New Board Members Elected, Installation Ceremony Slated for Friday, December 1

SAN DIEGO (November 21, 2023) — Criminal defense attorney Stacey A. Kartchner will serve as President of the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) for 2024.

Stacey Kartchner has been practicing criminal law in both state and federal courts for over 20 years. She also represents material witnesses in federal court and Grand Jury proceedings. Kartchner did her internship at the nationally renowned Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. and worked for the prominent criminal defense firm Grimes & Warwick for 10 years while in law school and as an associate attorney. She opened her own law firm in 2009 where she practiced law until earlier this year when she joined the law firm of Klinedinst APC as Senior Counsel.

In addition to serving on the San Diego County Bar Association Board of Directors as incoming 2024 President, Kartchner is Chairperson of the San Diego Criminal Justice Memorial Committee and Chairperson of the CJA Material Witness Advisory Panel for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. She is also a Past-President of both the Criminal Defense Lawyers Club (2020) and Criminal Defense Bar Association (2013). She served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Defense Bar Newsletter from 2007-2021. She has also served in various capacities with Lawyers Club of San Diego, most recently as the Co-Chair of the Community Services Committee from 2020-2022. And since 2011, she has served on the Board of Directors of Accessity San Diego, a nonprofit organization that gives microcredit loans to small businesses, serving as its Secretary from 2018-2023.

From 2011-2014, Kartchner served as the Private Defense Counsel liaison to the Community Corrections Partnership, and was honored with a Service Award by the Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Club in 2012. In 2017, the Boards of Federal Defenders of San Diego and Appellate Defenders of San Diego honored Ms. Kartchner with a Special Directors Award for her "extraordinary contributions to the San Diego criminal defense community.” Kartchner was also given a Service Award in 2020 for her contributions collaborating with the Judges of the San Diego Superior Court and other criminal justice stakeholders
during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“San Diego is fortunate to have a particularly collegial, vibrant, and diverse legal community. I am so honored to serve next year and work closely with a highly dedicated and diligent board of directors and internal team,” said Kartchner. “As we collaborate closely to further the SDCBA’s mission, I am confident that our legal community will continue to grow and thrive. I look forward to all we will accomplish together.”

Kartchner graduated from University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 1998, and received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from California Western School of Law in 2002.

Michelle A. Gastil (born Hoskinson) has been elected to succeed Kartchner as President in 2025 and will serve as President-Elect in 2024. She previously served as the SDCBA's Treasurer. Gastil is currently Senior Staff Counsel at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Before joining DTSC in 2022, Gastil was a solo practitioner, handling consumer debt, business disputes, and environmental matters. Prior to solo practice, she was an associate attorney at two civil litigation law firms. She chaired a volunteer environmental task force from 2017-2019, and served on the board of a homeless advocacy nonprofit from 2011-2019. She currently serves on the board of the Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego. She is also raising two young children with her husband, Charles Gastil.

Current SDCBA President Melissa Johnson will serve as Immediate Past President in 2024.

Spencer Scott will serve as the 2024 Treasurer and Tatiana Kline will serve as the 2024 Secretary.

Additionally, Nicole D’Ambrogi, Sarah Garrick, Flavio Nominati, Stephanie Pengilley, and D. Elisabeth Silva have been elected by the SDCBA’s membership to serve three‐year terms on the Board. Leslie Abrigo, Michael L. Crowley, Jason Evans, Nicole Heeder, Brandon Kimura, Cynthia L. Stratton, Fanny Yu, and Timothy G. Williams will continue their service on the Board in 2024. The 2024 Chair of the Association’s New Lawyer Division, Elijah Gaglio, and the 2024 Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Division, Taneashia Morrell, will both serve a one‐year term on the Board.

The 2024 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 for the San Diego legal community, on December 1 at 5:30 p.m. This year’s event will be held at the US Grant Presidential Ballroom, 326 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101.

The San Diego County Bar Association, founded in 1899, is the region’s largest law-related organization. Its mission is to connect lawyers and support their success and fulfillment.