Commentary

NPRC to Meet with California Attorney General’s Office on to Urge Guardianship Reform

OAKLAND POST — Black has been a professor of law and finance at Northwestern University and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law since 2010. Before joining Northwestern, he served on the faculties of Stanford University, Columbia University, and the University of Texas at Austin, earning international recognition as one of America’s foremost empirical legal scholars.

Published

2 months ago

July 26, 2026

Post News Group

By Tanya Dennis

The National Probate Reform Coalition (NPRC) has announced that Bernard ‘Bernie’ Black, a nationally respected legal scholar, will meet with California Assistant Attorney General Eleanor Blume on July 27 to discuss the urgent need for guardianship, conservatorship, and probate reform.

The meeting marks another important step in NPRC’s effort to encourage California’s governor and attorney general to take a leadership role in addressing systemic abuse, financial exploitation, and the lack of meaningful oversight within probate and guardianship courts.

Black has been a professor of law and finance at Northwestern University and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law since 2010. Before joining Northwestern, he served on the faculties of Stanford University, Columbia University, and the University of Texas at Austin, earning international recognition as one of America’s foremost empirical legal scholars.

Despite his legal expertise, Black says neither his knowledge nor his professional reputation protected his family from what he describes as a deeply flawed guardianship system.

Following the death of his mother in 2012, Black’s sister, Joanne, who had lived with schizophrenia for more than 35 years, became the beneficiary of approximately two-thirds of their mother’s $4 million estate through a special needs trust established to provide for her lifetime care.

Seeking to preserve his mother’s estate plan and protect Joanne’s eligibility for public benefits, Black petitioned the Denver Probate Court for a temporary conservatorship and requested judicial approval for actions necessary to preserve assets. According to Black, the case initially appeared to proceed appropriately. Both the court-appointed counsel and a guardian ad litem supported his proposed conservatorship plan.

Black says the case later took a dramatically different turn.

According to Black, court-appointed professionals used family disagreements to seize control of the family trusts. What followed was 12 years of litigation and 96 probate court decisions, resulting in millions of dollars in professional fees.

Black says repeated settlement proposals intended to preserve assets for his sister’s benefit were rejected. He also strongly disputes adverse findings made by the probate court against him, his wife, and his son, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction over members of his family. Appeals were unsuccessful, reinforcing his concern that probate courts exercise extraordinary discretion with insufficient oversight.

Joanne Black passed away on Aug. 14, 2025. Black contends that millions of dollars that should have benefited his sister and preserved his family’s legacy have instead been consumed by litigation and administrative expenses. He continues to fight efforts to deplete the remaining family trusts.

“My sister has died, yet the Denver Probate Court and the guardianship professionals are still pursuing what is left of our family’s money,” Black said. “I’m talking millions of dollars.”

Black believes his family’s experience demonstrates that even experienced attorneys can become overwhelmed by a probate system that often lacks transparency and accountability.

Joining Black at the July 27 meeting will be Rick Black, founder of the Center for Estate Administration Reform (CEAR), who will present his organization’s proposed Victims’ Bill of Rights for individuals and families involved in probate and guardianship proceedings.

Together with the NPRC, they will urge the Attorney General’s Office to investigate fraud, financial exploitation, and predatory practices while aggressively enforcing existing laws that protect elders, disabled adults, and vulnerable families.

NPRC asserts California’s Attorney General, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, has both the authority and responsibility to investigate fraud, public corruption, and financial exploitation occurring within probate courts.

The Coalition also hopes California will lead a national initiative by working with attorneys general across the country to develop coordinated enforcement strategies and meaningful reforms that restore integrity, transparency, and accountability to probate courts nationwide.

Bernard Black’s experience echoes hundreds of similar stories documented by probate reform advocates throughout the nation. His message to the Attorney General is both simple and sobering:

“If this can happen to one of America’s most respected law professors, it can happen to anyone.”

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

Published

3 days ago

September 7, 2026

Oakland Post

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Black History

Jackie Wright Champions Bay Area Stories, Filmmakers and Cultural Institutions

As an award-winning communications professional, Wright has worked with corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, artists, and community organizations. In 2026, she expanded that work by launching an introductory public relations class for small businesses and nonprofits, offering practical tools for gaining visibility, shaping messages and building productive relationships with the media.

Published

1 week ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises. Photo courtesy of Wright Enterprises.

By Carla Thomas

Jackie Wright has spent more than two decades helping people, organizations and communities understand the power of a well-told story.

As founder and president of Wright Enterprises, a San Francisco-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, Wright has built a career spanning journalism, public relations, media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and multimedia storytelling.

Wright’s commitment to storytelling is also deeply personal. She wrote and co-directed the 15-minute documentary, “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor,” which chronicles the story of her parents, Specialist Five (S5 Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Fay McClendon Wright. Her father, a U.S. Army helicopter crew chief, died in Vietnam in 1964 while serving as an honor guard during a visit by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Decades later, Wright and her siblings had their father exhumed from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and their mother moved from her burial place in Georgia so the couple could be reunited at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014.

The family journey later took Wright and her sister to Vietnam, where they discovered the former military compound that had been named in honor of their father and another fallen soldier. The documentary, centered on love, war, family, racial understanding, and remembrance, earned festival recognition at screenings.

“It was quite an honor to learn about my family’s history and share it on film,” said Wright.

That filmmaking experience complements Wright’s longstanding advocacy for independent cinema. She has served as a media partner and brand ambassador for Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.

“It’s important to help filmmakers and underrepresented stories reach broader audiences,” said Wright.

Whether promoting a neighborhood organization, championing an independent filmmaker or preserving her own family history, Wright has remained consistent. Through Wright Enterprises, she has turned communications into both a profession and a form of community service, telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“Our stories are an integral part of our history, and our history is not only American history, but worldwide,” she said.

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Business

Chef Sharon Lee Blends Culinary Excellence, Education and Empowerment

Lee’s professional training took her to New Orleans, where she worked at Restaurant August and expanded her knowledge of Cajun, Creole, and French cuisine under the guidance of internationally recognized chef John Besh. When she returned to San Francisco, Lee was part of the kitchen staff that helped reopen the remodeled Cliff House at Ocean Beach.

Published

1 week ago

August 30, 2026

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San Francisco Chef Sharon Lee, culinary educator and owner of The Spot! Photo courtesy of Chef Sharon Lee.

By Carla Thomas

For Chef Sharon Lee, the kitchen has never been just a place to prepare meals. It has been a classroom, a workplace, a training ground and a doorway to opportunity.

The San Francisco chef, culinary educator and owner of The Spot! Fine Catering Services has spent more than two decades building a career that blends professional cooking with community service.

Now, Lee is expanding that mission through culinary workforce training and plans to launch a culinary academy that would provide underserved youth and adults with a pathway into the food and hospitality industries. Lee’s passion for cooking began in her mother’s kitchen; however, she built a thriving barbering business before graduating from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where she completed the Cordon Bleu program with an associate degree in operations.

“At some point I wanted to try something new, and I have wonderful memories of helping my mother in the kitchen,” said Lee.

Those experiences helped shape the culinary style she later brought to The Spot! Fine Catering Services, which she founded in 2003.

“I have cooking specialties, but I can also cook Italian, soul food, and many foods inspired by different cultures.”

Along the way, Lee strengthened her business and operational skills by working with Paula LeDuc Fine Catering and Levy Restaurants, as well as venues such as the Oakland Arena and Coliseum, Chase Center, and Moscone Convention Center.

As a culinary department head with the San Francisco Unified School District, she directed enrichment programming for high school juniors and seniors, designing curriculum, field trips and health education seminars. She also created a pilot culinary and nutrition program through the University of San Francisco’s Upward Bound Program, teaching college-bound students healthy cooking through a garden-to-table model.

Her community work has included youth culinary education through Big Moma House, food safety and kitchen fundamentals through the Holiday Apron & Hat Program, reentry and job-readiness training through Black Owned Project 365, and culinary instruction for formerly incarcerated men through the Black Cultural Zone in East Oakland.

In her spare time, Lee enjoys feeding her friends, family, and the homeless in the community.

Lee also hosts culinary cohorts to help underserved participants develop practical skills needed to enter the workforce as prep cooks.

Her long-term vision is to build a culinary academy that brings those experiences together under one roof. Lee wants the academy to provide students with more than cooking lessons. Her goal is to teach employable skills, discipline, confidence, and the business knowledge needed to move from an entry-level kitchen position into careers in catering, hospitality, food service management, or entrepreneurship.

For Lee, the recipe is simple.

“It’s all about the next generation and making sure they have the skills and a level of preparation to build a viable career, a good life, and always help others on your journey,” she said.

Chef Sharon Lee will be a guest vendor at the 11th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sept. 12 with the Freedom Farmer’s Market at 4521 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.