The 10th Legislative Counsel, Diane Boyer-Vine, breaks the mold, serving as the first woman to lead the California State Legislature's nearly 90-year old law firm. She points out that she is in outstanding company, with women serving in the Legislature's top positions as Legislative Analyst (Liz Hill), State Auditor (Elaine Howle), Chief Counsel of the Assembly Rules Committee (Diane Griffiths), and head of the Senate Office of Research (Liz Kersten), as ready examples.

Diane, born in Iran, offered scholarships with the San Francisco Ballet Company, and mother of a horseback riding daughter (Lauren, 11 years old) and soccer and baseball playing son (Spencer, 9), enjoyed a "meteoric" rise through the Office of Legislative Counsel according to her former colleague, Pete Melnicoe. Melnicoe, now chief counsel of the California Gambling Control Commission, particularly admired Boyer-Vine's ability to balance work and attention to her children and husband, Harry Vine (courtroom deputy to U.S. District Judge David Levi), "mainly by getting Harry to pitch in!"

Boyer-Vine's father was in the military, and the family moved frequently when she was very little. They settled in Sacramento in time for Diane to start kindergarten and she stayed in Sacramento schools (Del Campo High and Sacramento State) until she entered law school at UC Davis. While in law school, during the Iranian hostage crisis, Diane renounced her Iranian citizenship.

As a youngster, Boyer-Vine danced for ten years with the Sacramento Ballet before it became a professional company. She appeared in the very first Nutcracker production (as a little marshmallow!). There was that brief flirtation with life as a professional ballet dancer, when the San Francisco Ballet enticed her with a scholarship that would have taken her to San Francisco to school and dance when she was sixteen. Her father had college and a more conventional career path in mind. Well, maybe. As her predecessor and mentor Bion Gregory observes, she still has to stay on her toes.

A member of the UC Davis Law School Class of 1986, Diane's interest in working with the California Legislature began early with a law school internship in Senator Robert Presley's office. An externship with Judge Lawrence Karlton introduced her to her husband, Harry, then Courtroom Clerk to Judge Milton Schwartz. UC Davis Law School Dean Rex Perschbacher, who taught Boyer-Vine in his civil procedure class, said he is "honored to have a UC Davis School of Law graduate in such a distinguished position" and "congratulates Ms. Boyer-Vine on her achievements past and yet to come."

Boyer-Vine's friends at UC Davis Law School included a fellow she remembers holding forth in the school's courtyard surrounded by rapt students, one Darrell Steinberg (UC Davis Class of 1984, Assemblymember, 9th District). Steinberg said he knew in law school that Boyer-Vine "had a great career ahead of her. She brings to the job a solid commitment to public service and strong legal skills as well as political aptitude. She will make a great Legislative Counsel."

Anne Stausboll (UC Davis Class of '84), Chief Deputy Treasurer of the State of California, is thrilled to see another Davis alum thriving in a career in public service. John Adkisson ('84) (married to Anne), is one of the outside counsel upon whom the State Senate relies for representation and training on employment issues. Adkisson credited Boyer-Vine with tremendous talent as a lawyer and has enjoyed her ability to foster good communication between the two houses of the Legislature. He said that her ability not only to work out, but to avoid problems make her a tremendous asset to her clients.

Her clients support Adkisson's perceptions. Secretary of the Senate and CEO of the Senate Rules Committee Greg Schmidt said he finds Boyer-Vine "very refreshing." Schmidt said that Boyer-Vine is dedicated to customer service, understands the importance of meeting short turnaround times, and works cooperatively to meet her clients' needs. Dina Hidalgo, staff director of Senate Personnel, credited Boyer-Vine with "caring what we care about." She gives Boyer-Vine high marks for meeting early with her various constituencies to determine how better to serve them.

Boyer-Vine worked in private practice for two years before joining Legislative Counsel in 1988. She rose to the position of Chief Deputy before being appointed by the Legislature to succeed (incoming Sacramento County Bar Association President) Bion Gregory, who at 26 years, was the longest serving counsel since the Legislature established the position in 1913. When Gregory was selected as the Legislative Counsel in 1976, the office had 63 attorneys, 5 of whom were women. Today, the office has 81 attorneys, 39 of whom are women.

Gregory promoted unprecedented diversity in the office's attorney work force. He encouraged Boyer-Vine to seek promotion opportunities and made sure she had opportunities to handle high-profile issues that would introduce her to legislators and legislative staff. Among other projects, the Legislature's amicus brief in Keller v. The State Bar of California was Boyer-Vine's responsibility. Gregory remembers that Diane stood out as possessing "a keen intellect, great analytical ability, and fine motivational skills." In 1998 Boyer-Vine became Gregory's chief deputy. After 26 years as Legislative Counsel and more than 33 years with the Legislature, as 2002 approach Bion was ready for a new adventure and to pass the torch. He predicted Diane will do very well as his successor.

Boyer-Vine's former colleague, Sharon Reilly, now chief legal counsel to the California State Audits, describes the work of the Legislative Counsel's office as "very challenging and demanding, because it truly is a 24 hour shop when the Legislature is in session." The office processes a "huge volume of work, often very complex, often involving sensitive or controversial issues, and often required to be completed with tight deadlines."

Reilly echoes Gregory in her praise of Boyer-Vine. "Diane has amazing organizational abilities, both on a professional and personal level," Reilly said. "[S]he will bring the office to new levels of professionalism and service delivery to the Legislature and the public. As a personal observer of her work habits and abilities, I can say that she always operates at the highest professional levels. She has a keen intellect and a calm demeanor and is well respected by her peers. Her ability to remain impartial and to focus on what the law requires makes her a perfect candidate for the nonpartisan office of Legislative Counsel."

One of Bion Gregory's outstanding legacies was automation of the office's work in writing, tracking, and disseminating very current information about bills as they move through the legislative process. Who among us does not rely on the treasure trove of information at www.leginfo.ca.gov? The Data Center's tiny 5 person staff once shared space with the attorneys at 925 L Street. The center now occupies its own building and accounts for more than half of the employees Boyer-Vine oversees, which number approximately 580. Boyer-Vine puts maintaining and enhancing the timeliness and quality of Data Center operations, while integrating technology throughout the Office's operations at the top of her goals. Technology takes a lot of her time and she finds the effort very rewarding.

Boyer-Vine's other goals include maintaining the high quality, integrity and nonpartisan nature of the office's work. The office now includes 80 lawyers in two divisions, many with highly specialized knowledge of the vast variety of subject areas addressed by legislation. Her Chief Deputies are Jeffrey DeLand and Daniel Weitzman. Time is of the essence and Boyer-Vine is on-call by cell phone 24x7. A lot of work gets divided up among her expert staff during wee hours of the morning.

Boyer-Vine hopes to expedite the drafting and dissemination of amendments to bills. Similarly, she wants to make legislative opinions more timely and is even considering changing the opinion format to be more user friendly. All of her goals emphasize timely, high quality client service.

Where, you might wonder, do Harry, Lauren and Spencer fit into this whirlwind? More fancy footwork. Harry Vine says he's the luckiest guy in the world. He has a wonderful wife who is a wonderful mother and they have a wonderful relationship. Fortunately, Harry loves to cook and does a lot of the cleaning too. No surprise, Diane is "horribly organized" around the home. She is "totally dedicated" to her family and to her job. Not infrequently, she tells Harry where to be and when to pick the kids up. Frankly, he wouldn't mind if she slowed down a bit, but he's not counting on it. Of course, if there's a rerun of "Murder She Wrote," Diane will be there. Her favorite way to put it all out of mind, is to hunker down with a good mystery. And then there's yoga, the children's schools, and the County Bar. . . Having observed this balancing act over the years Sharon Reilly marvels that Diane "is truly a woman of our generation."

Boyer-Vine is honored to have been selected to succeed Bion Gregory. Her mentor, clients, colleagues and fans are confident that she will have a distinguished career as the Legislature's 10th Legislative Counsel.