In This Issue

BALIF's 34th Annual Gala Standing Proud 

Join BALIF in Standing Proud at our Annual Gala and celebrate the amazing progress our community has made over the past year. BALIF 2014 sponsors get complimentary tickets and many additional benefits.

Contact John Robert Unruh at gala@balif.org or go to the BALIF website at www.balif.org for sponsorship information. Individual tickets are also on sale at www.balif.org.

Keker & Van Nest LLP

Partner Level:
Kilpatrick Townsend

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

 

Advocate Level:

O'Melveny & Myers LLP

 

Benefactor Level:

Your friendly, neighborhood BALIF Law Student Reps are pleased to invite you to a Speed Networking and Resume Review event.

 

When - Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Where - Pillsbury Winthrop, Four Embarcadero Center, 22nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111

Time - 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Who - BALIF law students!

What should I wear? - Business attire. We want you to make this experience as close to the real deal as possible.

 

As law students, we know that sometimes getting individualized feedback about your resume and interviewing skills can be difficult. Finding that next firm job or government externship can be a daunting task. With BALIF's speed networking event, we will help prepare you to deal with some of the most common, dreaded interview questions, what work experience or personalization you can add to your resume, and how to go into a job interview and feel like coming out a winner. After our rounds of speed networking, stick around and network with the attorneys to find out more about what steps you can take to get ahead in your job search!

 

Beginning January 2014, BALIF will now begin charging students an annual $10 membership fee to qualify to attend certain BALIF member-only events.

BALIF is proud to announce the endorsement of Therese (Terry) Stewart for a position on the California Courts of Appeal. The press release can be found here.

 

If appointed, Terry, who is currently the Chief Deputy Attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, would be the first out lesbian appellate judge in the California state court system. The decision was made by the BALIF Board of Directors after the unanimous recommendation of the BALIF Judiciary Committee based on Terry's decades of tireless and successful advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community, women, minorities, and other marginalized communities.

 

"Therese Stewart is an ideal candidate for the California judiciary, and we are pleased and honored to deliver BALIF's endorsement," said Elizabeth Pritzker, partner at Pritzker Law in San Francisco and BALIF Judiciary Committee Co-Chair. "Therese will bring to the Courts of Appeal a multitude of strengths: a brilliant legal mind, an exceptional aptitude for solving difficult legal questions, and a great judicial temperament. If successful, her appointment to the appellate court will be a significant legacy for the LGBT community."

 

Terry has led a distinguished career as a top litigator, as one of the first female partners at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin (now Arnold & Porter LLP) in San Francisco, and since 2002, at the City Attorney's Office. As Chief Deputy Attorney, she was instrumental in securing the rights of same-sex couples to marry, from representing San Francisco when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom first attempted to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, to winning marriage equality at the California Supreme Court in 2008, and finally successfully challenging Proposition 8 in Federal Court. Terry is a former member of the BALIF Board of Directors and the recipient of the 2013 American Bar Association's Margaret Brent Women's Lawyers of Achievement, the highest award for a female attorney in the United States.

 

Check out Terry's It Gets Better video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZgvvw0-8Y

 

 

Last month at the holiday party, BALIF honored Munger, Tolles & Olson as its pro bono counsel.  In 2013, Munger Tolles represented BALIF on a pro bono basis in amicus briefs before both the United States Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Munger Tolles authored the briefs, and helped coordinate dozens of other organizations as co-amici with BALIF. BALIF recognized Jerome Roth, partner at Munger Tolles, as lead counsel on each of the amicus briefs for his dedication to BALIF and BALIF's causes.

 

Thank you Jerry and Munger Tolles!

 

 

Transgender Law Center is in the process of creating a robust cooperating attorney network.  They are especially interested in developing a network of attorneys who can assist them with cases - either by sharing their expertise and knowledge or by serving as co-counsel. Transgender Law Center also needs attorneys to whom they can refer some of the 2,500 individuals who contact them each year from across the country. If you haven't yet joined their cooperating attorney network, please do so now at the link below. And please forward this information to your friends and colleagues. Thanks! 

 

http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1628454-1kVsVna0mW

CWL is now accepting nominations for the ROSE BIRD MEMORIAL AWARD. This annual award is named for one of CWL's founding members and is given to a jurist from Northern California.

NOMINATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FEBRUARY 28, 2014.

The candidate should be from the Northern California area and will be evaluated on excellence as a jurist with longstanding or groundbreaking public service and inspiration to women lawyers in California.

The nominations will be reviewed by the Awards Committee and the Board of Governors will announce the recipient of this honor on March 7, 2014. The Award will be presented at the Northern California Judicial Reception to be held in April of 2014. The awardee must be available to attend the reception held in their honor.

The nomination should consist of the following:  
A. Nominee's Resume/Bio- Include the nominee's resume or biography.
B. Nominee's Photo- Include a high resolution photograph of the nominee.
C. Supporting Statement- A letter supporting the nominee  as  a worthy recipient of this honor with a description of the candidate's qualifications for this award.
D. Articles and Letters- To present a comprehensive picture of  the nominee, you may include news/magazine articles written by  or about the candidate and letters of support from individuals or organizations.

The nomination and supporting materials should be sent to co-chairs of the Awards Committee, Jaimi Groothuis at Jaimi@bermanandmore.com and Amee Mikocich at Amee.Mikacich@sedgwicklaw.com.

Lambda Legal is pleased to announce its posting for the 2014-2015 Tyron Garner Memorial Fellowship for African-American LGBT Civil Rights, expanded in 2013 from a summer position to a year-long funded fellowship.  Lambda Legal is a national nonprofit organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ("LGBT") people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.  Founded in 1973 and headquartered in New York City, Lambda Legal has regional offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas.  The Garner Fellowship is a paid, full-time, year-long legal internship awarded to a recent law graduate to work in any of Lambda Legal's five offices.

 

Please click here for more info!

Women Lawyers of Alameda County presents...

Running on Empty: Work/Life Balance Strategies

from Parents Who Stayed in the Race

 

Panel Discussion, moderated by Karen Bovarnick, CA Deputy Attorney General:

• Winifred Smith, Presiding Judge, Alameda County Superior Court
• Nancy Fineman, Partner, Cotchett, Pitre Simon & McCarthy
• Tony Mims-Cochran, Sole Practitioner
• Nora Wong, Alameda County Public Defender

When: Thursday, January 30, 2014, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: Alameda County Family Justice Center, Conference Room, 470 27th Street, Oakland

Cost: Free

RSVP: admin@wlaconline.org; (some childcare available with advance request)

 

Light refreshments provided

1.5 Hours of MCLE (certification pending)

 

BALIF's twitter feed is up and running.  Follow us to see BALIF news, event info, #ThrowbackThursday posts, and more.  Just click the Twitter button at the bottom of the newsletter or here.

 

Request a ride with the push of a button! Uber is offering new users $20 off your first ride. Text BALIF to 827-222. You can also sign up at uber.com/go/BALIF and download the app for Android, Blackberry, or iPhone. Then sit back and enjoy the magic of Uber, everyone's private driver. (Valid for new users only, TAXI excluded).

 

BALIF members are experts in almost every legal specialization from antitrust to family law and we want to leverage our extensive media contacts list to raise the profiles of our experts. When a journalist needs an expert on securities law, prison law, employment law, or whatever your specialization is, she'll call you for that quote. 

 

If you want to be included in the BALIF Expert Directory,

please send a short email with the following to PR@balif.org:

 

Name, title and place of business

 

Fields and/or sub-fields you are an expert in (E.g., Employment and ERISA)

 

No more than 500 words on what makes you an expert: specific work experience, length of experience, published articles or books, and speaking appearances related to your topic.

Please reply only if you can truly be considered an expert in your field; general guidelines are at least 7-10 years of practice and/or additional qualifications that separate you from other attorneys.

 

Have a job or need one? Civil procedure question? Need a

referral? Have something important to ask ... or news to tell? Want to get to our members quickly? Join our Listserv!

 

BALIF members should have received our invitation to join our newly-created Listserv. You must proactively respond to the request in order to be added to our Listserv. If you didn't get a request, please let us know by emailing technology@balif.org or balif@balif.org.

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 membership@balif.org.

 

Can't wait to hear your great news!

 

Meaghan Zore 

BALIF Membership Chair

 

All job postings can be found here!  

 

BALIF membership must be current 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.

February 28 -BALIF Annual Gala