December 6, 2023 Dinner Meeting and Team Presentation

At the December 6, 2023 Dinner Meeting, President of the Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, Attorney Stefanie Field, welcomed all new and returning members to the Inn. The meeting was held at our regular location, Canyon Crest Country Club, and was preceded with a social where the members mingled.

Stefanie introduced the Inn’s new Executive Director, Thelma Collins, who is a retired judicial secretary with the Riverside Superior Court. Stefanie reminded Inn members to check their emails, sent via the Inn Management System (IMS) to reply to a specific email address (Thelma’s) with your RSVP and meal selection. Please don’t “reply” to the original message because our emails are generated from IMS!

Stefanie announced the winning team of The Leo A. Deegan Best Team Presentation Award for the 2022-2023 Program Year, which was Team Dolly Parton (Community Service Team). The team members are Hon. Randall Stamen (Judicial Master), Diana Renteria (Attorney Master), Mary Reyna (Attorney Master), Matthew Kraus (Barrister), Dani Mouri (Barrister), Kimberly Prendergast (Barrister), Michelanne Hrubic (Associate) and Dawn Saenz (Associate). Congratulations Team Dolly Parton! Hon. Randall Stamen was present to accept the award on his team’s behalf.

Stefanie announced the winner of The Leo A. Deegan Award for Outstanding Jurist for the 2022-2023 Program Year. Normally, these are announced at the final meeting of the program year of the award, but due to delays and schedules, it was not announced until tonight. Hon. Mac Fisher was posthumously named the recipient of the award and his widow, Gretchen, was on hand to receive this honor.

Hon. Mac Fisher (August 26, 1952 – July 15, 2022). Judge of the Riverside Superior Court from 2007 - 2022.

Hon. Randall Stamen and Gretchen Fisher, widow of Hon. Mac Fischer

After the presentation of the awards, the team presentation began. Team Yada Yada Yada, led by Hon. Joshlyn Pulliam, introduced the team members and shared a tidbit about each team member’s favorite holiday snacks.

The team showed scenes from various sitcoms, including “All In The Family” and “Night Court.”

The five other teams were assigned holiday icons, to play a game to catch Santa Claus and answered trivia questions based upon the scenes from the sitcoms and the law, including the ADA, The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, The Civil Rights Act, and other areas of civil law. These holiday icons included a reindeer resembling Rudolph, a Snowman resembling Frosty, a penguin, hot cocoa, and a Gingerbread Man.

The winning team - Team Reindeer - won lottery scratchers after getting 9 spaces toward Santa. The other losing teams were not too far behind, with 5-7 spaces toward Santa.

After the team presentation concluded, President Stefanie Field had a few more reminders for Inn Members as follows:

Riverside County Bar Association continues to seek Money Elves to donate funds towards purchasing holiday gifts, Shopping Elves to spend the donated funds to purchase holiday gifts, Wrapping Elves to wrap the purchased gifts, and Delivery Elves to deliver the purchased gifts. Contact RCBA for further details;
The Joint Inn Meeting of the Inland Empire Chapters of the American Inns of Court will be held on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at the Riverside Superior Court - Historic Courthouse. Our keynote speaker will be motivational speaker Jeff Barnes.
If any member is interested in being part of the committee to plan the joint Inn meeting, please contact Stefanie

Happy Holidays!