David Prescott, MA, JD, DC, who fought for California chiropractic practice rights for years as a lawyer and chiropractor, has passed away.
Dr. Prescott graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College Los Angeles in 1989 after receiving his JD degree in 1969 from California College of Law, and a master's in law and theology in 1984 from Trinity International University School of Law. More than 50 published articles relating to the subjects of law, medicine and chiropractic bear Dr. Prescott's name, including numerous articles published in DC under the "Council on Dissent" column heading.
As a lawyer, Dr. Prescott had extensive litigation and trial experience in private practice, litigating cases and conducting trials involving charges from minor misdemeanors to first-degree murder, personal injury cases, and business and real estate disputes. He also handled a significant number of cases at the appellate level and spent two years exclusively practicing appellate law under special appointment to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Diego.
Dr. Prescott developed the paralegal program at the University of West Los Angeles (UWLA) and served as the first dean of the paralegal school. The UWLA School of Paralegal Studies was the first institution in the United States to offer a comprehensive curriculum in paralegal studies.
Dr. Prescott's daughter, Lori, founder and owner of the Prescott Group, submitted the following in remembrance of her late father, emphasizing his role in advancing the chiropractic profession, particularly in California:
It is with great sorrow that I write to tell you of my father's passing. I thought you and your readers would want to know since he wrote many articles for this great publication. As you know, he fought many years for the rights of chiropractors and their patients' rights to choose chiropractic as their natural method of healing. He fought so diligently that in his passing, the California State Board of Chiropractic Examiners is planning to recognize him and the work he did to shed light on the conspiracy that has taken place in California to lessen chiropractors' rights.
The current board is now rectifying this matter, in large part due to my father's constant fight for chiropractors and their patients. The people and chiropractors of California will enjoy more freedom to choose and receive alternative health care directly because of his efforts.
My father's life was not always about chiropractic. He was the founder of the paralegal profession and got the first school accredited for that profession - the University of West Los Angeles. He served as the first dean of the law school at the university.
As many of you know, he was born in England in 1938, and came to this country when he was 14 and under protest, but he made this country his home and fought for legal justice his whole life. In his younger years, he was a district attorney and a public defender. He was a lawyer first and a chiropractor second. He really studied chiropractic so he could better understand the Darwin vs. Intelligent Design theories from a legal perspective. He was always studying and learning, and his mind was as sharp as a steel trap, as some of you who had to go up against him in an argument know all too well.
He has helped this profession in many ways and he will be greatly missed, not only by me, but also by the profession as a whole. Please take a moment to acknowledge him and his work in your own way.
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