Background
Stephens was born May 4, 1882, in State Lincolnshire, Indiana, the son of Edwin Elias Stephens and Arminda Jane Rice, both of Ohio.
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Jess Stephens
Edit ProfileEducation
The family moved to Compton, California, when Jess was 2, and he attended school there. In February 1900 he was graduated from Los Angeles High School, and then he studied law with a firm of attorneys and at Stanford University.
Career
He later became a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In 1930 he was president of the City Club. Stephens died at age 71 on December 2, 1953, in his home at 1416 North. Hayvenhurst Drive, West Hollywood.
Stephens was admitted to the bar in 1904 after undergoing the last oral examination ever conducted by the California Supreme Court.
In 1909 he was appointed deputy city attorney by City Attorney Leslie R. Hewitt and served until 1913, when he entered private practice for two years. In January 1921 the City Council appointed him as the city attorney to fill the unexpired term of Charles South. Burnell, who had been appointed a judge.
He was elected to his own term in July 1921, and he served for eight years thereafter. In none of the elections did he face any opposition.
As city attorney, he was notable for:
His work as counsel in the Second Street Tunnel litigation in the 1920s, winning a decision from the United States Supreme Court favoring the project"s legality.
He argued the case himself in front of the court. His handling of claims arising from the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam in 1928. The success of a movement compelling railroads serving Los Angeles to build a Union Station in the area of the Plaza.
In 1929 he opened his own law practice with L.P. Green, specializing in municipal and corporation law One of his clients was Oscar T. Conklin, a Ventura, California, newspaper publisher, who was challenging the legality of a new city charter that had been adopted by voters in that city.
In December 1937 he was appointed by Governor Frank Merriam to the Los Angeles Superior Court, along with Clement Nye and Benjamin Scheinman. He served in the Appellate Division with Judges Hartley Shaw and Edward T. Bishop.
Stephens retired from the court in October 1953, at the age of 69, saying that ill health prevented him from serving longer.
Achievements
Membership
He was a member of the Elks, the Masons, the Shriners and the Whitley Park Country Club.
