The American College of Trial Lawyers has added 15 California attorneys to its ranks.

The honorees include big-firm stalwarts, founders of smaller firms, a sole practitioner and a top San Diego County prosecutor.

The college of trial lawyers, which limits its membership to no more than 1 percent of practicing attorneys, generally inducts new members twice a year.

"For the average attorney put up for membership, it's a three-year process as [the college talks] to judges you've appeared before and opposing counsel from cases you've worked," says David G. Moore of Reid & Hellyer in Riverside.

"It's probably the most significant thing in a career I've been proud of," Moore says. "It means you have ethics and courtesy, and that your opponents feel you don't cut corners to achieve a result."

The college, founded in 1950, has a current membership of 5,500, including attorneys in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

"I feel quite privileged to join such a distinguished group of lawyers. There aren't many women trial lawyers and it makes for an interesting career path," says new inductee Christine Byrd, a Los Angeles Irell & Manella partner who practices commercial litigation.

Jim Emerson, a partner of Emerson, Corey and Barsotti in Fresno, considers himself a different sort of pioneer. Emerson estimates that the state's Central Valley has 1,500 active attorneys, yet he's only the seventh tapped to join the organization.

"I still get nervous every time I go into a trial. It's a serious business and I'm trying cases that sometimes involve wrongful death and serious injuries, and you don't win them all," says Emerson, who has practiced insurance law since the mid-1970's.

Byrd, Emerson and Moore each were inducted into the trial lawyers college at the group's spring meeting, held last month in Phoenix. The other new California members are:

• James R. Asperger, a Los Angeles partner at O'Melveny & Myers
• Mark E. Beck, a Los Angeles partner of Beck, DeCorso, Daly, Kreindler & Harris
• Donald W. Carlson, a member of Carlson, Calladine & Peterson in San Francisco
• Charles R. Grebing, a member of Wingert Grebing Brubaker & Ryan in San Diego
• Bob L. Grimes, a member of Grimes & Warwick in San Diego
• Daniel G. Lamborn, a deputy district attorney in the San Diego District Attorney's office
• Mark E. Minyard, managing partner of Minyard & Morris in Orange
• Robert A. Morgenstern, a Sherman Oaks solo
• Pierce O'Donnell, a partner in O'Donnell & Shaeffer in Los Angeles
• Brian J. O'Neill, a Los Angeles partner with Jones Day
• Mark P. Robinson Jr., a member of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson in Newport Beach

The College also inducted Greg M. Hulbert, though he joined separately during the group's Annual Meeting in November.

"I was thrilled to hear about the ACTL; at first I thought they contacted the wrong Greg Hulbert and I was stunned to learn that I measured up to their standards," says Hulbert, a Long Beach-based partner with Carroll, Kelly, Trotter, Franzen & McKenna. "It's a big privilege, like a ball player getting tapped for the big leagues."

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