Joseph H. Cummins; State Bar Official, Founder of Law Firm

Joseph H. Cummins, 81, trial attorney who co-founded a Los Angeles law firm and helped set rules for advertising by lawyers. A native of Winchester, Ind., Cummins earned degrees from DePauw University and Northwestern University Law School and served in Navy intelligence during World War II. He began his legal career as in-house counsel for the Burlington and Santa Fe railroads. In 1962, Cummins and Louis M. Welsh co-founded what became Cummins & White, a mid-size Los Angeles law firm known for its expertise in courtroom litigation. Cummins, in addition to more than half a century as a litigator, served on the board of governors of the State Bar of California, for which he helped draft rules in the mid-1970s to permit attorney advertising. He also headed the bar’s Disciplinary Board and its Courts Committee. In 1986 and 1987, Cummins was on the 21-member state Judicial Council, which sets administrative policy for the state court system. He was also a leader on the American Board of Trial Advocates, serving as president of the Los Angeles chapter in 1970 and national president in 1972. On Sunday in Pasadena.