Superior Court Judge Zaven Sinanian spoke on campus Wednesday
night, sharing with the UCLA community his insights into the
responsibility of working in the judicial system.
The event held by the UCLA Armenian Graduate Students
Association and the UCLA Student Bar Association drew a small
audience at the School of Law, creating an intimate setting that
allowed students a chance to ask questions and meet the judge.
Gov. Gray Davis appointed Sinanian to the Los Angeles County
Superior Court in June 2002. Sinanian’s past duties include
serving as a deputy attorney general and representing clients in
both civil and criminal courts. Sinanian is a founding member and
former president of the Armenian Bar Association.
Sinanian, who stressed the importance of not forgetting
one’s roots, travelled to Armenia in 1992 to participate in
the newly-independent republic’s nation-building process.
Haig Hovsepian, executive officer of AGSA and one of the
event’s organizers, said Sinanian was chosen to speak in part
to highlight the judge’s recent appointment and in part to
provide students with a chance to benefit from Sinanian’s
career experiences.
Hovsepian said he felt that it was important to provide role
models from all sectors of the community for Armenian students and
all UCLA students.
“I never imagined that someday I could reach the heights I
have reached today,” said Sinanian, speaking about his
career.
He reminded students of the value of diligence and education in
life.
Emphasizing experience as the best way to make the connections
necessary to begin a career, regardless of how low the position
held, Sinanian told students to just “go out and do
it.”
By sharing his own understanding of being an attorney, Sinanian
said he wanted to dispel the myth of the lawyer as an occupation
for people who just want money. As both an objective problem-solver
and a subjective advocate, an attorney, said Sinanian, needs to
love the profession and maintain a level of respectability.
“Reputation,” Sinanian said, “is the most
important thing you have as a lawyer.”
A judge’s duty, said Sinanian, is to uphold the integrity
and independence of the court. He said the fundamental difference
between the two occupations of attorney and judge is that a judge
is not an advocate and is, instead, an impartial arbitrator.
A central theme in Sinanian’s speech was the idea of using
public service as a channel to help others.
“Public service (is) a satisfying way of realizing
you’ve helped people that need your help,” he said.
Sinanian reminisced about a visit he once paid to a 93-year-old
relative, a survivor of genocide. When told that Sinanian was
contemplating a career as a judge, the relative told him a career
as a judge could be used to change people’s lives for the
better, and people should do good in the short time they are given
to live.
Sinanian said judges are encouraged to be involved in their
communities, and he cited talking to immigrant communities, whose
members may not be familiar with the law, about the importance of
serving on a jury.
Sinanian hails from the Middle Eastern country of Cyprus,
located south of Turkey, and immigrated to the United States after
Turkey invaded the island in September 1974.
Varand Vartanian, a UCLA alumnus who is now a graduate student
at the University of Southern California, attended the event and
said Sinanian was a sound choice for a speaker and a good
representative of judges in general.
“He’s a role model. Someone to look up to,”
said Vartanian.