Judges Zaven Sinanian and Greg Keosian to Receive Top Honors at Armenian Bar’s Judges’ Night

Judges Greg Keosian (left) and Zaven Sinanian

The centennial year of the Armenian Genocide has seen the Armenian Bar Association reinvigorate its membership and the broader community with movements and marches towards justice and solidarity. One of the most dazzling features on the Armenian Bar’s annual calendars of commitment and action has been its recurring Judges’ Night gatherings where the organization invites legal professionals, law students, and the interested public to honor two or three judges who are especially deserving of distinction.

In the past, the jurists who have received the Association’s prestigious acclaim have come from the leadership ranks of the federal and state court systems. This year, the Armenian Bar Association does not look beyond its own fold for two peerless honorees who are worthy of the professional and Armenian communities’ cheers and commendations.

This year’s honorees are Judge Zaven Sinanian and Judge Gregory Keosian, whose positive similarities are striking: friends for years before becoming lawyers, charter members and leaders of the Armenian Bar Association, involved in the strengthening of the Diaspora and the Homeland, appointed to the California Superior Court within weeks of each other in 2002, and mentors to a new generation of young lawyers and law students.

In recognition of the magnitude of this signature event, the Armenian Bar’s most-recent past chairmen– Armen K. Hovannisian, Garo B. Ghazarian and Edvin Minassian–are heading the organizational initiatives for what is expected to be a watershed moment in the Armenian community’s development and prominence.

Hovannisian explained: “Presiding in their separate courtrooms for more than a dozen years, Zaven Sinanian and Greg Keosian have burnished their family names and professional reputations and, together, represent the most positive values that Armenians throughout the world have been known for. Smart and savvy, straightforward and sophisticated, hard-working and efficient, qualities that have made them the finest among Armenians and the best among Americans.â€