As of today, we have over 40 employers who will be at the Expo. Here's a list:

Futterman Dupree Dodd Croley Maier LLP

Law Offices of Linda M. Scaparotti*

Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi LLP- Oakland office*

Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi  LLP- San Francisco office

NovaBay Pharmaceutical, Inc.

San Francisco District Attorney's Office

Cooley LLP

Callaway & Wolf

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP*

 National Center for Lesbian Rights

Perkins Coie LLP

Mediation Law Offices of Barbara S. Bryant

Edward P. Joy, Attorney at Law

AIDS Legal Referral Panel

Johnston Kinney and Zulaica LLP*

Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP

US District Court for the Northern District of California

Pritzker | Law*

Dickson Geesman LLP

Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C.

Farella Braun + Martel

San Francisco City Attorney's Office 

Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP

Fenwick & West LLP*

Service Employees International Union Local 1000*

Manning & Kass Ellroad Ramirez Trester LLP

San Francisco Superior Court

Sanford Heisler*

Allysyn Overton Law*

 Law Office of Okan Sengun, PC*

Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe*

Reed Smith LLP*

Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith

La Casa De Las Madres

Bullivant Houser Bailey PC

Transgender Law Center

Sally Morin Professional Corporation*

Seyfarth Shaw

Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff & Lowe, LLP

Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg LLP*

Littler Mendelson P.C.*

Click here to see the list! And make sure you register!

What continues to be the biggest need for our young lawyers and law students? Jobs!

BALIF's Second Annual CAREER & NETWORKING EXPO

Saturday, March 29, 2014

12:30 pm - 6 pm

Golden Gate University School of Law

536 Mission Street

San Francisco, CA 94105-2968

• Latest Update: Over 40 firms, non-profits, government agencies, and recruiters will be on hand to give you the insider perspective on a spectrum of practice areas and organizations!
• One-on-one mock interview sessions.
• Individual resume counseling.
• "Power Prepping" Panel. Let us share our experiences with the job hunt and what you can do while looking for that perfect job.
• "Power Networking" Panel. Let BALIF members who found their jobs through networking (including through last year's Expo!) show you how to do it!
• "Power Interviewing" Panel. Let the pros show you how to bring it all together and nail that job offer!

• Networking Mixer at 111 Minna Gallery, from 6:00- 7:30pm, to put to practice the skills you've learned all day! Sponsored by Robert Half Legal

If you're on the job hunt, this event is your wisest investment. RSVP now!

Co-sponsored by Robert Half Legal & Golden Gate School of Law.

A great way to serve the LGBT legal community and become more involved in BALIF is to join BALIF's Board of Directors. BALIF's Directors are elected by the BALIF membership, and each Director holds office for two years. Any BALIF member is welcome to run for the Board or nominate another BALIF member. BALIF's bylaws reflect the Board's commitment to "equality, parity, and diversity," and we specifically encourage people of color, women, and transgender and/or gender non-conforming individuals to run for the Board. All Directors must attend BALIF's Board Retreat the evening of Friday, May 9 and all day Saturday, May 10, 2014.

To run for the Board or nominate someone else, please send a candidate statement of up to 250 words to Julie Wilensky (secretary@balif.org) and BALIF's Administrator, Katie Carlson (balif@balif.org) by April 3, 2014 at 5:30 pm. BALIF's bylaws require gender parity on the Board, with a certain number of positions allocated to Directors who identify as male, female, and gender non-conforming. So if you are seeking a position, please indicate the category with which you identify.

Elections will be online starting on April 10, and there will be an opportunity to vote in person at BALIF's annual general membership meeting on Tuesday, April 24, 2014 from 6 - 8:30 p.m. The results will be announced at the end of the meeting.

Questions about the Board? Thinking about seeking a position? Feel free to contact Julie Wilensky at secretary@balif.org.

Please join us for the BALIF March Happy Hour!

Sponsored by Jinah Conroy of Courtroom Sciences

When: Thursday, March 27, 6-8 p.m. 

Where:Infusion Lounge

124 Ellis Street (between Mason and Powell)

San Francisco, CA

Golden Gate University School of Law and Queer Law Student Association are celebrating 21 years of the Zamperini-Burchell Scholarship on March 27, 2014. This is a special event to honor the 2014 scholarship recipient, Dustin Helmer. The event is FREE with light appetizers and beverages served.

Date and Time:

March 27, 2014; 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Location:

GGU Law, 40 Jesse Street, San Francisco, CA.

6th Floor, Riley Conference Room.

Please RSVP here:

http://ggulawzamperinireception2014.eventbrite.com

Please join BALIF at our East Bay social for BALIF members (past, present, future) and their families.  Kids of all ages welcome. Kid friendly snacks and drinks will be provided; alcoholic beverages will be provided for current BALIF member adults. A face painter and balloon artist will be onhand to entertain the kids. This will be a great opportunity for BALIF parents to get to know one another.  

Not currently a BALIF member?  It's easy to join. Simply follow this link, and sign up on line.

Click here for the Amicus Brief.

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 transgender 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 hear Sidi discuss the recent legal and political developments that affect the gay community in Israel. Thursday, April 17, 2014, 4:30 p.m. at the Bar Association of San Francisco, 301 Battery Street, San Francisco.  

This event is co-sponsored with the Bar Association of San Francisco's LGBT Equality Committee & International Human Rights Committee.

Attendees must RSVP by emailing Fred@Frederickhertz.com

The Office of the Independent Administrator (OIA) is seeking qualified individuals who want to join its pool of possible arbitrators. There is no fee to do so and the OIA receives no money from the neutral arbitrators.

The OIA administers the arbitration system between Kaiser Permanente Health Plan, Inc., and its six million members in California. We administer about 650 cases a year and have approximately 275 neutral arbitrators on the panel. The panels are divided by region; Northern California, Southern California, and San Diego. The parties select their neutral arbitrator by striking and ranking 12 randomly generated names supplied by the OIA, or by jointly selecting any neutral arbitrator upon whom they can agree.   Neutrals set their own fees and are paid by the parties.

Among other requirements, neutral arbitrators must either be lawyers with either ten years of substantial litigation and/or arbitration experience; retired state or federal judges; or lawyers with specifically designed arbitration training.   Medical malpractice experience is not required. You must agree to follow the OIA Rules and ensure that the deadlines set forth in the Rules are met.

If interested, please go to the OIA at www.oia-kaiserarb.com. You may complete the application on line. You may also obtain copies by emailing oia@oia-kaiserarb.com or by calling 213-637-9847. The qualifications and a copy of the application are attached.

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.

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.

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.