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.

Partner Level:
Law Offices ofJohn E. Hill P.C.

 

Advocate Level:

Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP 

 

Benefactor Level:

Thursday, March 20, 2014 6-7:30 pm; Generously Hosted by: Covington & Burling LLP , One Front Street (at Market St.), 35th floor San Francisco, CA 94111 www.cov.com

Screening of 30-minute documentary film; discussion with Family Acceptance Project (FAP) Film Director, Dr. Caitlin Ryan; hosted light refreshments. Tickets $15 or $25 Donor Choice.

Host Committee: Bruce Deming, Ruth Herring, Shannon Minter Charles Spiegel

This short documentary film "Families Are Forever" was created by the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) and chronicles the journey of a devout Mormon family living in a conservative community who attended Church every Sunday, actively served in their ward, went door-to-door to stop same-sex marriage in support of California's Prop 8-- and whose lives were turned upside down when their 13-year-old son revealed he was gay. This story of love and acceptance has won awards at film festivals around the world. Families are Forever is part of a series of short documentaries produced by the Family Acceptance Project that depict the journey of ethnically and religiously diverse families to support their LGBT children - based on FAP's compelling research.

FAP's work was designated as the 1st "Best Practice" resources for suicide prevention for LGBT people by the national Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention, including the only Best Practice resources for suicide prevention for Mormon families. Other films in the series include a Mexican American Marine accepting his son.

The legal and political landscape for LGBT residents of Israel is changing rapidly, with emerging issues involving surrogacy for gay male couples, co-parenting arrangements, accommodation for transgendered people, and the lack of civil marriage. Elinor Sidi is the director of Jerusalem Open House, a central location for social support, political activism and legal advocacy for the LGBT community. Sidi has also been involved in numerous social and political engagements regarding the role of Orthodox religion in LGBT affairs, and the concerns of gay Palestinians living in Israel . Come here Sidi discuss the recent legal and political developments that affect the gay community in Israel. Thursday, April 17, 2014, 5:30 p.m. at the Law Offices of Johnston, Kinney & Zulaica.

The California Supreme Court is charged with appointing five members of the State Bar of California's Board of Trustees. Pursuant to Rule 9.90 of the California Rules of Court, the Supreme Court has created the State Bar Trustees Nominating Committee to solicit, receive, screen and evaluate all applications for appointment or reappointment to the State Bar Board of Trustees and to make recommendations to the Supreme Court.

      

The California Supreme Court's State Bar Trustees Nominating Committee is seeking qualified candidates to serve as Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California. In 2014, two Board of Trustees positions will be filled during this process. 

 

The Board of Trustees of the State Bar is charged with the executive functions of the State Bar.  Public protection is the highest priority of the board in exercising its licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions. The board meets approximately eight times a year to consider organizational, policy and professional issues.

 

If you are interested in applying for appointment, please complete the application form and follow the filing instructions.

2014 Schedule of dates and deadlines

• Feb. 28: Last day to submit application
• Sept. 11-14: Annual Meeting - San Diego
• Sept.14: Appointees sworn in at Annual Meeting

For more information, please click here!

On Saturday, February 22, 2014, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area's Community Services Committee, Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, South Asian Bar Association of Northern California, Golden Gate University APALSA, and other bar associations and student groups will be hosting the 5th Annual Legally Asian conference to encourage college and high school students to pursue a law degree. Legally Asian 2014 will be held at Golden Gate University, School of Law, located at 536 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Registration and breakfast will be from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, and the program will be from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

 

The program is FREE. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. All interested students should register at http://tinyurl.com/LegallyAsian2014. Walk-ins are welcome. If you have any questions, please e-mail legallyasian1@gmail.com. 

 

Each year, CYLA recognizes a young or new lawyer for distinguished service to the public sector, the judiciary, or the profession with the Jack Berman Award of Achievement.  

 

The California State Bar established this prestigious award in 1992 to recognize the individual achievements of a lawyer who is either in his/her first five years of practice or age 36 and under. The award is named in memory of Jack Berman, a young lawyer who demonstrated outstanding service to the profession and the public, and who was tragically killed in a San Francisco shooting. This annual award honors his dedicated service to issues of concern to the profession, especially its young lawyers.

 

You can read about past Award Recipients and Nominate a fellow attorney using the Program Materials on CYLA's webpage: http://cyla.calbar.ca.gov/CYLA/JackBermanAward.aspx. The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, February 25, 2014. Early applications are encouraged! The award recipient will be recognized alongside the President's Pro Bono Service Award recipients at the State Bar Annual Meeting, held September 11-14, 2014 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California.

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.

Join Lambda Legal and its San Francisco Leadership Council for complimentary cocktails, conversation and equality at SALON. You will hear the latest news about Lambda Legal's work across the country protecting and advancing the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV, while connecting with Lambda Legal supporters, friends and colleagues.

Friday, March 7, 2014, 6:00 to 8:30 pm
McGuire Showroom, San Francisco Design Center
Two Henry Adams Street, Suite 233
RSVP to Jennifer Bing, 415.800.8127 or info@bing-sf.com

Join and share at

http://www.bit.ly/SFSalon

Attorney volunteers are needed to serve as judges for Berkeley Law School's McBaine Moot Court Competition. Boalt is looking for judges for the preliminary rounds, Monday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 19. They are encouraging Minority Bar Coalition members to participate to increase the diversity of judges. Dinner for the judges on both nights will start at 5:30 pm at Boalt (at Bancroft and College Ave), and the competition will start around 6:30 pm. Please contact Anne Gordon at adgordon@law.berkeley.edu if you are interested.

  

                                 

Uncontested Divorces

• Thursday, March 20, 5:30-7:00pm
• Presented by Brent Seymour, Esq., Shapiro Thorne Inc.
• Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room, San Francisco, CA 94111
• 1.5 General CLE Credits

To RSVP:

Alex Taylor

Volunteer Coordinator

AIDS Legal Referral Panel

1663 Mission St., Suite 500

San Francisco, CA 94103

415-701-1200 ext. 303

alext@alrp.org

www.alrp.org

 

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples: Is it Over Yet?

Lecture by Professor Matthew Coles

Wednesday, March 26, 2014 from 3:30 - 4:30pm

Room B at UC Hastings

 

It looks like the question of whether the U.S. Constitution says states 

must marry same-sex couples is headed back to the Supreme Court. 

Is that a good thing? Would a win mean that the LGBT movement is 

mostly over? Stop in for some speculation on the next big moment in 

the legal movement for LGBT rights. Matthew Coles is the Deputy 

National Legal Director of the ACLU and Director of the ACLU's Equality 

Center.

 

For more information, visit here!

The National LGBT Bar Association is now accepting submissions for the Student Leadership Award, the Michael Greenberg Writing Competition and the International Association of LGBT Judges Writing Competition

 

Student Leadership Award

The National LGBT Bar Association's Student Leadership Award is the organization's highest honor for law students. The award will recognize a law student who has demonstrated leadership within their school and in the surrounding community, especially in the area of LGBT equality.

 

Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition

Established in memory of Michael Greenberg, a former National LGBT Bar Association board member and Philadelphia attorney who died in 1996 from complications with AIDS, this exciting competition is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing outstanding law student scholarship on the legal issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons.

 

International Association of LGBT Judges Student Writing Competition

The International Association of LGBT Judges sponsors a writing competition for all law students attending the 2014 Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair. This is an exciting opportunity for law students who wish to pursue their career as a member of the United States judiciary.

 

Timeline

All three student awards will follow the same final submission date of Friday, May 16, 2014 at 5:00pm ET. Late entries will not be considered. Students are able to enter all competitions, but only if they turn in different works for each submission.

Click here for full competition details. Should you have any questions, please send them to info@LGBTbar.org.

 

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

 

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!

 

 

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

March 20- BALIF/ NCLR/ FAP Social Movie Night

March 27- Happy Hour Sponsored by Courtroom Sciences

April 5- BALIF East Bay Family Friendly Social

April 17- LGBT Legal & Political Developments in Israel

April 24- BALIF Board Election Night