BALIF has received a record 20 candidate statements for the 10 open positions on the Board!  Thank you to everyone who submitted statements and nominations.  Let the campaign season begin!  Good luck to all of the candidates!    

 

Elections will begin online on April 1, 2015.  The candidate statements will be posted online.  There will also be an opportunity to vote in person at BALIF's annual general membership meeting on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 from 6 - 8:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Sausage Factory in the Castro.  The results will be announced at the end of the meeting. 

 

The BALIF Board is pleased to announce that Dennis Raglin, a partner at Sedgwick LLP, has been selected to receive BALIF's  2015 Mentor of the Year Award. Dennis has done a spectacular job providing professional guidance and support to mentee Raymond Rollan, who recently graduated from University of San Francisco School of Law. The award was presented at BALIF's Mentorship Program/Law Student Spring Happy Hour on April 2.

BASF and BALIF presents:

 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

 

The Bar Association of San Francisco

301 Battery Street, Third Floor

 

• $30 BASF Student and Legal Professional Members
• $40 Committee Members, Government & Non-Profit Attorneys, and BALIF Members
• $50 BASF Members 
• $65 Others

 

MCLE: 1.5 Hours of Elimination of Bias Credit

MCLE Registration: 5:00 - 5:30 p.m.

 

Light Refreshments/Program: 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Event Code: G151629

 

Click here to view the flyer!

 

THE PANEL

HON. ANGELA BRADSTREET- San Francisco Superior Court

HON. LINDA COLFAX- San Francisco Superior Court

HON. VICTORIA KOLAKOWSKI- Alameda County Superior Court

HON. VAUGHN WALKER (RET)- United States District Court for the Northern District

STUART PLUNKETT- Morrison & Foerster/BASF Judiciary Committee

 

THE PANEL DISCUSSION WILL FEATURE

* LGBT judicial officers discussing their personal pathways to the bench

*Information on the vetting process for judicial candidates in California

* Advice for (LGBT) attorneys considering a career in the judiciary

 

Daniel Faessler is the 2014-2015 Pride Law Fund Tom Steel Fellow.  His fellowship is sponsored by Transgender Law Center and works in partnership with a number of Bay Area organizations serving the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community.   Faessler has established the Transgender Legal Services Project (TLSP), which reduces barriers to accessible legal representation by providing fully bilingual (Spanish and English) services for the TGNC community in the San Francisco Bay Area. TLSP organizes legal clinics where community members may access legal information, obtain referrals and seek direct representation on a variety of legal issues including discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations; court-ordered name and gender changes; accessing medical care; immigration; and many other issues. TLSP has served 59 of the most vulnerable and marginalized TGNC people in the Bay Area TGNC community.  For more information, contact Daniel Faessler at Daniel@transgenderlawcenter.org

 

When: Tuesday, April 14, 2015, Thursday, May 14, 2015; Tuesday, June 17, 2015; Thursday, July 16, 2015; and Thursday, August 20, 2015

Time: 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Where: San Francisco City Club (155 Sansome, 10th Floor)

What: Gourmet buffet lunch with other partners and firm owners

Cost: $40 payable by cash or check only

 

BALIF has created the BALIF Partners Exchange to bring together our members that are looking to network and exchange business and ideas. This event is exclusively for BALIF members who are partners or owners of their firm with 7 years or more of experience.

 

April's luncheon topic: Social media - how do you use it in your practice? What are the best practices? If you're not using it yet, should you be? Why or why not? What are the pitfalls of legal professionals using social media.

 

Space is limited so only the first 11 to RSVP to jdupree@fddcm.com may attend.

RSVPs being accepted for Tuesday, April 14, 2015 only. 

MARCH 6 - San Francisco - Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in the consolidated cases Obergefell v. Hodges , Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder, and Bourke v. Beshear, in support of the Petitioners' positions that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a same-sex marriage lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state. BALIF's brief argues that it is the duty of the courts to decide the equal protection challenge, that the marriage bans are unconstitutional applying even the most deferential rational basis review, and that the bans inflict profound legal, economic, and emotional harm on same-sex couples and their children.

 

"Contrary to the Sixth Circuit's holding, it is the role of the judiciary to evaluate the constitutionality of state provisions and not to defer the question to the state voters and legislators who enacted them," said Leah Nutting, BALIF's Amicus Committee chair. "Fundamental rights such as the right to marry cannot be denied by majority vote. The institution of marriage is too special and the harms caused by the bans are too costly to just 'wait and see' for the democratic process to recognize that right."

 

Thirty bar associations and legal organizations from around the nation joined BALIF in signing the brief. The coalition of amici includes state, metropolitan, local, and minority bar associations and local non-profit organizations. The brief was filed with pro bono support from Jerome C. Roth and Amelia L. B. Sargent of the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson.

DIVERSITY RECEPTION & SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER

 

3L+ Law Prep cordially invites you to celebrate diversity and support our scholarship programs for law students and new attorneys at our Second Annual San Francisco Diversity Reception & Scholarship Fundraiser. Join us for appetizers, drinks, a chance to win cool raffle prizes, and inspiring speeches.

 

When:   April 8, 2015, 6-8 p.m.

Where: The Fairmont (Crystal Room), 950 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

 

For details, pricing, and tickets click HERE. Attendance is complimentary for all conference/seminar attendees (see below). All proceeds benefit 3L+ scholarship and diversity programs for law students and new lawyers.

 

SF CAREER CONFERENCE & SCHOLARSHIPS

 

Do you want to learn skills to help you proactively manage your legal career? Become a successful, balanced, and fulfilled attorney?

 

When:   April 8, 2015, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Where: The Fairmont (historic Garden Room where the UN Charter was drafted)

             950 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

 

Conference courses/topics here.

Speaker list here.

 

You can register for the entire 3L+ Law Prep Career Conference (9 am to 5 pm), the morning Super Summer Seminar (law students), or the afternoon Career Management Seminar (attorneys and law students, 2 hour CA general CLE pending) HERE. To benefit from our bar association 50% discount, register before March 11 and use special code "NorCalBar" (last field on the registration form). Admission to the evening's Diversity Reception & Scholarship Fundraiser is complimentary for all conference and seminar attendees.

 

Scholarships for New Attorneys - Thanks to the generous sponsorship of our partner SoFi, we are able to provide full scholarships to attorneys in their first two years of practice to attend the Career Conference. Click HERE for eligibility and application information.  

Scholarships for law students - click here

 

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact Nicole Britton-Snyder at nbrittonsnyder@sfbar.org.

 

Nicole Britton-Snyder, Esq.

Diversity Pipeline Programs Manager 

Justice & Diversity Center, The Bar Association of San Francisco 301 Battery Street, Third Floor 

San Francisco, CA 94111 
Tel: 415-782-8914 

nbrittonsnyder@sfbar.org | www.sfbar.org/diversity

 

SBA and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) held the first LGBT Business Builder event here in San Francisco two weeks ago.  This was the first event of a national series to reach LGBT businesses to encourage LGBT certification.  Of course, the best place to initiate that effort was here in San Francisco, with SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.  Locally, the SBA and GGBA will continue our effort to reach out to LGBT entrepreneurs, and we want to enlist you in this effort.

 

featuring stories that explore LGBT trends, issues and workplace diversity, and highlighting LGBT leaders within the Bay Area business community.

 

The deadline to nominate an LGBT-owned company is Wednesday, April 15.  Here is a link to the nomination form to forward to your clients to self-nominate: http://bizj.us/1dulyr

Volunteer Appreciation Party

Thursday April 16, 6-8pm, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

http://www.alrp.org/events/volunteer-appreciation-party-2015

 

Major Donor Party

Wednesday, May 20, 5:30-7:30pm, The Plant Cafe

http://www.alrp.org/events/2015-major-donor-party

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103

 

Join Lambda Legal's Bay Area Leadership Council for a fabulous night in San Francisco! Supporters will learn of Lambda Legal updates while enjoying a fantastic dinner among friends and supporters at the City View at Metreon.

 

For more information, please visit the event website at http://www.lambdalegal.org/sfsoiree2015, or contact Adrian Ogle at 646-307-7397.

 

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.

 

 

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 JOBS from the menu on the left.