On Saturday, June 20th from 9:00AM to Noon BALIF volunteers will help with the work of creating and maintaining the National AIDS Memorial Grove. The National AIDS Memorial Grove, located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, is a dedicated space in the national landscape where millions of Americans touched directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to heal, hope, and remember.  Its mission is to provide, in perpetuity, a place of remembrance so that the lives of people who died from AIDS are not forgotten and the story is known by future generations.  

BALIF volunteers will participate in gardening activities: clearing weeds and debris, mulching and hauling topsoil, planting new trees and shrubs, and other related activities within the Grove. A breakfast of coffee, juices, bagels and fruit is served at 8:30AM and lunch is provided to all volunteers at 12:30PM.  Most volunteers find Community Volunteer Workdays to be a rewarding experience, even though you may have sore muscles at the end of the day!  If you are interested, please RSVP to 

socialaction@balif.org by Wednesday, June 17th.

June 12, 2015 - San Francisco - Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Norsworthy v. Beard. Ms. Norsworthy is a transgender woman held in a California men's prison. The district court concluded that the denial of necessary medical care to Ms. Norsworthy violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It issued a preliminary injunction requiring the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide Ms. Norsworthy with adequate medical care, including sex reassignment surgery. CDCR appealed the preliminary injunction to the Ninth Circuit.
 

BALIF's brief in support of Ms. Norsworthy argues that when sex-reassignment surgery - or any medical treatment required for a serious medical need - has been identified as medically necessary for a prisoner, CDCR must provide it. There is no authority for a blanket denial of a particular procedure due to anticipated security and administrative issues. The brief explains that state and local detention systems throughout the country, including CDCR, have developed policies and procedures that ensure the health and safety of transgender prisoners while effectively balancing security and administrative issues. CDCR's asserted security issues ignore important aspects of California's prison system and are entirely manageable with respect to Ms. Norsworthy. Constitutional and other federal law require that CDCR take steps to ensure both the health and safety of a transgender prisoner like Ms. Norsworthy, as the district court correctly held.
 

"CDCR cannot hide behind its asserted security and administrative concerns to avoid its constitutional duty to provide medically necessary care to all prisoners, including Ms. Norsworthy," said Julie Wilensky, chair of BALIF's Amicus Committee.
 

BALIF's brief was filed by pro bono amicus counsel Rosen,  Bien,  Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, whose team includes attorneys Aaron J. Fischer and Sanford Rosen, summer associate Abbye Klamann, and paralegal clerk Charlotte Landes. 

Click here to read the brief.

BALIF is proud to be co-sponsor of the Baker Botts Global Women's Forum's a "Summer Spotlight on Success" panel of General Counsels, including Kelly Tullier (GC of Visa), John Kuo (GC of Varian Medical Systems), Jan Kang (GC of AOptix), and Brian Cabrera (GC of nVIDIA).

This high-profile panel will discuss topics of interest and relevance to both in-house attorneys and law firm attorneys: how GCs decide whether to give work to outside counsel, plus tips on developing business relationships and pitching for business; and how GCs hire supporting in-house counsel, plus tips on networking to get on the insider track for in-house positions.

The details: 

July 1, 2015

Panel Discussion: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Reception: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Baker Botts LLP

1001 Page Mill Road

Building One, Suite 200

Palo Alto, CA 94304

 1.0 Hour of General CLE Credit is pending approval.

Please click HERE to RSVP.

The newly formed LGBT Caucus with the American Association for Justice has planned its first-ever CLE lineup for the American Association for Justice Annual Convention this summer in Montreal being held on July 11-15. Started less than two years ago, the LGBT caucus has gained in size and momentum and aims to have its huge coming out this summer at the convention.

The lineup will consist of three events. On the afternoon of July 11, the caucus will host a 1.5 hour CLE presentation focused on marriage equality, which will have just been argued before the Supreme Court.

The panel of speakers will include:

• Justice John Greaney (ret.) of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who authored the powerful concurring opinion in the Goodridge case.
• Chuck Herring, Esq., of Texas, whose tireless efforts and creativity got a marriage license issued in Texas for the same-sex marriage of two of his clients.
• Professor Michael Kavey, of NYU School of Law, who has worked for Lambda Legal, clerked for Justice Sotomayor (while on the Second Circuit) and been named by the national LGBT Bar Association as one of the "Best LGBT Attorneys Under 40."
• Elizabeth Schwartz, Esq., of Miami, FL, who has worked tirelessly for marriage equality as counsel in a case challenging Florida's marriage ban.

The LGBT Caucus will also host a business meeting for its caucus members and a cocktail reception for its members to network and socialize.

For information on becoming a member of the American Association for Justice and the LGBT Caucus, or attending the convention, please contact the AAJ at membership@justice.org or (800) 424-2727, ext. 8611.

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.