Board of Trustees

Ms. Steinhauser has served on the Board of Trustees since 1997 and as its President since 2002.  In addition to chairing Board Meetings, Ms. Steinhauser provides leadership on general library direction and guidance on monthly agenda items, Ms Steinhauser guided the library’s search for a new Director in 2005.  She helped establish the original Library’s Friends group, managed the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Library’s Main Building and it’s naming for Mildred L. Lillie, Justice, California Court of Appeals.  She continues to serve as an essential link between the Friends of the LA Law Library and the Board of Trustees.  

Ms. Steinhauser serves on the Library of California Board and chairs its Legislation Committee.  She has a distinguished record of public service.  She has served as President of the Los Angeles City Fire and Police Pension System Board.  She is the founding Co-Chair and Past President of the Los Angeles Women’s Appointment Collaboration, a non-partisan coalition that supports women seeking appointed office.  She has lectured widely on the appointment process.  She is also a Charter Founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Foundation and an active member of Women Lawyers of Los Angeles.  Ms. Steinhauser is a strong supporter of education and the arts.

Judge Pluim was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1991.  Prior to his appointment in 1991, Pluim served as principal deputy county counsel, specializing in litigation.  He also acted as a legal advisor to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County Retirement Association.

In addition to serving as a library trustee, Pluim is a member of the California Judges Association.

Judge Goetz was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court on February 18, 2010. Prior to her appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Goetz served as a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner from 2000 until 2010. Judge Goetz was a Municipal Court Commissioner, elected by judges of the Municipal Court in 1991; prosecutor in the Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney’s office major fraud unit from 1984-1991 and a sole practitioner, Los Angeles, from 1983-1984.

Judge Goetz earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Whittier School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Judge Jones was appointed to the Superior Court in October, 2001. She currently presides over complex civil matters at the Central Civil West Courthouse. Prior to her appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Jones served as a United State Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California (1997-2001).

Following graduation from UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and a federal clerk appointment to the Hon. Eugene Lynch, Judge Jones was first an associate and later a partner at Blecher & Collins, a private firm specializing in complex antitrust, intellectual property and other commercial litigation. She has been an adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law at both Loyola Marymount University, School of Law and Pepperdine University, School of Law.

Judge Juhas earned his law degree from the University of Puget Sound School of Law in Tacoma, Washington which was later acquired by Seattle University. He was a clerk for a firm in Tacoma then became a personal-injury defense attorney for the Los Angeles firm Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow and Cantor. He was an associate when he started in 1979 and became a partner in 1985. He worked there until being appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2002.

Mr. Klein joined the Los Angeles office of Jenner & Block LLP in 2011. Prior to joining Jenner & Block he was with Hogan & Hartson, now Hogan Lovells.  As a trial lawyer specializing in complex business litigation, Mr. Klein has served as lead counsel in a wide range of cases in both federal and state courts.  Previously, he was a partner at Riordan & McKinzie, where he chaired its litigation department. 

Mr. Klein writes frequently for the Los Angeles Daily Journal on litigation and trial techniques.

Judge Lavin was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2001. Prior to his appointment, Judge Lavin was the director of enforcement and general counsel of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission from 1999-2001; trial attorney for the US Department of Justice, civil rights division from 1995-1999; associate general counsel for the Director’s Guild of America from 1992-1995. He worked in the Massachusetts attorney general’s office as a trial attorney from 1990-1992 and was in private practice in San Francisco and Boston from 1985 thru 1990. Judge Lavin received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1981.