"Last night I dreamt of San Pedro / It all seems like yesterday, not far away..." La Isla Bonita, Madonna. The locals claim Madonna visited in the 80s and "fell in love." Madonna has never admitted that she was referring to Belize, but who cares, the lyrics could very well describe the island we had the pleasure of visiting over the Memorial Day Weekend. It is no wonder they call San Pedro "La Isla Bonita" - it was beautiful. I want to thank everyone who attended, especially all the bench officers who took time away from their busy calendars to join us. It was a pleasure getting to know you all. We've posted a few pictures on our website and we've included an article below that was written about our visit in the San Pedro Sun. Stay tuned for information on where the HBA will visit next year!
Refreshed, tanned and ready, the HBA is looking forward to this month's activities, which we kick off this Friday, June 10th with our Angels game fundraiser. My sources tell me that there are a few tickets left, so don't wait. Proceeds will go to our Wally Davis Scholarship Fund, so please help us sell out the game. And, as I mentioned last month, on June 21st Dean Chemerinsky will honor the HBA with his U.S. Supreme Court Review CLE in the Mark P. Robinson, Jr. Courtroom at UCI School of Law. Read below and visit our website for all the details about these and other events we have planned.
Finally, they say time flies when you are having fun and indeed, I cannot believe that I am half-way through my term as President. I want to thank ALL our supporters, without whom the HBA would be a less dynamic and successful organization. And many thanks to the 2010-2011 Board for making these past 6 months a pleasure.
Limited Seating. Payment is required with RSVP. Email info@ochba.org with questions.
Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County meets on Ambergris Caye The San Pedro Sun
Members from the Hispanic Bar Association from Orange County, California, USA, along with family members were in San Pedro over the past week for their yearly meeting. The group of 69 arrived in Belize on Thursday May 26th around noon at Ramon's Village. Shortly after arrival the group of attorneys gathered at the Pineapple Restaurant for the commencement of their seminars.
As practicing attorneys, lawyers are required to have a certain amount of hours of lectures in continued legal education. The group took this opportunity to undergo eight hours of lectures and seminars. While in the country the group participated in programs on various laws such as: Family Law, Bias as a Barrier to Justice, Global Warming and Globalization - The Regulation of the Environment. This marked the first four hours of lectures and included a detailed presentation from Oceana's Ms. Audrey Matura-Shepherd, on Offshore Oil Drilling in Belize.
Following the seminars, Ramon's Village hosted a cocktail hour for the group of attorneys and their family members. Present to offer a welcome to Belize and San Pedro was Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture.
Genoveva Meza Talbott, President of the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association and Attorney at Law, practicing Family and Marital Law, spoke to The San Pedro Sun. "The purpose of this trip is two fold. One is to provide an opportunity for our membership to get together in a location outside of our regular day to day. We also take the opportunity to make it a location worth exploring, worth getting to know and just exposing our members to a different country. We all share a strong interest of exploring different legal systems, and of course, because we are a Hispanic Bar Association, we have a prevalence to go to Latin or Central America of course".
The group also uses the yearly outing to encourage its members to get together to learn, and share their tourism dollars. In deciding on the location for this year's outing Ms. Talbott informed; "We had a committee which sent out an inquiry to all our memberships at different locations and Belize was the number one choice. In choosing the location within Belize, we asked people that had travelled to Belize and this is the destination that a fellow bar association from Orange Country had travelled to on multiple times, and had great recommendations."
Participants were touched by the wonderful, welcoming service they received upon arriving to the island. With only eight hours from the five day stay being occupied by lectures and seminars, the group had much time to truly experience San Pedro, Belize and all their wonderful natural wonders. The divers in the group were excited to get wet in our warm waters, offering unequalled visibility and the wonder of our Barrier Reef systems and all the marine life that exists within.
The group's came to an end with four hours of seminars on Sunday afternoon, followed by a farewell cocktail party at Ramon's Village. In closing Ms. Talbott offered thanks to the Belizean public for being so welcoming and such a good host.
Wally Davis Scholarship Applications Are Available for Two $7,000 Scholarships!
Did you know that Latinos constitute more than 50% of California's population, yet less than 4% of California's attorneys are Latino? To bridge this gap, the HBA has the Wallace (Wally) R. Davis Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to Orange County Latino students who are presently attending law school and who have demonstrated involvement in the Latino Community. The Scholarship Fund was named in honor of Wallace (Wally) R. Davis, one of the first Hispanic attorneys in Orange County. He rose to the highest ranks in the legal profession, co-founding the HBA and championing the struggles of the Latino community. By assisting young Latino law students, this scholarship is awarded to those who would follow in his footsteps.
Please help us share this information with as many students and schools as possible. Good luck!
Meet The HBA Board: Jasmine Velazquez
This is the last of our series on new integrants of the OC Hispanic Bar Association's Board of Directors. Jasmine Velazquez joined the HBA Board this year, making her a member of the freshman class of directors we have been profiling. Jasmine is a second year associate at Crowell & Moring Orange in Irvine.
Before being elected to the Board, Jasmine sought out ways of participating in the HBA's committees in order to be more actively involved in the organization. She is a member of the Program Committee and was instrumental in planning last year's successful End-of-Summer mixer. Upon joining the Board, Jasmine was appointed as Chair of the Membership Committee. The Membership Committee is responsible for recruiting and processing new members, having all required documentation prepared before presenting potential members to the Board for approval and administering the rarely used procedures for involuntary termination of membership.
Before joining the HBA, Jasmine's accumulated a record of involvement in diversity-related activities going back many years. While she attended USC Law School, where she obtained her JD in 2009, Jasmine was a member of La Raza and the Women's Law Association. She participated in Career Days at an elementary school in South Central Los Angeles where she spoke with sixth graders about careers in the legal profession. Jasmine also helped organize trips for over 40 law students to provide pro bono legal assistance in Mexico and New Orleans. While at SC, Jasmine also hit some of the fundamentals: she served as Executive Articles Editor for the Southern California Law Review and interned for Justice Laurie D. Zelon of the Second District of the California Court of Appeal. She went to undergrad at Chapman University, where she obtained a B.A. in Political Science and Peace Studies.
Today, at Crowell, her practice areas include labor and employment litigation and counseling, general commercial litigation, and insurance coverage litigation.
Former HBA Pres. Feted With Diversity Award
Norma García Guillén, who sat on the HBA Board 2006-2009 and served as HBA President in 2008 has received Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP's Second Annual Diversity & Inclusion Award. Sheppard, a strong supporter of Norma's leadership and generous contributor to the HBA, announced that a contribution to the HBA's Wally Davis Scholarship endowment fund was made in tandem with the award. Additionally, a diversity pipeline program partnership was established with UCI Saturday Academy of Law; Norma serves on the UCI Law School Dean's Cabinet.
Current HBA President Genoveva Meza Talbott praised her predecessor for her contributions and achievements. "Norma always has been an inspiration, she was and is a source of strength for the legal community and for the HBA, and we are extremely proud of her," she said.
Community Calendar & News 'Community Calendar & News' is a courtesy bulletin board service provided by the HBA to its community partners. The posters of these bulletins, not the HBA, are solely responsible for their content. Unless otherwise noted, by publishing these billboard posts, the HBA does not endorse the views, services, products, causes, or candidates referenced therein.
The Public Law Center "Volunteers for Justice" Annual Dinner Monday, June 20, 2011 - 5:30 p.m. Reception and Silent Auction, 7:00 p.m. Dinner and Program Hyatt Regency Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Road, Irvine, CA 92614
Supreme Court allows California to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants The high court rejects an appeal to California's policy of giving in-state college tuition to state high school graduates who are in the country illegally. The action leaves in place laws in 11 other states that permit illegal immigrants to obtain in-state tuition.
By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau June 6, 2011, 9:12 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to California's policy of granting reduced, in-state tuition at its colleges and universities to graduates of its high schools who are illegal immigrants. Read More
ADL/OCJBA need your help to combat bullying and cyber-bullying
The Orange County Jewish Bar Association (OCJBA) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have been collaborating in an effort to address issues of bullying and cyber-bullying. We have approximately 25-30 volunteers but we need more to blanket the Orange County middle schools and high schools. WE NEED YOUR HELP! All are welcome and needed.
The ADL and OCJBA offer a very simple 1.5 training course June 21 and June 23 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Minyard Morris. They will offer additional training opportunities as the volunteers increase. Only 1 night is required and then a trip to your local schools. We will do our best to assign schools in the volunteer's school district for convenience. This requires very little time and the benefits to OC children can be HUGE.
WHO: ADL/OCJBA WHAT: Combat bullying and cyber-bullying WHEN: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 23, 2011 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. (only one required) WHERE: Minyard Morris 1811 Quail Street Newport Beach, CA 92660 WHY: Because this pervasive social contaminant endangers our county's children's growth.
This issue affects all of our children and has the opportunity to set the standard for other counties to pool their resources and get things done. Join us in our fight to save our kids and combat bullying. For more information contact Jordon P. Steinberg, CFLS, President/Founder, OCJBA at 949-724-1111.
Snell & Wilmer Diversity LSAT Scholarship Through the Snell & Wilmer Diversity Prelaw Program, the firm is offering diverse individuals an opportunity to receive a scholarship to attend a commercial LSAT preparation course. The Snell & Wilmer Diversity LSAT Scholarship includes payment of test registration fees for scholarship recipients. For more information and to find our application, please click here.
Snell & Wilmer will provide a scholarship for LSAT registration fees and an LSAT preparation course with an approved course provider, including ACE, Kaplan, Princeton Review, Score It Up, and TestMasters. Scholarship Deadline: July 15, 2011 (for December 2011 exam) Please direct inquiries to Kimberly Sterbach | ksterbach@swlaw.com
Legal Aid Society of Orange County (LASOC) is hosting a weekly clinic every Thursday afternoon for Legal Genie
Legal Aid Society of Orange County (LASOC) is hosting a weekly clinic every Thursday afternoon for Legal Genie, a simple, affordable, and reliable online legal document preparation service for self-represented middle-income litigants who do not qualify for legal aid but cannot afford to hire an attorney. Legal Genie not only asks questions in a straightforward manner and completes the necessary legal documents about Family Law and Bankruptcy/Chapter 7 based on the client's answers, but also connects the client to LASOC's panel of attorneys who will review the documents and give one-on-one consultations by telephone.
Clients are invited to use Legal Genie on LASOC computers during the clinic, and staff will be available to assist with any questions about the service. For more information, visit www.legalgenie.com or call (714) 489-2719. By appointment only.
A Note From The President 
