PARTNERS: 

                   MARINA R. DINI

Marina R. Dini is a graduate of the Whittier College School of Law (JD, 1992) and the University of Southern California (BA, 1987), with majors in International Relations and Humanities (Italian).

Ms. Dini has been a member of the California State Bar since 1993 and a member of the California Department of Real Estate since 2004.   

She is also a member of the Leo A. Deegan American Inn of Court, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Riverside County Bar Association, San Bernardino County Bar Association, San Joaquin County Bar Association, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA), and the Italian American Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (IALAL).

Ms. Dini also serves as an Administrative Hearing Officer (AHO) for the City of Stockton. Since 2005, she has served as an Arbitrator for the Los Angeles County Bar Association Attorney-Client Mediation and Arbitration Services Program. Since 2001, she has been an Attorney Volunteer at the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law in Los Angeles. She also served as a mentor in the 2004 Parolee Mentor Program.

Among her awards is her receipt of the Stephen Donaldson Award, "For Helping Raise Public Awareness To Halt The Sexual Torture of Men, Women & Children in U.S. Correctional Institutions," presented by StopPrisoner Rape.

She has spoken at seminars on, in particular, issues regarding police misconduct litigation.

Ms. Dini was a Scoring Judge at the 2024 & 2023 UCLA Mock Trial Tournaments and an Attorney Scorer at the 2024 & 2023 Riverside County Mock Trial Competitions in Murrieta. She was also a Scoring Judge at the 2007 American Mock Trial Association, Western Regional Mock Trial Tournament at the University of Southern California, and at the 2004 American Trial Lawyers' Association (ATLA) Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Santa Monica.

                ROBERT L. BASTIAN JR.

Robert L. Bastian Jr. is a graduate of the Whittier College School of Law (JD, 1993) and the University of Wisconsin (Madison) (BA 1980 with Honors), where he majored in Economics and Political Science. Additionally, he competed for Wisconsin in NCAA Div. I Men’s Gymnastics, and was awarded Most Valuable Specialist Honors in his senior year. 

Mr. Bastian has been a member of the California State Bar since 1994, a past member of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers' Association and of the California Consumer Trial Lawyers' Association.

He has been a speaker at numerous seminars, roundtables and discussion, particularly on the subject of police abuse. 

Among his awards is his receipt of the Stephen Donaldson Award, "For Helping Raise Public Awareness To Halt The Sexual Torture of Men, Women & Children in U.S. Correctional Institutions," presented by StopPrisoner Rape.

Mr. Bastian has been a board member in the organization PursuitSAFETY, which is dedicated to promoting safe police pursuits through research, education and legislative change.

He has also served as a mediator in the Los Angeles Superior Court Mediation Program, and participated as a judge in various moot court competitions.

Mr. Bastian has written extensively on legal topics. Often his works appear in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. A piece that received considerable attention was an op-ed piece appearing in the Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2004, immediately after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. In it, Bastian argued that, as shocking as the scandal was, it should have come as no surprise given the conditions of prisons, including the attitudes of those who ran prisons, in America at the time.

Additionally noteworthy is a peer-reviewed piece in the Fall 2006 edition of  Law Enforcement Executive Forum Journal, entitled, "Analyzing and Understanding Federal Civil Rights Law to Yield Better Supervision and Management of Police and Prisons." Therein, Mr. Bastian argues for changes in federal law to improve police and prison management. In addition to writing on civil rights and constitutional tort issues, Mr. Bastian also writes frequently on issues in which law intersects with literature and philosophy. A list of Bastian's published writings is on the next page.