Only one day left to vote for the BALIF Board of Directors!  

 

Elections will close online on April 15, 2015 at 4pm.  The candidate statements are posted online.  There will also be an opportunity to vote in person at BALIF's annual general membership meeting tomorrow 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.  

 

Sausage Factory

517 Castro Street

San Francisco, CA 

The ABA's Business Section is meeting in San Francisco, and the ABA LGBT Involvement Subcommittee invites BALIF members to an informal gathering at The Cavalier, 55-5th Avenue in San Francisco on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 6 pm.

 

When: 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.

 

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

 

RSVPs being accepted for Thursday, May 14, 2015 only. 

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

 

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.

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.

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.

 

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.