GLENDALE—The current two-term Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association, Garo B. Ghazarian, Esq., was unanimously elected Chairman of Glendale Civil Service Commission on June 26, 2013. The Commission serves as a quasi-judicial body in hearing employee appeals against disciplinary actions such as 
suspension, reduction or removal. It also establishes the rules and policies under which Glendale’s merit system operates, insuring continuation of Glendale’s reputation as a city whose employees attain and keep their positions on the basis of ability, training and experience, rather than political patronage.
In nominating him to the top post, outgoing two-term Chairman of the Commission, Arthur Devine commended Commissioner Ghazarian as being the hardest-working and the most-prepared Commissioner with whom he had ever worked with in all his years on the Commission. In taking the helm of the Civil Service Commission, Ghazarian applauded the outgoing Chair Devine’s distinguished service and leadership. Ghazarian also thanked his fellow commissioners for their vote of confidence. He pledged to continue to serve the City of Glendale, its citizens, and the City’s 1500 civil service employees.
Filling the post of Vice-Chairman of the Commission – a position Mr. Ghazarian held until his election as Chair – is Commissioner Ara Hatamian, who was unanimously elected. Commissioners Arthur Devine, Sam Manoukian and newly-appointed Commissioner Talin Yacoubian, who replaces the distinguished long-term Commissioner John Gantus, make up the rest of the Civil Service Commission.
In addition to his nationwide criminal defense law practice, Mr. Ghazarian is also the Dean and a professor of law at Peoples College of Law in Los Angeles. He has lectured extensively to law enforcement agencies and is a former guest instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He is a board member of the Mexican-American Bar Association – Political Action Committee, and serves on its Judicial Evaluations Committee.