by Deirdre M. Kelly, Nikki Presley Miliband, Cathrine M. Castaldi, and Dean J. Zipser
Someone once said, “A man’s soul can be judged by the way he treats his dog.” A man is also defined by the way he treats his community and those around him.
This year’s Franklin G. West award winner, Joel S. Miliband, treats both with respect, kindness, and compassion. He is the ultimate volunteer and dedicated professional, having served as president of two different bar associations, the Orange County Bar Association and the Desert Bar Association (where he lived and practiced previously), and as Vice President of the California State Bar, to name just a few. He is known among OCBA staff and lawyers as someone who “never says no” when asked to lend a helping hand. Joel has spent countless hours serving others, mentoring new lawyers, and working to make life better for people who are underserved.
Ronald Reagan once said, “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” And a sentiment attributed to Satsuki Shibuya adds, “By doing what you love, you’ll inspire and awaken the hearts of others.” Joel loves the law, loves what he does, loves the Orange County legal community, and has certainly inspired many others to follow in his footsteps. This is why Joel exemplifies the Franklin G. West award and all for which it stands.
History of the Franklin G. West Award The Franklin G. West Award is the OCBA’s highest honor, presented to outstanding attorneys and judges whose lifetime achievements have advanced justice and the law. This annual recognition was established in memory of Judge Franklin G. West, who epitomized the best of the legal profession as both an attorney and a judge. Few members of our legal community have been so highly honored, but those who have, are individuals of great character and dedication to our profession and to the community. Franklin G. West was born in Santa Ana in 1896, was educated in Santa Ana schools, and was admitted to Stanford University Law School in 1915. His studies were interrupted by service in the U.S. Army during World War I, but he returned to Stanford where he earned his J.D. degree (then called an LL.B.) in 1923. After a brief practice in Los Angeles with his brother, he returned to Orange County and eventually followed in his father’s footsteps (who was an Orange County Superior Court Judge from 1902-1927 and one of the initial founders of our bar in 1901) to be elected to the Superior Court bench in 1938, where he served until retiring in 1965. He has been considered to be Orange County‘s “greatest” judge and as fine a legal scholar as this county has ever known. Always active and involved in community affairs, he was known to be a warm, friendly and delightful person with a fine sense of humor. He was appreciated as a sparkling and witty speaker. See Danni Murphy, The Second Decade: A Journey Back to the Future, Orange County Lawyer (March 2001), available at https://www.ocbar.org/About/History/Centennial-The-Second-Decade.
We can think of no one more deserving of this award this year than Joel S. Miliband.
Joel, the Lawyer Throughout the course of his OCBA presidency in 2000, Joel wrote columns that focused on professionalism, ethics, mentoring, and the importance of a moral compass that is “set and runs deep enough to sustain us through a process that will require all the moral authority and purity of motives we can muster.” Joel’s moral compass, along with his study of the law and fierce advocacy on behalf of clients, makes him an excellent lawyer.
Joel started his legal practice in San Diego at a pro bono legal clinic, where he immediately assumed the role of supervising attorney after passing the bar. In fact, Joel tried his first case in December 1977 within days of being sworn in. Joel’s first mentor, Victor Shupp, emphasized integrity, preparedness, and moral courage, and Joel took this advice to heart. In November 1978, Joel joined a small but powerful firm in Palm Springs led by James Schlecht, one of the premier real estate lawyers in the desert. Jim became Joel’s second mentor and remained so until Jim’s passing in 2015.
Joel’s ties to the desert, including serving as president of the local bar association, were deep. But in the early 1980s, Joel referred a client whom he had been representing in state court litigation to Ron Rus when one of the parties in that case filed a bankruptcy. Ron and Joel worked together on the matter and a great friendship and partnership was born. In 1990, Joel left the desert and joined Alvarado, Rus, & McClellan, a then premier business litigation firm in Orange County, and Joel and Ron have remained partners to this day. Ron says, “Joel is the classic ‘lawyer’s lawyer.’ I have so appreciated and relied on his sound judgment, first-rate lawyering skills, and friendship for more than thirty years.”
Joel’s influence at the firm—which would soon be known as Rus, Miliband & Smith (“RMS”)—was profound. From 1990 through 2013, RMS took on some of the most important business litigation cases in the county, including pursuing the successful dismissal of the Orange County bankruptcy cases and real estate litigation involving some of the premier sites in Irvine and Anaheim. Joel, along with his partners Ron and Randy Smith, was always at the center of these disputes. As a small boutique, RMS took pride in its ability to stand toe to toe with the toughest adversaries, and usually end up victorious.
In 2013, RMS combined with Brown Rudnick, an AmLaw 200 international firm based in Boston. It came as no surprise that a year later Joel would be tapped to serve as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for the firm. “As our General Counsel, Joel’s sound judgment has contributed greatly to our success,” said Bill Baldiga, CEO of Brown Rudnick. His practice has continued to flourish at Brown Rudnick where his clients rely on Joel to confidently helm their matters to a successful resolution.
Apart from Joel’s dedication to his clients, Joel’s role as a mentor may eclipse his courtroom work. As Higgins said in the hit AppleTV+ series “Ted Lasso,” “a good mentor hopes you will move on, a great mentor knows you will.” Appreciating the mentorship that was so important in shaping his career, Joel too became that mentor to others. Joel consistently looks for ways to make associates and partners better lawyers in practice and in the community. He encourages associates to take on leadership roles in bar and community organizations as part of their duty as lawyers. At present, nearly every lawyer in Brown Rudnick’s Orange County office serves on committees of the OCBA, the Federal Bar Association, the Public Law Center, the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association, or the Orange County Coalition for Diversity in the Law.
Joel, the Leader Joel has a very long list of professional organizations in which he has served and positions he has held—a list that continues to grow. That list is far too extensive for the word limit we’ve been given. Suffice it to say that Joel has been a leader in our profession for decades, including serving as president of the Orange County Bar Association in 2000, and the Desert Bar Association in 1988. Joel also has extensive involvement with the State Bar, serving in 2005 as its Vice President and three years on the then Board of Governors. Joel has also been a member of the Judicial Council of California and the California Committee of Bar Examiners. He was a member of and chaired the State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration Committee, and served three terms as the State Bar’s Presiding Arbitrator. He has been a board member of ABTL and editor of the ABTL Report, and a lawyer delegate to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, to name just a few other organizations he has helped.
But it is the OCBA where most know Joel best because there’s hardly a committee or task force assignment he hasn’t undertaken. And that’s because when we need someone we can count on to provide the skill, experience, and perspective necessary, we turn to Joel. He is asked because he has always been and continues to be a voice of logic and reason, who often spots issues that others miss. He is a “go to” person for tough problems that need a thoughtful—and perhaps delicate—decision and execution. Joel leads and serves, not for recognition or accolades, but to contribute and give back because he feels that it is the right thing to do.
Many, if not most, of Joel’s contributions are under the radar. While they may not be flashy or attention-grabbing, they are critical and long-lasting. For example, as a longtime member of the Finance Committee, Joel helped develop the OCBA’s Investment Policy, which still serves as a model for our current investment policy. While serving on the OCBA Board of Directors, Joel was instrumental in drafting the Purview Policy and later the OCBA’s Reserve Policy. While chair of LRIS—a position he held for many years—he established its Modest Means Program to help the underserved, and which won the ABA’s Louis M. Brown award for Legal Access. The list goes on and on. While Joel is often the quiet one at meetings, it is well known that when he speaks, there’s a reason, so people stop and listen.
Joel’s history of giving back embodies much more than his unparalleled service to the Bar. For example, from the beginning of his career, he has devoted time and resources to those less fortunate. Joel started his practice at a legal services organization providing pro bono legal services for urban Native Americans in the San Diego area and currently serves on the board and Executive Committee of the Public Law Center. In between, Joel has committed himself to helping people who are underserved and has enlisted countless others to join him.
Joel, the Man Joel’s story began in the Bronx where he was born, with his family moving to Paramus, New Jersey when he was a young boy. Joel’s maternal grandfather was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, who arrived ahead of the Russian Revolution. His paternal grandfather (Grandpa Phil) was also a Jewish immigrant, who came from Poland through Ellis Island just ahead of World War I. Grandpa Phil worked whatever jobs he could get to make ends meet, including playing the violin at the silent movies in New York City. One of Joel’s prized possessions today is Grandpa Phil’s violin. Grandpa Phil and Joel’s parents, Bernard and Miriam Miliband, were the guiding sources of Joel’s character, work ethic, and love of family and life. Joel’s father served in World War II, and assisted in the liberation of the concentration camps, which had a profound impact on him and how he raised his family. Joel’s mother was a kind and gentle person, who worked in business together for many years with Joel’s father, and who was an avid reader, instilling the love of books and learning in her son.
Joel left New Jersey for California at age seventeen to go to the University of California, Riverside (to which he was defaulted after UCLA had closed admissions to out-of-state students). He earned a double major in business economics and political science in just over three years, and attended law school at the University of San Diego. Joel began his practice of law in 1977 and has loved every day of it since.
It takes very little to get Joel to tell the story of how he met his wife, Nikki Miliband, also an attorney and 2018 OCBA President (the only couple so far who have both served as OCBA Presidents), but it simply doesn’t translate to words without his gestures, broad smile, and the gleam in his eye as he tells it. Suffice it to say that they met at an OCBA Resolutions Committee annual dinner at the then State Bar Annual Meeting in 1996 where Joel was participating in a mock debate to become Secretary of the OCBA. The rest, as they say, is history. For more than twenty-five years, Joel and Nikki have seldom missed an Orange County legal community event, and have been passionate supporters of the many pro bono and law-related charities in our community. They are also avid travelers and spend their spare time making lifelong memories with friends and family.
Joel has three children: Jennifer Perry, Wes Miliband, and Elizabeth Del Mar, along with two grandchildren, Dean and Raegan. Joel always has a sparkle in his eye when they are brought up in conversation. Joel’s son, Wesley, a highly regarded water lawyer in Sacramento, states this about his dad:
As his son and a lawyer, I could not be more proud than I am of my Dad. His fingerprint will remain ingrained within our profession for many years to come given his decades of contributions. More near and dear to me is his lasting effect on me starting at a young age by inspiring me to pursue a legal career without an ounce of pressure to do so. My inspiration arose from his genuine passion for the law, enthusiasm for advocacy, and his unyielding ethical and moral compass. I recall many times during my childhood and teen years when Dad would say to me, ‘I knew today would be a rough day, but I still walked away enjoying what I do.’ Those words have been a gift to me, as I’ve had my share of rough days in my practice, but I reset for the next day by reflecting on Dad’s words. Thank you, Dad, for your influence and mentorship.
Joel has had an amazing career, a loving family life, and is looking forward to giving back to the community and accomplishing much more in the future. As C.S. Lewis stated, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
Deirdre M. Kelly is Assistant Dean for Career Development at Western State College of Law. She is the OCBA Awards Chair and was OCBA President in 2019. Nikki Presley Miliband is a partner at Good Wildman and was OCBA President in 2018. Cathrine M. Castaldi is a partner at Brown Rudnick LLP and was OCBA President in 2008. Dean J. Zipser is a partner at Umberg Zipser and was OCBA President in 2005, and received the Franklin G. West award in 2016.