The American Constitution Society and BALIF invite you to join our all-star panel of marriage equality experts for a discussion of the Supreme Court's pending marriage equality cases consolidated into Obergefell v. Hodges.

Where: Morrison & Foerster, 425 Market Street, SF, CA

When: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 12:00pm   

On the panel are three of the most distinguished names in the history of marriage equality both in California and on the national stage.

Kate Kendell 

The leader of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a relentless advocate for the rights of LGBT people that regularly brings cases on behalf of LGBT plaintiffs all across the country, including Tanco v. Haslam, one of the four marriage equality cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Honorable Therese Stewart 

The former Chief Deputy City Attorney for San Francisco who represented the City and County of San Francisco in securing a ruling in favor of marriage equality in In re Marriage Cases in the California Supreme Court before Prop. 8, and argued before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional. In 2013, her groundbreaking work led to the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. 

Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker

Presided over the Prop. 8 case while serving on the U.S. District Court for  the Northern District of California, was one of the first judges in the country to rule that marriage equality was a  constitutional right, a decision that has served as the backbone of the more than 60 marriage quality decisions  decided since and leading up to the cases now before the Supreme Court.

The discussion will be moderated by Berkeley Law Professor Fred Smith. 

Please see the attached flyer for details!

RSVP required to get into the building for the panel. 

Click here to RSVP!

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.

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.

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.

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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.