Weekly Newsletter  

February 20, 2013

Upcoming Events 
In This Issue:
Message from BALIF Co-Chairs
Reception Honoring Justice Jim Humes
BALIF's 33rd Annual Gala: This Year's Award Recipients
2013 BALIF Sponsors
Help with BALIF's 1st Ever Career Expo
For Those Who Like A Challenge....
Introducing the AABA LGBT Committee
Getting a Grip on Your Student Loans
Free Tax Seminar: Registered Domestic Partners
MCLE: Divorce, Dissolution, and Consensual Dispute Resolution
Prudential Fellowship Program
BASF's Mind the Gap Program
U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument Dates
AAPA Inaugural Kickoff Reception
ALRP Free MCLE Training
Perkins Coie's 1L Diversity
We Want Your BALIFBuzz
Job Postings Now on BALIF Website
  BALIF Board of Directors

Chelsea HaleyNelson & On Lu,
BALIF Board Co-Chairs

 
Laura Maechtlen, Secretary 

John Robert Unruh, Treasurer

 

Susan Bluer, Judiciary  Committee Chair

 

Michael Wolchansky, State Bar/Conference of Delegates Committee Chair

John Robert Unruh &
Jamie Dupree, Dinner Committee Co-Chairs


Michael Wolchansky & Peter Catalanotti, Outreach/Current Events Committee Co-Chairs

Laurie Bertolacci, Membership Committee Chair


Elizabeth Pritzker, Young Lawyers & Law Student Programs 

Lilah Sutphen & Nick Clements, Programs Committee Co-Chairs

David Sims, Social Committee Chair  

 

Mario M. Choi, Communications & Public Relations Chair

Nick Kacprowski, Amicus Committee

 Nathan Bewley, Aditi Fruitwala &
Milo Beitman, Law Student Representatives
 



Our Sponsors

Partner Level

A&P

Fenwick

HB Logo

Kilpatrick

Mofo

NovakD

PC

Sedgwick2

Seyfarth

TM

ub

Wilson

Advocate Level
 
*A.L. Nella & Company, CPAs  
*Bingham McCutchen LLP
*Cooley LLP
*Farella Braun + Martel LLP
*Keker & Van Nest LLP
*Kirkland & Ellis
*Latham & Watkins LLP
*Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
*Morgan Lewis  
*Nixon Peabody LLP
*O'Melveny & Myers LLP
*Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
*Paul Hastings
*Santa Clara University School of Law
*Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
*Special Counsel
 
Benefactor Level
 
*AT&T Legal Department
*Bluer & Bluer, LLP
*Clarence Dyer & Cohn LLP / Swanson & McNamara LLP
*Dolan Law Firm
*Futterman Dupree Dodd Croley Maier LLP
*Gibson Dunn
*Golden Gate University School of Law
*Google
*Gordon & Rees LLP
*Jackson Lewis LLP
*Keyes, Fox & Wiedman, LLP
*Law Offices of John T. Hendricks, P.C.
*Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C.
*Littler Mendelson, P.C.
*Mount, Spelman & Fingerman
*Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
*Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
*Reed Smith LLP
*Roeca Hass Hager LLP
*San Francisco City Attorney's Office
*San Francisco District Attorney's Office
*Schiff Hardin LLP
*Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
*Stein & Lubin LLP
*Trucker Huss
*University of San Francisco, School of Law
*Wald & Thorndal, P.C.
*Wells Fargo
 
Individual Sponsors
 
*Dave Andrews, Merrill Corporation
*Michael Colantuono, Colantuono & Levin, P.C.
*Richard Gilbert, Trucker Huss
*John E. Hill, Law Offices of John E. Hill P.C.
*Todd Norris, Bullivant Houser Bailey, P.C.
*Debra R. Schoenberg, Schoenberg Family Law Group, P.C.
*Cheryl Sena, Sena Family Law
*Jonathan Shapiro, WilmerHale
*Jennifer Stalvey, Hemming Morse, LLP
*Hon. James L. Warren (Ret.) and JAMS

Quick Links
 
 

BALIF T-Shirts Available!

Unveiling the BALIF 30th Anniversary American Apparel T-Shirt!
   Balif Tshirt
It's the American Apparel Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt - the softest, smoothest, best-looking T-shirt available anywhere.  And now, you can get the official BALIF 30th Anniversary edition.  The shirts are available in Cranberry, Teal, Purple, and Orange.  And they come in S, M, L, and XL (in Men's and Women's sizes). Only $20 a pop.  Shipping via Priority Mail is $4.  Order online now! 

BALIF: The Original Gay Bar

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    ChelseaHN ON
Message from BALIF Co-Chairs 

 

Hello BALIF Members and Friends,

 

Our Amicus Committee has been busy. This next week, BALIF will be filing an amicus brief in the Proposition 8 case currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. BALIF has brought together nearly 60 partners in the brief who consist of minority bar associations in California and other non-LGBT local bar associations throughout the country. Among our list of anticipated amici partners are various LGBT-bar associations nationwide, including from Florida, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota and Tennessee, and non-LGBT bar associations and legal groups like BASF, KABANC, TLC and LGLA. 

 

Kudos and thank you to our very hardworking Amicus Committee chair, Nick Kacprowski and the entire BALIF Amicus Committee. What you do makes us proud to be a part of BALIF! We also want to thank Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP for representing BALIF in this important effort.   

 

Come celebrate all of the fantastic work that BALIF does at our Annual Gala on March 15, 2013. Click here to purchase tickets. It is not too late to become a BALIF sponsor and to receive complimentary tickets to the Gala.  To find out more, or to become a sponsor, please contact BALIF's Gala Co-Chair, Jamie Dupree.  

 

We hope to see you soon,

 

Chelsea HaleyNelson and oN Lu

BALIF Co-Chairs

humesReception Honoring Justice Jim Humes, Associate Justice of the
California Court of Appeal

Come celebrate the historic confirmation of Justice James M. Humes, the first openly gay justice to be appointed to the California Court of Appeals.

Justice Humes was appointed an Associate Justice 
of the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. He was sworn into office on December 20, 2012. Before joining the Court of Appeal, Justice Humes served as Governor Brown's Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs, Administration, and Policy. Prior to that, Justice Humes served as the chief deputy in the Attorney General's office when Governor Brown served as California's Attorney General from 2007 to 2011. Justice Humes began his career in public service in the Colorado Attorney General's Office.

For more information:
Justice Humes' Biography
The Bay Area Reporter Article

Co-sponsored by the Lesbian & Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the reception will be held at:

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
The Orrick Building
405 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
February 27, 2013, 6-8pm

RSVP here!!
BALIF's 33rd Annual Gala: 
Join Us in Honoring  
This Year's Award Recipients 

 

gala 2013  

 

The Community Service Award:

 

The Community Service Award honors individuals and organizations who work in the community to effect positive change for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Past recipients of the Community Service Award include The Trevor Project, Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin, San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Project Inform, Positive Resource Center, Scouting for All, the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Transgender Law Center. This year, BALIF is proud to recognize and honor the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

 

Victory is the nation's largest LGBT political action committee and only national organization dedicated to growing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels of government throughout the United States. Victory works to elect LGBT leaders to public office for one simple reason - they change America's politics. Since 1991, the Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBT candidates win election to local, state and federal offices.

 

The Legal Service Award:

 

The Legal Service Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of lawyers and organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to LGBT equality and that have significantly advanced those causes through their work in the law. Past recipients of the BALIF Legal Service Award include UC Hastings College of Law, Governor Edmund G. ("Jerry") Brown Jr., Judge Donna Hitchens, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Judge Richard Kramer, Oakland City Attorney John Russo, Morrison & Foerster LLP and Lambda Legal.

 

This year, BALIF is proud to recognize the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, currently celebrating their 30th year in operation, for their tireless efforts at providing free and low-cost legal services to individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the past 30 years, ALRP has represented pro bono clients in over 60,000 legal matters and currently has over 700 lawyers on their referral panel.

 

Best Law Student Organization:

 

BALIF is proud to donate $500 to best law student organization which will be determined closer to March 15 Gala.

 

Individual Gala tickets can be purchased here

 

Click here to see the most up-to-date Gala schedule!
gala2013 BALIF Sponsors

BALIF's Simply Fabulous! Gala - March 15, 2013 7-11:30 pm 

Have your gala finery yet?  There's still time for you to be simply fabulous for BALIF's Simply Fabulous! Gala.  BALIF 2013 sponsors get complimentary tickets.  Contact Jamie Dupree at  [email protected]  or go to the BALIF website at  www.balif.org for sponsorship information.  Individual tickets are also on sale, click here .

 

BALIF thanks these incoming 2013 BALIF Sponsors:

 

Advocate Level
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Perkins Coie 

Benefactor Level
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Mount, Spelman & Fingerman P.C.
Roeca Haas Hager LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Special Counsel
Stein & Lubin LLP
Turner Boyd
University of San Francisco School of Law
Wald & Thorndal, P.C.
careerGive Back to Our Community by Staffing BALIF's 1st Ever Career Expo
 

What is the biggest need of our young lawyers and law students? JOBS. JOBS. JOBS.   In response, BALIF is putting together our very first Career Expo on Saturday, April 6, 2013.

 

To our more experienced members -- here's your chance to give back to our community by staffing a practice area informational booth.  Here's a sampling of the booths; or feel free to suggest your own...

  • Law firms looking to hire associates and summer interns
  • IP Litigation
  • IP Prosecution
  • Litigation
  • Transaction
  • Criminal Law
  • Employment Law - Plaintiff
  • Employment Law - Defense
  • Immigration Law
  • Family Law
  • Estate Planning
  • Solo firms
  • Boutique firms
  • Non-Profits
  • Courts
  • D.A.
  • P.D.
  • In-House
  • Non-traditional legal careers
  • Or suggest your own booth...
We need your help.  If you'd like to staff one of the Career Expo booths, please contact On Lu at [email protected].
For Those Who Like A Challenge.....

 

(And who doesn't??)  Refer as many members as possible to help BALIF reach - and surpass - its goal of 1,000 members. The more members we have, the stronger our voice! And BALIF's voice needs to be as strong as possible with historic events such as our Amicus Brief in the Prop 8 case on the horizon.

 

So, to sweeten the deal, we're giving away four (4) Gala Tickets which includes VIP Admission, and public recognition at BALIF's 33rd Annual Dinner and Awards Gala--Simply Fabulous! Event. 

 

The rules are simple: whoever refers the most people to BALIF - and becomes a member - wins! You have from now until Friday, March 8, 2013, to get potential members to sign up on BALIF's website. You must refer a minimum of 10 people. Make sure your referral notes that you referred him/her to membership, or it won't count for you. March 8, 2013 is the deadline!

 

 

Introducing the AABA LGBT Committee

 

The AABA LGBT Committee connects LGBT members of the Asian American Bar Association with their allies and each other. It is an opportunity for BALIF members to connect with AABA members at large, and will create a presence for BALIF within AABA.  

With generous support from both the Asian American Bar Association and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, we will unite the two communities in style over wine and light hors d'oeuvres.  

"The AABA LGBT Committee strives to support the Asian-American LGBT community and advance its representation in the legal profession."
  

 

The AABA LGBT Committee will hold its inaugural meeting on Thursday, February 21, 2013, 7 pm - 10 pm. Stop by! Email [email protected] or Click here to RSVP!  

Getting a Grip on Your Student Loans

Presented by The Barristers Club
February 25, 2013: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

BASF Conference Center
301 Battery Street
3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111

Attorneys and recent graduates have important decisions to make about managing their student debt. Flexible repayment options and forgiveness provisions are available, but the details matter and it can be confusing to figure it out on your own. Heather knows how to break it down step-by-step so it makes sense once and for all.

 

Register Here! 

Free Tax Seminar: Registered Domestic Partners & Same-Sex Married Couples

  

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (PST)


San Francisco LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street  
San Francisco, CA 94102
 
 

Please join CA State Controller John Chiang and San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, in partnership with BALIF and the SF LGBT Community Center, for a FREE tax seminar specially designed for registered domestic partners and same-sex married couples.

  

Come enjoy light refreshments generously provided by BALIF and get updates on recent developments and trends in federal and state law and other tax policies affecting the LGBT community.

 

Please RSVP here

MCLE: Divorce, Dissolution, and
Consensual Dispute Resolution
 
Resolving Same-Sex Issues

Date:
Friday, March 8, 2013
Format:
Live Webinar and Teleconference Duration: 90 minutes

Charles Spiegel, Esq.
Collaborative Practitioner
Charles Spiegel Law
San Francisco, CA

 

Click here to register! 

National LGBT Bar Association 
Prudential Fellowship Program 

Application Deadline: March 11, 2013 at 5:00pm ET

To apply, you must submit a cover letter, resume, a list of three references and a copy of your transcript to:

D'Arcy Kemnitz, Esq.
Executive Director
National LGBT Bar Association
1301 K Street NW, Suite 1100 East Tower
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 637-7661
[email protected]

Please write "Prudential Fellowship Program" in the subject line of all correspondence.  All materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET on March 11, 2013.

All applicants must be available for phone interviews between Monday, March 18, and Friday, March 22. 

The National LGBT Bar Association is pleased to partner with Prudential Financial, Inc. (Prudential) to provide a meaningful summer internship opportunity to a highly-motivated first-year law student.  Through this partnership, the National LGBT Bar Association will select a student to join the 2013 summer law intern class at Prudential for a 10-week internship at Prudential's offices, for a stipend of approximately $10,000.  Internship positions will be located in the New Jersey tri-state area. A position may also be available in Dallas, TX.   
BASF's Mind the Gap Program:  
Mentors Needed!

 

This new exciting initiative called "Mind the Gap" (MTG) is to provide recent law school graduates and young attorneys who are unemployed or underemployed with training, work experience, mentorship connections and debt reduction information. BASF is looking for attorneys to serve as mentors to MTG participants. A mentorship Listserv consisting of MTG participants and interested mentors will be created where mentees can post questions and mentors can respond with answers and general advice. 

 

If you are interested in becoming an MTG mentor, please email [email protected]

 

For more information, please visit www.sfbar.org/mind-the-gap.

U.S. Supreme Court Schedules Oral Argument Dates for Prop 8 and DOMA Cases

  

The Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. The Court also announced that it will hear oral argument in United States v. Windsor, a constitutional challenge to DOMA, on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in both cases on December 7, 2012. BALIF looks forward to becoming involved in these cases. Decisions on both these cases are expected by the end of June.

AAPA Inaugural Kickoff Reception

 

The Asian American Prosecutors Association

(AAPA) Invites you to OUR INAUGURAL KICKOFF RECEPTION!

 

Keynote Speaker, Hon. Justice Ming Chin

Thursday, March 28, 2013, 6pm

Save the Date! Details to Follow

 

ALRP Free Winter 2013 MCLE Training

 

 Confidentiality & HIV

  • Thursday, February 28, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Jim Wood, Esq., Transgender Law Center
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room, San Francisco, CA 94111
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

Introduction to Landlord/Tenant Law

  • Tuesday, March 5, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Ora Prochovnick, Esq., John F. Kennedy University Housing Advocacy Clinic
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room, San Francisco, CA 94111
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

 

Elder Law & Conservatorships

  • Tuesday, March 12, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Helene Wenzel, Esq., Law Office of Helene V. Wenzel
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room, San Francisco, CA 94111
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

 

Introduction to Trusts for LGBTQ Clients

  • Wednesday, March 27, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Bill Ambrunn, Esq., Law Offices of Bill Ambrunn
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room, San Francisco, CA 94111
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

 

Click here for more details!

 

Perkins Coie's 2013
1L Diversity Fellowship Program

 

Information regarding Perkins Coie's 2013 1L Diversity Fellowship Program is now available on their website. Here students can find information about the Diversity Fellowship Program, including application deadlines and requirements. 

 

The 1L Diversity Fellowship Program provides first-year diverse law students with a summer associate position and a $7,500 scholarship. It is available in the following offices: Bellevue, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.


If you have any questions about the 1L Diversity Fellowship Program, please do not hesitate to contact Jill Connolly or Judah Travis. 

We Want Your BALIFBuzz     

 

We all love that section in our alumni newsletters that talks about who's doing what.

 

Well, we're introducing the BALIFBuzz to show-off all the great things that our members are doing.  BALIFBuzz will be appearing in the weekly BALIF newsletter.   

 

New job?

New client?

Promotion?

Court victory?

Significant settlement?

Baby on the way?

Recently married or engaged?

Speaking engagement?

Award, recognition, certification, or degree?  

Or anything else you're excited about...

 

Keep it to one or two lines.  Please send to [email protected].

 

Can't wait to hear your great news!

 

Lauri Bertolacci

BALIF Membership Chair

 

Job Postings Now on BALIF Website 

 

All job postings can be found here!  

 

BALIF membership is required to view the job postings. Simply log into the BALIF website with your membership ID and password, and select the JOBS from the menu on the left.