This year’s event will be held at the US Grant Presidential Ballroom, 326 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101. This event is open to all SDCBA members and guests.

The San Diego County Bar Association, established in 1899, is the region’s largest law-related organization, dedicated to serving the needs of all attorneys and the legal community in San Diego County.