Weekly Newsletter        |        January 20, 2015
In This Issue
Message from the BALIF Board 

 

 

We hope that the holidays have provided you some well deserved time of peace with friends and family. Sadly, 2015 kicked off without much departure from the violence we saw in the close of 2014, what with the ongoing terrorist attacks in Paris and the senseless murders in Nigeria. In honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes of his:

 

"If you can't fly, then run,

if you can't run, then walk, 

if you can't walk, then crawl, 

but whatever you do, 

you have to keep moving forward." 

 

May the much anticipated marriage equality decision by the Supreme Court once and for all honor all relationships across our Country, allowing us to tend with new energy and combined efforts the causes of HIV and AIDS care, trans rights, homelessness and senior care. 

 

As we continue to strive for justice in these areas, I thank you for your commitment to lending your talents to building a brighter and safer tomorrow. I look forward to and give thanks for yet another year together!

 

 

Semper Fi,

 

Joseph C. Rocha

BALIF Board Law Student Representative


BALIF Networking Mixer & Happy Hour

When: Thursday, February 5, 2015

Time: 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Where: Tribune Tavern, (401 13th Street), Oakland CA

 

What: An opportunity for you to mix with your fellow legal professionals and judges, and make a few new connections. There will be drinks and light appetizers provided. 

 

Click to view flyer!

The BALIF Gala: Celebrating 35 Years!
March 13, 2015, 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Terra Gallery & Event Venue

 


 

Join BALIF as we celebrate 35 years! Come celebrate the amazing progress our community has made over the past year. Better yet, be a sponsor! BALIF 2015 sponsors get complimentary tickets to the Gala as well as many other benefits.

 

Contact Mario Choi at gala@balif.org or go to the BALIF website at www.balif.org for sponsorship information or to buy tickets!

 

BALIF thanks this week's incoming 2015 BALIF Sponsors:

 

Advocate Level:

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Empowering Women Attorneys: API Women in Law Firms & Unconscious Bias

You are invited to attend this panel discussion by three powerhouse women attorneys (all Past Presidents of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California), who will share their experiences and tips on succeeding in the legal profession, including identifying, addressing, and overcoming biases as minority women in the legal profession. Afterwards, please join fellow attorneys and law students for networking mixer/reception.

 

Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Time: Registration at 5:30 p.m.; CLE from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.; and Networking mixer/cocktail hour/reception: 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Location: Reed Smith LLP, 101 Second Street, Suite 1800, San Francisco, CA 94105

 

CLE: Elimination of Bias Credit PENDING!

 

RSVP to Eunice Yang at eyang@minamitamaki.com by Jan. 16, 2015.

ALRP Free 2015 MCLE Trainings
ALRP

 

Ethical Issues in Representing Low-Income and Disabled Clients

  • Thursday, January 22, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Tiela Chalmers, Esq. - Tiela Chalmers Consulting
  • 1.5 Legal Ethics CLE Credits

The Nuts & Bolts of Removal Defense Procedures

  • Thursday, February 12, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Cara Jobson, Esq. - Wiley & Jobson
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

Conservatorships

  • Tuesday, February 17, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Amy Harrington, Esq. - Law Offices of Amy Harrington
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

Removal Defense Waivers and Prosecutorial Discretion: Getting the Results You Want in Immigration Court

  • Wednesday, March 11, 5:30-7:00pm
  • Presented by Gene Sverdlov, Esq. - Law Offices of Gene Sverdlov
  • 1.5 General CLE Credits

Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession: Prevention, Detection, and Treatment

  • Thursday, March 26, 5:30-7:30pm
  • Presented by David Mann - Northern California Consultant to The Other Bar
  • 1.5 Substance Abuse CLE Credits

All Classes take place at:

Bar Association of San Francisco

301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, Board Room

San Francisco, CA 94111

 

To RSVP

Email:

mcle@alrp.org

Call: 415-701-1200 ext. 303 


Protect Your Family, Your Home & Yourself through Estate Planning & Financial Planning

 

It's the New Year. Take action. Edward Joy, Attorney at Law will provide a highly informative and interactive discussion around estate planning law, and how to protect you, your estate & your family, with a special focus on LGBT issues. Financial planning speaker to be announced. This seminar is free with no obligation.

 

Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Time: 6:30-7:30 PM

Where: North Beach Library, 850 Columbus Avenue

 

RSVP by emailing edward@edwardjoylaw.com or calling 415-608-6727

Pride Law Fund Gay Ski Day- Moved to March 2015

To maximize the snow in Tahoe, the Pride Law Fund Gay Ski Day at Squaw Valley Resort has been moved to March 21, 2015.  Buses will leave from SF and Walnut Creek in the morning and will return that night for a fun-filled day of snow adventures (including downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and hot-chocolate drinking by the fire). 


Register for Gay Ski Day online at: http://bit.ly/1dPCCus

Proceeds benefit legal services and advocacy for the LGBT community in the Bay Area and beyond!


 

 

California Bar Foundation
Bar Exam Scholarship

 

Diversity in the Public Interest - Bar Exam Scholarship. This scholarship supports bar exam expenses for law students from diverse backgrounds who plan to pursue careers in the public interest sector. The California Bar Foundation is pleased to introduce the scholarship. "Diversity" includes a broad array of backgrounds and life experiences, including students from groups or with skills or attributes that are underrepresented in the legal profession, and specifically including students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

 

Deadline: Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 4:30pm

Link to application: http://www.tfaforms.com/357498

More info: http://www.calbarfoundation.org/public-interest-scholarship.html


Celebrate Marriage Equality with NCTC!

You're invited to a special benefit for New Conservatory Theatre Center!

 

February 14th, 1:00-4:30pm

Delancey Street Foundation Screening Room

600 Embarcadero, San Francisco

 

Start your Valentine's Day celebrations with an exclusive screening of The Case Against 8, the acclaimed HBO Documentary about this pivotal event in the fight for marriage equality. Key participants in the case, including Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, attorney Enrique Monagas, and plaintiffs Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo will come together for the first time in a panel discussion following the film.

 

Show your NCTC love and enjoy a champagne reception followed by a screening and panel discussion at the plush Delancy Street screening room, all in support of San Francisco's premier LGBT theatre.

 

Subscriber & Early bird (thru January 30th) Tickets: $65

Regular Tickets: $75

VIP (best seating - limited amount available) Tickets: $100

 

Purchase tickets here!

Follow BALIF on Twitter!

 

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 in the right hand column of the newsletter or here.

 

Uber Discount for BALIF Members
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).
Join the BALIF Listserv!

 

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 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 membership@balif.org.

 

Can't wait to hear your great news!

 

Meaghan Zore 

BALIF Membership Chair

 

Job Postings Now on BALIF Website

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 JOBS from the menu on the left.

February 5th - BALIF Networking Mixer & Happy Hour in Oakland
March 13, 2015 - Save the Date! 
BALIF Gala
March 21 - PLF Gay Ski Day
BALIF Board of Directors
Jamie Dupree & John Robert Unruh
  
Peter Catalanotti
Secretary

Mario Choi
Treasurer

Andrew Vu &
Lilah Sutphen 
Judiciary Co-Chairs

Nick Clements & 
Mario Choi
Gala Co-Chairs  

 

Meaghan Zore 

Leah Nutting
Amicus Chair     

Joseph Rocha & Midori Hirai
Katie Carlson
BALIF Administrator 
Our 2014 Sponsors
Senior Partner Level
 
 
Partner Level

A&P


Fenwick
HB Logo
Kilpatrick

Mofo
Sedgwick2
Seyfarth


Wilson

Advocate Level

 

A.L. Nella & Company, CPAs 

AT&T 

Bingham McCutchen  

Farella Braun + Martel LLP 

Jones Day 

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. 

Nixon Peabody LLP 

O'Melveny & Meyers LLP 

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 

Perkins Coie LLP 

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 

Santa Clara University School of Law 

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 

Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP 

 

Benefactor Level

 

Clarence, Dyer & Cohen LLP / Swanson & McNamara LLP 

Cooley Godward Kronish LLP 

FTI Consulting 

Futterman Dupree Dodd Croley Maier LLP 

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher 

Golden Gate University 

HaleyNelson & Heilbrun LLP 

Heath Newton LLP 

HendricksMurry, P.C. 

Jackson Lewis LLP 

JAMS 

Latham & Watkins LLP 

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

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP 

Littler Mendelson 

Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP 

Paul Hastings LLP 

Pritzker Law 

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 

Special Counsel 

Stein & Lubin LLP 

 

Individual Sponsors

 

Altep, Inc.  

Todd Norris, Bullivant Houser Bailey 

Michael Colantuono, Colantuono & Levin, P.C.  

Peter C. Catalanotti, Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP 

Debra R. Schoenberg, Schoenberg Family Law Group, P.C. 

 Cheryl Sena, Sena Family Law 

Judge Vaughn Walker ADR/Law Office Vaughn R Walker 

Hon. James L. Warren (Ret.), JAMS  

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP 
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P.O. Box 193383
San Francisco, CA 94119

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