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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
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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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)