School Board President Named Super Lawyer

Bruce Shepherd, Coronado's school board president, was named one of the 50 best lawyers in San Diego County by a well regarded rating service.

Coronado residents Barbara Borden, Ken Fitzgerald and Ginny Nelson also made the annual list complied by Super Lawyers.

Shepherd greeted the news with modesty: “I am of course pleased to receive this positive recognition, but I’m also aware that there is a material dose of subjectivity involved in these types of lists, so I take it with a healthy grain of salt.”

This is not the first time Shepherd has been so honored. A number of local and regional publications, including San Diego Magazine, the San Diego Daily Transcript and the Los Angeles Daily Journal have also named him as a top lawyer.

In a county were there are 15,000 attorneys, according Laura Ernde, a spokesperson for the California State Bar, being singled out is a major achievement.

Shepherd is a partner at Latham & Watkins, where he focuses on real estate development and finance.

He joined the firm 1984 after earning both a MBA and JD from the University of California the previous year. He became a partner in 1991. 

His ranking on other lists was for his work as a real estate attorney.

“This is the first time that I have been included in an overall top San Diego attorney’s list,” he said.

The other selection he is “most proud of was being named among the 20 top California real estate dealmaker attorneys by the Los Angeles Daily Journal," Shepherd said.

Super Lawyers was launched in 1991 by Minneapolis-based Law and Politics, said Megan Gustafson, a spokeswoman for Thompson Reuters. From there it evolved into a national service that ranks attorneys across who have “attained high peer recognition, meet ethical standards, and have demonstrated some degree of achievement in their field.” 

No more than 5 percent of the lawyers in a given region are included on the list after a extensive selection process by peers and a committee.

Lawyering is not the only criterion. Community service is also important. 

Shepherd has been active in the community since moving here in 1994. He has served two terms on the school board, 1998-2002 and 2006 to the present. He also served on the board of the Coronado Schools Foundation and coached Little League for 13 years.

It is work on behalf on Coronado schools that Shepherd most cherishes.

“You sit on the board of a lot of organizations and just spin your wheels,” he said. “Here [school board] I’m making a real difference.”