Frederick P. Aguirre: “Spirit of Patriotism”

The grandson of Mexican immigrants, Orange County Judge Frederick Aguirre organizes annual tributes to veterans of Mexican heritage.

Published Mar. 02, 2010

By Pat Alston
Daily Journal Staff Writer

FULLERTON - Frederick Aguirre was 8 or 9 when he attended his first district meeting of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The Orange County gatherings always included the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer for guidance and a talk by a politician or prominent member of the Mexican-American community.

"It was cool," Aguirre said.

From time to time during one of the talks, his father would lean over and whisper, "'See that man? He's an attorney. You could be an attorney.'"

The thought that the son of a bricklayer could grow up to be a lawyer and "do good things for people" made a lasting impression on Aguirre, who majored in history at the University of Southern California and graduated from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Today, he is an Orange County Superior Court judge.

It's been a great life, said Aguirre, 63, whose hard-working parents instilled in their seven children a commitment to civil rights, public service and community ties. His father, Alfred Aguirre, was one of a group of World War II veterans who successfully lobbied the Placentia School District to integrate its public schools in the late 1940s.

"When I started school in 1951," Aguirre said. "I was able to go to the integrated schools."

His father later served as a Placentia city councilman.

Following his father's lead, Rick Aguirre took on leadership roles as a teenager, a lawyer and a judge. During his senior year at Valencia High School, he served both as student-body president and national president of the Junior LULAC, as the League is commonly known. As a new lawyer in the mid-1970s, he was a founding member, and later president, of the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County. And, as a judge, he created the Orange County Superior Court's Leadership Academy, an annual program to educate the community about the judicial system. He continues to serve as co-chairman.

He and his wife, Linda Martinez Aguirre, also pay tribute every Veterans Day to Mexican Americans who have served in the military during times of war. The couple also has self-published several books about the role of Mexican Americans in the military during World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam.

"I'm imbued with the spirit of patriotism," Aguirre said.

His enthusiasm is contagious, according to lawyers who appear in his courtroom at the North Justice Center.

"He is a very friendly judge," said Fullerton attorney Kelly B. Dunagan. "He always has a smile on his face."

Dunagan, who temporarily shed her role as a civil litigator to volunteer for the district attorney's Trial Attorney Partnership Program, served as prosecutor in a misdemeanor DUI jury trial in Aguirre's courtroom a few months ago.

Aguirre also presides over felony preliminary hearings, some civil matters, such as unlawful detainers, and domestic violence cases. He also fills in for absent colleagues.

"I'm the utility guy here," he said.

"We really had a good experience," said Fullerton attorney David S. Borsari, opposing counsel on Dunagan's DUI case.

"He just really let the lawyers try the case," Borsari said, describing Aguirre's "fundamental fairness."

"One of the things I appreciated was he didn't put strict time limits on what the lawyers could do, in terms of jury selection and arguments," the lawyer said.

At the same time, Aguirre kept things moving, Borsari said.

"He treats lawyers and defendants with respect," Deputy Public Defender Jay J. Moorhead said. "He doesn't talk down to anybody, and he listens to what you have to say."

Moorhead represented a man convicted by a jury of a DUI, "but I thought Judge Aguirre did a great job," the defender said.

"He's a very calm guy," Moorhead added. "He puts everyone in the courtroom at ease."

Deputy Public Defender Douglas L. Lobato, who has known Aguirre for more than 25 years, describes the judge's good-natured demeanor as "old school."

"He doesn't have that robe-itis," Lobato said.

Aguirre treats defendants with courtesy and respect, the defender said. He recalled a preliminary hearing for a client charged with attempted murder. Although Aguirre held the man to answer to the charges, Lobato said a couple of his colleagues have had more positive outcomes in Aguirre's courtroom.

"He's not a rubber stamp," Lobato said.

Aguirre recently returned to the Fullerton courthouse after nearly six years at the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange - four years in family law and a year and a half in juvenile, which he thoroughly enjoyed, he said, "because I was able to address juveniles directly."

The grandson of a Mexican immigrant who settled in Orange County in 1908, Aguirre was born and raised in the barrio, he said.

"I feel blessed in that I had a unique opportunity to share growing up in a blue-collar family with these kids," he said.
He told them how important education is, he said. "And sports."

Aguirre would have played football at Valencia High had it not interfered with student government, drama and debate. So he lettered in tennis for three years, which gave him plenty of time for other activities, including piano lessons. (Nowadays, he brings the sounds of Broadway alive on his Kawai baby grand. He also plays handball two or three times a week.)

Aguirre, who took top honors three years running in a speech contest sponsored by the Lion's Club, has not lost his talent for oral communication, which he uses to great effect in community outreach, according to Deputy District Attorney Tamika W. Williams. Aguirre participated last year in the district attorney's annual program for fifth graders faced with gangs, drugs and violence in their communities. Last year, a field trip took them to Aguirre's courtroom.

"He was witty and smart and extremely engaging," Williams said. "The students were absolutely captivated, which is no easy task when it comes to 10 and 11 year olds.

"He talked about his humble beginnings and how his dedication to hard work enabled him to get to where he is today. It was a powerful message."

An honor student, Aguirre won a full academic scholarship to USC. He time at UCLA's law school was courtesy of the UC Regents.

When he graduated in 1971, he clerked for the Santa Clara County Legal Aid Society. When funding ran out, he became a VISTA volunteer, which kept him in the same office. Meanwhile, he married Linda Martinez, whom he met at UCLA while she was working on her teaching credential. The couple has three adult children: Michael, Brian and Veronica.

After Aguirre passed the State Bar in 1974, the couple returned to Orange County, and he went to work for Cohen, Stokke, Owen & Davis, a general-practice boutique in Santa Ana that focused on personal injury, criminal defense and corporate work.

In September that year, he and a group of Mexican-American lawyers met informally; the next year, In September that year, he and a group of Mexican-American lawyers met informally; the next year, they founded what would become the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County. One of their goals was to help Latino lawyers, both men and women, win appointments, or election, to the bench.

"And we did," he said.

Aguirre left Cohen Stokke in 1976, the year he became Bar president.

"I was 29 years old," he said. "I needed the independence to try it on my own. I didn't want to look back and have regrets."

He opened an office in Fullerton and, with the help of defense attorney Richard E. Orozco, landed on the court's indigent panel.

"We did a lot of contract work," he said.

During this time, a young lawyer named Francisco F. Firmat clerked for him. Although they never became partners in the legal sense, Aguirre said, "we were as close to partners as you can get."

They bought an elegant old Spanish-style house on Commonwealth Street and converted it into law offices, leasing space to other lawyers. When Firmat was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court in 1985, Aguirre switched from criminal law to personal injury. That year, with the help of a younger brother who is an architect, he formed a limited partnership to build Bradford Square, a 92-resident board-and-care facility, "as a legacy to my dad." Another brother, Cory A. Aguirre, is a Fullerton sole practitioner.

Aguirre developed the specific plan and got the Placentia City Council to re-zone it for senior housing, he said. When the partnership dissolved in 2002, they sold the facility. Gov. Gray Davis appointed him to the bench that year.
"I enjoy being a judge," Aguirre said. "It's a never-ending educational experience."

Here are some of Judge Aguirre's recent cases and the lawyers involved:
People v. Martinez, 09NM06868 - DUI
For the prosecution: James W. Harwood, district attorney's office
For the defense: Jay J. Moorhead, public defender's office
People v. Rodriguez, 09NM05594 - DUI
For the prosecution: Bryan F. Clavecilla, district attorney's office
For the defense: Alison R. Garner, public defender's office
People v. Kwon, 09NM03911 - DUI
For the prosecution: Kelly B. Dunagan, Fullerton, as a volunteer in the Orange County Trial Attorney Partnership Program, and James W. Harwood, district attorney's office
For the defense: David S. Borsari, Fullerton
People v. Garcia, 09NM00499 - DUI, driving on a suspended or revoked license
For the prosecution: Susan M. Lee, district attorney's office
For the defense: Joaquin Nava, public defender's office
People v. Ramirez, 08NM15459 - battery, vandalism
For the prosecution: J. Conrad Schroeder, district attorney's office
For the defense: Mia V. Floisand, public defender's office

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