2 Lawyers Urged for Federal Bench : Courts: L.A. attorneys Dean Pregerson and Margaret Morrow win Sen. Boxer’s recommendation for upcoming vacancies.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced Friday that she has recommended to President Clinton that he appoint Los Angeles lawyers Dean Pregerson and Margaret Morrow for two upcoming vacancies as federal district judges.

Boxer praised Pregerson, the son of Federal Appeals Court Judge Harry Pregerson, and Morrow, former president of the State Bar of California, as outstanding individuals.

“Each possesses tremendous experience as an attorney, a record of exceptional professional service and a deep commitment to fairness and equality that qualifies them to serve the people of California with great distinction,” Boxer said.

In the coming months, several openings are expected on the bench in the Central District of California, which ranges from San Bernardino to Santa Barbara. Recommendations for the positions will be made alternately by Boxer and her colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Boxer recommended Pregerson for the first vacancy, which will occur when U.S. District Judge Wallace Tashima is elevated to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, or when a sitting federal trial judge takes senior status in January, 1996. By the start of the year, there will be several judges eligible to assume such status and a lightened case load.

Boxer said she is hopeful that her early recommendations of Pregerson and Morrow would expedite their confirmations once vacancies are announced. It is possible that both of these candidates could get held up if the confirmation process stalls next year as is typical in presidential election years.

Morrow, 45, graduated with honors from Bryn Mawr College and Harvard Law School. She has spent her entire career in Los Angeles, specializing in business litigation and appellate work. Her law partner Jack Quinn heads Boxer’s screening committee for federal judges in Los Angeles.

From 1993 to 1994, Morrow was the first woman president of the State Bar of California. During her term, the bar reviewed its system for scrutinizing miscreant attorneys, paving the way for what Morrow called “some very significant changes in the structure and operation of the disciplinary system.”

Previously, she served as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. and was on the Commission that drafted an Ethics Code for the Los Angeles city government in 1990.

“I’m honored that Sen. Boxer has selected me as one of the individuals for a district judgeship,” Morrow said. “Being a federal district judge is public service at its highest and public service is something to which I’d like to devote all my energy,” said the Pasadena resident, whose husband, Paul Boland, is a highly respected Superior Court judge.

Pregerson, 44, is a graduate of UCLA and UC Davis Law School. After finishing his legal studies, Pregerson spent a year as a parole hearing officer for the state Department of Corrections and two years as a public defender in Guam. He has been in private practice here since 1979, specializing in civil litigation.

He also has been involved in a wide range of civic activities, serving as president of the Los Angeles Recreation and Park Commission, a member of the Coliseum Commission and a board member of Bet Tzedek Legal Services and the Salvation Army Bell Homeless Shelter.

“It’s a great honor,” Pregerson said of Boxer’s announcement. “My heart has always been in public service. I grew up in an environment that always stressed helping others. I feel a dream has been fulfilled and I look upon it as an opportunity to work hard and do my best to make the court process a fair and humane process,” Pregerson added.