Recognizing Judge Mark Juhas for His Eight Years as Access Commission Chair

On June 30, the tenure of the longest-serving Chair of the California Access to Justice Commission came to a close. His successor as Chair is Catherine Blakemore, and the new Vice-Chair is Associate Justice Gail Ruderman Feuer of the California Court of Appeal, Second District.  

Judge Mark Juhas began as Chair in 2015.  He has overseen significant work by the Access Commission.  He chaired the Modest Means Committee and, along with Justice Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court, led the efforts to create the Access Commission’s Incubator Project.  He spent many hours working on the Access Commission’s practice guide, “How To Grow Your Practice By Representing Moderate Income Clients In California.”  During his tenure, the Access Commission’s Rural Access Committee published six policy research papers on access to justice for rural Californians and an Issue Brief, Civil Right To Counsel In Eviction Cases.  He was Chair during the creation of the Infrastructure and Innovation Grants program, now in its third year. 

Judge Juhas has been the perfect leader during a time of transition for the Access Commission.  In 2018 and 2019, he steered the Access Commission through its change from a sub-entity sponsored and staffed by the State Bar of California to its current form as an independent nonprofit recognized in California law.  He has worked hard – spending time in CalATJ every week for the past four years.  As his time as Chair came to a close, the Access Commission issued a new Strategic Plan under his leadership, along with committee co-chairs Judge Timothy Dillon and Amos Hartston. 

He believes strongly in the importance of expanding access to justice and the important role the Access Commission, with its diverse stakeholders, can play in advancing this outcome. His long tenure is understandable, given his openness to the ideas of others, self-deprecating humor, and excellent judgment.  Commissioners are very familiar with Judge Juhas saying, “I’m just one vote, but for what it’s worth . . .” followed by insight and wisdom about what to do.

Judge Juhas is an outstanding leader in many other ways.  After over twenty years with  Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow & Canter, he has served for over twenty years as a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, including long service in a general family law assignment.  He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School and a nationally-renowned judicial educator on family law, regularly teaching for, among others, the Los Angeles Superior Court’s education program, the Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER), and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.  He is a member of the CJER’s Governing Committee, its Family and Juvenile Advisory Committee, and he chairs the Family Law Curriculum Design committee.  He also served on the Judicial Council’s Elkins Family Law Implementation Task Force. 

Beyond family law, he is a leader of efforts to better serve self-represented litigants.  He is one of the three-member Project Advisory Board  of the Self-Represented Litigation Network; and he served on CJER’s Represented Litigant Task Force.

He is a member of several committees of the Los Angeles Superior Court and has chaired the Court’s Access and Fairness Committee. He has been a member of the American Bar Association’s prestigious Standing committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants. 

Finally, we are happy to say that Judge Juhas is not disappearing from the Access Commission.  He will continue, serving as Chair of the new Governance Committee formed as a result of the Strategic Plan he helped to create.