Message from the President - October 2025

Dear fellow ABOTA members,

Over the past three months, the Orange County Chapter has been a very active ABOTA chapter, one of those most active in the country. 

On September 30, 2025, myself, Deborah Tropp-Thompson, our ABOTA Foundation President and president-elect of our chapter, Ret. Judge Linda Marks, a past president of our chapter, had the honor of speaking at the Orange County Superior Courts/OC ABOTA/ ABOTA Foundation/Orange County Department of Education Teacher’s Law School (“TLS”). Our chapter has been not only a monetary beneficiary to the TLS for years but also actively participates in putting the program together every year. This year we had over 40 teachers from Orange County who gave up their day to attend this wonderful program. 2025 Assistant Presiding Judge Sheila Hanson, who will be the presiding judge in 2026, began the morning with an introduction of the program.

Our chapter sponsored speakers Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy, of the Nick & Hannah Civics 101 podcast, who presented on the importance of civics, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in schools to the teachers, who were absolutely enthralled, as were we, with their presentation.

We’re proud to support the Court’s, the ABOTA Foundation’s and the Orange County Department of Education’s in their efforts in promoting the importance of civics, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary to our middle school and high school students throughout Orange County.

 Several of our board members and members attended and participated in the ABOTA National Fall Conference in Austin, October 1-5, 2025. Keith More, Deborah Tropp, and Pam Traut participated as moderators on panels discussing the life and triumphs of Vince Young, the Next Gen Jury Summit, and the ABOTA Foundation to over 300 members.    

At the Conference, William Shapiro, ABOTA’s incoming 2026 President, selected our Chapter members, Yoshi Kubota, Eric Traut, Pam Traut, and Deborah Tropp as part of his appointed ABOTA 2026 National Officers. Our Chapter is also serving as a proud sponsor of Bill’s and ABOTA’s 2026 National ABOTA Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference in Newport Beach, January 15-18, 2026, at the Pendry Hotel. Don’t forget to register for it and make our chapter proud.

On October 15, 2025, we hosted our Annual Judges Night Dinner at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach. We had over 170 rsvp’s and over 160 attendees. We had over 15 judges and four appellate court justices attend, as well as numerous retired judges and appellate court justices. We were honored to present our George Francis Civility award to Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez and our Trial Judge of the Year award to Judge Deborah Servino. We also presented plaques to several of our new members who became ABOTA members in 2025. You can also view the photographs of the entire night at the OC ABOTA website, www.ocabota.org.

Our own Keith More has been selected as the CAL-ABOTA Community Service award recipient. He is most deserving of this award for all he does not only in the legal community and ABOTA, but the local community.

Juan C. Delgado

President | Orange County ABOTA