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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

‘Trial of the Century’ Comes Every 10 Years

A book written by tax attorney Mark Phillips along with his daughter Aryn Phillips about landmark murder investigations has garnered positive reviews. “Trials of the Century: A Decade-by-Decade Look at Ten of America’s Most Sensational Crimes” explores the 20th century through famous murder trials that caught national attention at the time. The book begins with the murder of New York architect Stanford White and ends with the double homicide of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. “It tells the story of America, its media and fascination with crime,” said Mark Phillips of Encino law firm Goldfarb, Sturman & Averbach. The authors were inspired by one of their favorite musicals, “Ragtime.” In the play, Evelyn Nesbit sings about the murder of her lover Stanford White by her millionaire husband Harry Kendall Thaw in the song “Crime of the Century.” That got the Phillips duo thinking about why some murders have earned the century nickname, as many did throughout the 1900s. “We started talking about how often the media feeds us these trials of the century,” Phillips said. “It was only 1906 (the year of Stanford White’s murder), and editors already decided it was the trial of the century. There were still 94 years left.” Both authors independently wrote five chapters each, which were compiled into a 100-year review of crime sensationalism. “Trials of the Century” was released over the summer by Amherst, N.Y.-based Prometheus Books and is available in bookstores and online. The list price on Amazon.com is $12.59. State-of-the-Art Space Appellate litigation firm Horvitz & Levy has moved into new office space in Burbank’s media district from Encino, where the firm practiced for nearly 60 years. The new offices at 3601 W. Olive Ave. are about 20,000 square feet and include such features as collaborative working space and a moot courtroom, where lawyers can practice oral arguments and questioning clients in a realistic setting. In fact, the setting is so realistic that the firm even has the 10-foot study Willard Dixon painted of the Sierra Mountains, which hangs as a 40-foot mural in the California Supreme Court above the justices’ bench. “Many of our lawyers have already utilized the moot courtroom in a number of oral arguments we had,” said Partner Jeremy Rosen. “We also put in state-of-the-art video conferencing, so clients across the country can participate in moot court even though they are not physically here.” Rosen said Horvitz & Levy was drawn to the space because it was a newer first-class building and because the firm was able to design the space to fit its needs. He also mentioned that the location is better as it is closer to downtown Los Angeles and many of the firm’s entertainment clients. “Our future is to continue providing the best appellate representation in the 9th Circuit of the California Appellate Court,” Rosen said. “I think our new space is going to help continue that.” Bar Association President Erik Feingold is the new Ventura County Bar Association president for the upcoming year. In his new position, he hopes “to maintain the visibility of the nonprofit organization as something that can be of service to the community” as well as continue a free legal clinic which was started by his predecessor. Ventura County Legal Aid is a service available three times a month at the Ventura County Law Library. It offers volunteer lawyers in the fields of family, landlord/tenant and criminal law to provide free legal advice to those who meet the income criteria. “I would like to make it even more readily available and explore ways to do that through social media and a potential app that can be used for landlord/tenant consultations in particular,” Feingold said. Feingold is a partner at Ventura-based Myers, Widders, Gibson, Jones and Feingold, which also has offices in Thousand Oaks and Valencia, as well as others in California and Nevada. The Ventura County Bar Association has 1,227 members. Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].

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