Law Practice
Jul. 20, 2002
Magazine's Chair, 46, Loved Helping Authors
LOS ANGELES - Abilio Tavares Jr., a business and civil litigator who was a member of the intellectual property and entertainment sections of several bar associations, died of a heart attack Monday in Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 46.
Tavares, who was with the Los Angeles law firm of Negele & Associates, had a long association with the Los Angeles Lawyer, a magazine published by the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He became chairman of the magazine's editorial board July 1.
The day Tavares died was the official publication date of the magazine's most recent issue, said Samuel Lipsman, publisher and editor of the magazine. For a column called "From the Chair," Tavares wrote how honored he was to become the 25th editorial board chair, Lipsman said.
"He saw the law as intellectually stimulating," Lipsman said, "something you enjoy thinking about, not just something you use to make a living."
For that reason, Tavares enjoyed working with authors as a member of the magazine's editorial board, the publisher said. Last year, he was articles coordinator, and for the past six years, he was a coordinating editor of the magazine's annual entertainment law issue.
"He was very, very sensitive to other people's feelings, and that's why he was such a good editor," Lipsman said.
Tavares also wrote book reviews for the bar association and served on the association's 2002 judicial election evaluations committee.
Born April 21, 1956, in Jersey City, N.J., he graduated from East Providence (R.I.) Senior High School in 1974. He graduated with high honors in 1978 from Boston University, where his honors thesis was on macroeconomic theory. He received a three-year tuition-free scholarship to Albany Law School of Union University in Albany, N.Y., where he received his law degree in 1981.
Tavares was admitted to practice law in New York and before the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York. He was admitted to the California Bar July 7, 1988, and was admitted to practice before all the U.S. district courts in California. He had an office in Los Angeles before joining the Irvine firm of Andrade & Associates. In 1999, he joined Negele & Associates.
Tavares handled many complex litigations, including ones in copyright, intellectual property, music, entertainment, and trademark law. He was a member of the intellectual property and entertainment sections in the Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, and New York bar associations.
Survivors are his parents, Abilio and Benvinda Tavares of East Providence, R.I.; two sisters, Beatrice Betley of Corona and Emily Klucznik of East Providence; and a brother, Joseph Tavares of East Greenwich, R.I.
A burial Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday in St. Martha's Church in East Providence, and burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
Claude Walbert
For reprint rights or to order a copy of your photo:
Email
Jeremy_Ellis@dailyjournal.com
for prices.
Direct dial: 213-229-5424
Send a letter to the editor:
Email: letters@dailyjournal.com