December 3, 2025 Dinner Meeting and Team Presentation

At the December 3, 2025 Dinner Meeting, President of the Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court (“Deegan Inn”), Gabriel “Gabe” White, welcomed all new and returning members to the Inn. The meeting was held at our regular location, Loft 84, and was preceded with a social where the members mingled.

Gabe reminded Inn members that the Deegan Inn is always looking for new members to join, in any area of law. The Deegan Inn has a budget to cover meals for any interested potential members so please feel free to invite an attorney you think would be interested in joining the Deegan Inn. Please email Gabe for additional information.

The Family Law Chamber Chats will held on January 21, 2026 in Department F501 of the Riverside Superior Court, Family Law Division. Please RSVP once the invitation is sent.

Gabe introduced Emeritus Member L. Alexandra Fong to speak about Project Graduate, an official, philanthropic program of Riverside County Bar Foundation (the charitable arm of Riverside County Bar Association). Project Graduate works in collaboration with the Riverside Superior Court and Riverside County’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) to assist foster youth to graduate high school, to continue their education beyond high school, and to plan for a successful future. Project Graduate is seeking educational representatives - responsible adults to be appointed the educational rights holder of struggling foster students in high school. Please contact Ms. Fong if you are interested in helping these students graduate from high school. Deegan Inn members who were educational representatives include Hon. Malvina Ovanezova and Hon. Matthew Forsse. Due to their election to the bench, these bench officers cannot continue as educational representatives. Deegan Inn Members who are currently serving as educational representatives include Mary Reyna, Maryann Briseno, Alejandro “Alex” Barraza, and Jeremy Roark.

Hon. Matthew Forsse introduced Team Journi, which consists of Hon. Matthew Forsse, Matthew Kraus, Michael Geller, Diane Mar Wiesmann, Kamola Gray, Christina Godbey, Michelanne Hrubic, and Shane Duncombe. Each team member introduced their favorite children’s book before launching into their presentation, based upon various novels by Eric Carle.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar led to the discussion of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Risks and Challenges facing attorneys when dealing with AI, Tools, and California State Bar Guidelines.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? led to a discussion about Courtroom Do’s and Don’ts.

The Grouchy Ladybug led to a discussion about Civility for the Attorney Dealing with the Grouchy Attorney. The presentation discussed the California Rules of Professional Conduct and Riverside County Bar Association’s Guidelines of Civility and Professionalism.

Several quizzes (questions) were asked of audience members, to see if they could remember what had been discussed. Barnes & Noble Gift Cards were handed out to those who provided the correct answers.

Each of these three novels were placed on each team’s table and Deegan Inn members were free to collect a book.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Deegan Inn members were invited to score the presentation from a ranking of 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The team and winning presentation will be announced at the September 2026 Orientation Meeting.