Oversight
Committee
As part of the agreement between the San Diego District Attorney’s
Office and USD that established EPIC, an Oversight Committee oversees EPIC
activities, provides assistance, and assures compliance with the terms of
its purposes and of the Agreement between the San Diego District Attorney
and USD. The Oversight Committee comprises 7 members: (1) a “Liaison
Appointee” of the District Attorney (Chair), three (2,3,4) appointees
of the Dean of the School of Law, (5) a representative of the Office of Attorney
General (San Diego/LA Office), (6) a community representative, and (7) a
consumer or environmental representative.
The current members of the
EPIC Oversight Committee, their affiliation, the appointing organization
are listed alphabetically below.
| Member |
Affiliation |
Committee Position |
| Ken Alex |
Office of the Attorney General
(CA) |
CA Attorney General |
| Dixon Arnett |
Private Consultant |
Community Representative |
| Robert Fellmeth |
Center for Public Interest Law
(USD) |
USD School of Law Dean Appointee |
| John Leslie |
Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps |
USD School of Law Dean Appointee |
| John Massucco |
SD District Attorney's Office |
USD School of Law Dean Appointee |
| Hallen Rosner |
Rosner, Law & Mansfield |
Consumer Representative |
| Anthony Samson (chair) |
SD District Attorney's Office |
San Diego District Attorney
Liaison Appointee |
Ken Alex
Ken Alex is a supervising deputy attorney general in the environment section
of the California Attorney General's Office. In addition, for the past
five years, Ken has been working on the energy task force, investigating
price and supply issues related to California's energy crisis. He has handled
cases under most federal and state environmental statutes, and has negotiated
some of the country's largest environmental and energy settlements. Ken
represents the State of California in the public nuisance action filed
against power companies for emission of CO2 and for global warming.
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 1983
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Dixon Arnett
Dixon Arnett has completed more than 30 years of public service. He
began his career at the age 30 when he was elected to the city council of
Redwood City, CA. After two years as a councilman and after leaving
his post as director of community affairs at Stanford University (from which
he graduated in 1960), Arnett was elected, and re-elected, to four terms
as a California state assemblyman, representing southern San Mateo County.
During his tenure, he served on education, health and welfare committees.
Later, Arnett was vice president for public affairs at Claremont McKenna
College, then served six years at the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (three years a deputy under-secretary), served as legislative director
to then-U.S. Senator Pete Wilson and had his own consulting business in Washington,
D.C.
Arnett completed his public service in the administration of Gov. Pete
Wilson as executive director of the Medical Board of California and as director
of the California Department of Aging.
Since "retirement," Arnett
has written or co-written three books -- a memoir, a political commentary
on presidential politics, and a book on independent living for the nation's
elders. The last, "The Wisdom
to Choose," is to be published in January 2002. Arnett now teaches as
an adjunct professor of Gerontology at San Diego State University.
- B.A., Stanford University (1960)
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Robert Fellmeth
Professor Fellmeth is Price Professor of Public Interest Law at the USD School
of Law. He joined the faculty in 1977 after a career in public interest
law. From 1968 to 1973, he was an attorney with the Center for the Study
of Responsive Law in Washington, D.C., and was one of the original "Nader's
Raiders." He then served as a deputy district attorney for San Diego
County and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Department of Justice in San
Diego. In 1980, he founded USD's Center for Public Interest Law, and in 1989,
he founded the Children's Advocacy Institute. He teaches and writes in the
areas of children's rights and regulatory, antitrust and consumer law. Among
his 14 books are California White Collar Crime (Michie) (with T. Papageorge)
and Child Rights and Remedies (Clarity Press). He is the former California
State Bar discipline monitor and chairs the board of the Public Citizen Foundation
in Washington, D.C. He also chairs the Maternal and Child Health Access Foundation,
serves on the Boards of the National Association of Counsel for Children
and First Star, and is counsel to the Board of Voices for America's Children.
- A.B., 1967, Stanford University
- J.D., 1970, Harvard University
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John Leslie
Mr. Leslie is partner of Luce Forward’s San Diego office and specializes
in energy regulatory litigation and utility / administrative law. His
expertise is in the areas of natural gas and electricity regulation. He
represents producers, consumers and marketers of energy, including cogeneration
interests, in proceedings before state and federal agencies. Mr. Leslie
also develops natural gas and electricity sales contracts for the purchase
and sale of energy, as well as energy facilities and management agreements. Mr.
Leslie is a member of the Luce Forward’s Executive Committee. Prior
to joining Luce Forward, he worked in Washington D.C. for Baker and Botts
and taught a legal research and writing course at USD School of Law for one
semester. His educational credentials follow.
- J.D., University of North Carolina, With Honors, Order of the Coif
- B.A., Gettysburg College, Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa)
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John Massucco
Mr. Massucco is the Chief Deputy District Attorney in the office of the San
Diego County District Attorney. In this capacity, he oversees the Economic
Crimes Division, which includes Consumer Protection and Real Estate Units,
Public Assistance Fraud, Computer and Technology Crime High Tech Response
Team, and the Insurance Fraud Division, which includes the Workers' Compensation
and Premium Fraud Units, Auto Insurance Fraud Unit, Organized Auto Fraud
Activity Interdiction Program and the Regional Auto Theft Task Force (RATT).
Massucco joined the DA's Office in 1970.
- J.D., USD School of Law (1970)
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Hallen Rosner
Hallen D. Rosner founded the firm Hallen, Law & Mansfield in 1985 and
has litigated consumer protection matters for over 22 years. He is responsible
for a number of outstanding recoveries and has obtained multiple jury verdicts
that exceeded $1 million each. His most recent case--Thompson v. 10,000 RV
Sales--and the appeal he later won is widely acknowledged as one of the most
significant cases in the country involving consumer rights in vehicle cases.
His most recent class action settlement, meanwhile, offers consumers in 47
states refunds for brake jobs on specified Kia vehicles. Mr. Rosner worked
with the Attorney General’s Office to obtain a record-setting $27 million
settlement with Pacific Bell. Starting with his own Lemon Law matter in 1982
while still a law student, he has devoted his career to consumer protection
and advocacy.
As a student at USD School of Law, he was a member of the Law
Review and a representative of the Regional Moot Court. While attending law
school, Mr. Rosner handled his first consumer fraud and Lemon Law case as
an intern for Professor Robert Fellmeth at the Center for Public Interest
Law. Based
on the success of his first case, Mr. Rosner continued to handle consumer
fraud and Lemon Law matters, working with Prof. Fellmeth before and after
graduation from law school.
Mr. Rosner has served as a state Lemon Law conference
moderator and has given numerous presentations regarding consumer rights
and warranty law, including a recent presentation at the National Consumer
Law Conference. His firm helped host the 2005 regional auto fraud conference
for the National Association of Consumer Advocates, where Mr. Rosner was
a featured speaker. Mr. Rosner has also appeared before a state Senate subcommittee,
and provides opinions on consumer legislation to legislators.
- B.A., University of California, Berkeley, Rhetoric and Economics, 1980
- J.D. University of San Diego School of Law, 1983
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Anthony Samson (chair)
Anthony Samson is a retired San Diego deputy district attorney and former
chief of the Fraud Division. He is presently working in the fraud division
of the D.A.’s office on a special assignment. He joined the DA’s
office in 1970. In 1997, he served as a Special United States Attorney. He
was on the interim Board of Directors for the Utility Consumer Action Network
as well as the following Executive Committees for the State Bar of California:
the Real Property Section, the Business Law Section and the Antitrust and
Trade Regulation Section. He was Chairman of the Telecommunications Education
Trust established by the California Public Utilities Commission. Samson also
teaches real estate law at the University of San Diego.
- B.A., Economics and Political Science
- J.D., UCLA (1968)
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