Board of Directors
Robert L. Shapiro, Chairman of the Board
Robert Shapiro, the father of Brent Shapiro, is one of the most recognized attorneys in the world. He is currently a partner at the Los-Angeles based Law Firm of Christensen Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Weil, Glaser & Shapiro, LLP. He is the head of the firm's white-collar criminal defense section. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1969.
A graduate of UCLA, he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance. At Loyola Law School he was the recipient of two American Juris Prudence awards. He was both the winner of the Moot Court Competition and served as its Chief Justice. Mr. Shapiro clerked for Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office during his last year in law school. Upon graduation he accepted a position as a public prosecutor for two and a half years. He entered private practice in 1972 and gained a reputation for representing high profile individuals in criminal cases. In 1990 Mr. Shapiro became Of Counsel to the firm of Bushkin, Gaims, Gaines & Jonas. His practice expanded to include civil litigation. Upon the founding of the Christensen Miller firm, Mr. Shapiro became Of Counsel. In 1995 he became a named partner of the firm.
Mr. Shapiro's list of high profile cases includes the defense of O.J. Simpson, Christian Brando, and Robert Evans. He successfully represented the President of Mobil Oil Company charged with manslaughter resulting from a tank explosion. Less known but equally important is Mr. Shapiro's expertise in international law and civil litigation. He is a frequent guest on network and cable television shows and is called upon for his legal expertise. He is also a co-founder of Legalzoom.com, the world's leader in online legal document preparation.
Mr. Shapiro has written and lectured extensively on legal issues and procedures. He is the author of For the Defense (Loyola Law Review, November 1996), The Search For Justice: A Defense Attorney's Brief on the O.J. Simpson Case (1996), a New York Times Bestseller, and When The Press Calls: A Lawyer's View (California Litigation, Fall 1991) and the novel, Misconception. He was honored by the California State Bar Journal for having authored one of the ten best legal articles of the decade. He is the recipient of the pro-bono lawyer of the year from the State of Nevada. The Los Angeles Daily Journal has listed Mr. Shapiro as one of its 100 Super Lawyers. In his leisure time Mr. Shapiro is an avid sports fan supporting both the Lakers and the Kings. He is a passionate boxing fan as well as an amateur boxer. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 35 years, Linnell, and his son, Grant.
Dr. Robert Koblin, M. D.
Dr. Robert Koblin, M. D. is an internist, specializing in cardiology. He is in private practice in Beverly Hills, California, where he is the Managing Partner of the Robertson Diagnostic Center. Dr. Koblin has been an attending physician and instructor at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles since 1965 where he is a member of the Bioethics and Coronary Care Committees. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Dr. Koblin received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Special Honors from New York University in 1956. From NYU, he received the Founders Day Award, Honor Award for Biology, Beta Lambda Sigma, Chemistry Honor Award, and the Caducean Society Award, Pre-Medical Honor Society. He pursued his medical education at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he received his M. D. in 1960. His internship conducted at the Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 82nd Airborne Division, where he attained the rank of Captain, U.S. Army. Dr. Koblin did his residency at Stanford University Hospital. In 1988, he received the Physicians Recognition Award from the American Medical Association.
As Founder of the Wolfgang Puck Food Company, Los Angeles, Dr. Koblin spent five years starting and growing the business. From 1994-1999, he was the CEO and Founder of both the National Physicians Network and the International Physicians Alliance.
Gary S. Richman, C.C.D.C.
Gary S. Richman is a certified chemical dependency counselor with ten years experience in the Los Angeles area. He has distinguished himself by developing a successful private practice working with clients and helping them to identify the problems and patterns that contribute to addiction. His focus is counseling and customizing an individual program that will maximize success in life and sobriety while minimizing the risk of relapse.
Mr. Richman is also affiliated with MAP (Musician Assistance Program) as a facilitator for group sessions for recovering musicians.
Gary Seidler
Born in Shanghai, China and raised in London, England, Gary immigrated to Toronto, Canada, in his late teens. While working as a journalist at the Alcoholism and Drug Research Foundation of Ontario, Canada, he met Peter Vegso. In 1976, they formed a partnership and relocated to Miami, Florida to establish their publishing enterprise: The U. S. Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence (USJ), Health Communications, Inc. (HCI), and The U. S. Journal Training, Inc. (USJT).
On June 28, 1993, their company, Health Communications, Inc., published the first Chicken Soup for the Soul books. By Christmas of that year, the book had become a Christmas favorite. People who bought one book returned to buy five more copies as Christmas gifts. Word of mouth soon led to a groundswell of popularity. The book grew to a series and went on to be become the “publishing phenomenon of the decade” according to TIME magazine. By April of 1994, Chicken Soup for the Soul had made some of the bestseller lists and by September it had hit the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today, as well as all five major lists in Canada. In 1995, Chicken Soup for the Soul won the prestigious ABBY (American Booksellers' Book of the Year). He was a co-author of Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul, published in 2004.
Gary now lives in Beverly Hills, California with his wife, Lana. Together they sponsor an annual summer experience, Camp Hope, for at-risk, inner city kids and their families. Gary has three children: Mandy, Oliver and Robert. His passions include thoroughbred horse racing and his own personal/spiritual recovery.
Dr. Jeffrey N. Wilkins, M. D.
Jeffery N. Wilkins, M.D. is Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Dr. Wilkins is also Medical Director of Addiction Medicine and Director of Addiction Studies within the department's Clinical Trials Unit. In addition, he is the Program Director for the ACGME-approved Fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry, and he serves as Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dr. Wilkins' research interests include pharmacotherapy of patients with substance abuse problems and/or mental illness, the pharmacokinetics of abused substances, and the identification of biological markers for psychiatric disorders. His investigations have received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Veterans Administration. Dr. Wilkins is also evaluating innovating techniques in substance abuse prevention in adolescents and children, including the use of health-oriented video games.
A board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Wilkins is a diplomate of the American Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, from which he also received added qualifications in addiction psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He has written articles for numerous peer-reviewed publications, including the American Journal of Psychiatry, Archives of General Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, California Pediatrician, and the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Dr. Wilkins received his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. After studying neurology at Queen Square and St. Pancras Hospitals in London, he completed a medical internship at UCSD School of Medicine and a psychiatry residency at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.