These days, it can feel hard to engage in all our commitments with “intention” or hard to get clarity on what we intend. Let's take the time to explore our intentions, and think about what we really want, and how we can get focused on it.   

The workshop is not limited to AABA Bay Area members, so welcome you to invite friends and colleagues as well.

RSVP here to secure your spot!

On Friday, February 17, 2023, the University of San Francisco's Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program (YPSP) is hosting a symposium called "New Directions in Filipinx Studies" on the University of San Francisco campus. The symposium is open to the public, though we particularly welcome scholars, researchers, students, community leaders, and allies invested in Philippine Studies, Filipina/o/x American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Ethnic Studies. 

The symposium will feature presentations by Sony Coráñez Bolton (Amherst College), Adrian De Leon (University of Southern California), Josen Diaz (University of San Diego), Genevieve Clutario (Wellesley College), Tessa Winkelmann (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), and James Zarsadiaz (University of San Francisco), and will be moderated by Sarita See (University of California, Riverside).

To register, please visit: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PQmIcizBQUi3dKvtft289Q

The Alameda Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association is hosting their Diversity Mixer on September 7, 2022, at Seawolf Public House in Oakland.

For those interested, please RSVP by September 1, 2022 at: ACCTrialLawyers@gmail.com or (925) 257-4214.

The ABA Young Lawyers Division presents: “How & Why of DE&I: Implementing Inclusion Plans in Bar Associations”. This event will be held via Zoom on April 20, 2022 at 10am PST/1pm EST. If interested, please register at: https://americanbar.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b_EYt3XNT3evYwBvbIaFzg

Join the Solano County Bar Association & the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Solano County on Thursday, May 19th from Noon to 1:15 PM on Zoom for a discussion with FBANC Past President Marc Pilotin and Professor Lisa C. Ikemoto.

1 hour bias MCLE
$25 for members
$40 for non-members

To register, please email scba@solanobar.org

FBANC is a proud sponsor of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Solano County's 10th Annual Dinner.

This event is happening on Thursday, May 12th at 5:30 PM at 601 Texas Street, Fairfield, CA.

For more information, please visit APABA Solano County's website by clicking here.

The ABA Young Lawyers Division presents: “How & Why of DE&I: Implementing Inclusion Plans in Law Schools”. This event will be held via Zoom on April 20, 2022 at 10am PST/1pm EST. If interested, please register at: https://americanbar.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N2Oi-OnVRNGmZbS2K2u7tw

Our friends from the Filipino-American Lawyers of Orange County is hosting a free CLE called “The Ins and Outs of Starting a Law Firm”. We are excited to be a co-sponsor for this event. For more information and to register, please visit www.floclawyers.org.

In recognition of Black History Month, the Asian American Bar Association in collaboration with the Charles Houston Bar Association presents “No One is Free Until We Are All Free: A discussion on AAPI-Black Solidarity in Fighting Racial Injustice”.  FBANC is a Co-Sponsor of this event.

The esteemed panel will discuss the history of tensions and solidarity between Asian and Black Americans, how their movements interact, and how both communities can work in concert to fight racial injustice. 

One (1) hour of free MCLE is provided (Elimination of Bias).
Friday, February 25, 2022 from 12-1 p.m.
Via Youtube. More information can be found at: https://www.aaba-bay.com/event-4673321

Our Panelists:
Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (she/her) is a Full Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Davis. She was the first Pinay (Filipina born in the United States) to serve as chair in the Asian American Studies’ department’s 50-year history. She is also the Founding Director of the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies, the only one of its kind in the University of California system and nationally focused on the Filipinx experience in the United States. Though she has achieved many firsts as a Filipina in her profession, she has been steadfastly committed to ensuring that she is not the last. Mentorship and community-building in academia, particularly for Black, Indigenous, Women of Color, is of vital importance to her and for her work as a mentor, she was awarded the “Excellence in Mentoring Award” by the Association for Asian American Studies 2021.

Professor Margaret M. Russell has been a member of the Santa Clara University School of Law faculty since 1990 and is affiliated with the University’s Center for Social Justice & Public Service, the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and the Center for Multicultural Learning. She has been honored for her contributions to student life at Santa Clara by the Asian Pacific Law Students Association and the Black Law Students Association. In 1991, she traveled to South Africa with a delegation of legal scholars to provide consultation on constitution-drafting for the post-apartheid transition. Prior to joining the Santa Clara Law faculty, Professor Russell was a fellow at the public interest firm Public Advocates, Inc., a law firm in San Francisco. She served as the director of Public Interest Programs and as the acting assistant dean of student affairs at Stanford University, and also clerked for the Honorable James E. Doyle of the U.S. District Court in Madison, Wisconsin.

Aarti Kohli is the Executive Director of Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, the first organization in the country to represent and promote the legal and civil rights of Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Aarti leads ALC with a vision of increasing the power of low-income immigrant communities to help advance economic and racial justice in our democracy. She currently leads a national table of Asian American leaders addressing anti-Asian hate with a focus on policy, messaging, and solidarity work. Aarti is committed to advancing local, state, and federal policy solutions that recognize and address the needs of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Aarti is an experienced leader with over twenty years of experience working at the intersections of immigration, civic engagement, criminal justice, economic equity, and national security. Prior to joining Advancing Justice - ALC, Aarti led her own consulting practice where she advised philanthropy and managed a project on the politics of demographic change and immigration reform at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Aarti also served as the Director of Immigration Policy at the Warren Institute at UC Berkeley School of Law where she led the institute’s immigration initiative on issues of equity for immigrant families. Formerly, she worked on a range of issues, from bankruptcy to voting rights, as Judiciary Committee counsel to Representative Howard Berman (D-CA). Before working for Congress she served as Assistant Legislative Director at UNITE union in Washington, DC where she lobbied on behalf of low-income garment workers.

Our Moderator:
Mari Bandoma Callado is a Senior Associate Attorney and Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at the Dolan Law Firm, PC. She exclusively represents plaintiffs in employment and personal injury matters. Since 2017, Mari has been selected as a "Rising Star" every year in the Northern California edition of SuperLawyers magazine. Mari is an advocate for equal access to justice. She regularly volunteers at Legal Aid at Work’s Workers’ Rights Clinic and Alameda County Bar Association’s Lawyers in the Library and speak on various Know Your Rights webinars and clinics, particularly on employment topics such as pregnancy discrimination and parental leave.  Mari also committed to diversifying the legal profession. She founded the Dolan Law Firm's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and currently serves as its Director. She is a dedicated leader of several national, state and local bar association, organizations and non-profit boards.  She currently serves as AABA’s Civil Rights Committee Co-Chair. She recently completed her term as the 40th President of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California and the Foundation of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California after serving on its board for eight years.  In 2021, she was honored by the Minority Bar Coalition and FBANC with the Unity Award for her efforts in advancing diversity in the legal profession.

The ABA Young Lawyers Division presents: “How & Why of DE&I: Implementing Inclusion Plans in Corporations”. This event will be held via Zoom on February 9, 2022 at 10am PST/1pm EST. If interested, please register at: https://americanbar.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5WX6DoBwR5GpH6_kfTdVRw

Are you a law student? Join AABA on February 3 for a free virtual event to meet with AAPI judges and learn about judicial internships, judicial clerkships, and careers in the judiciary!

Registration is limited - register now! https://www.aaba-bay.com/event-4636710

Happy new year FBANC family! We are excited to share this upcoming event on Demystifying the Judicial Appointments Process which will be held virtually on February 2, 2022 at 5:30 PM.

Speakers include:
Remarks by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye
Judicial Appointments Secretary Luis Cespedes
Santa Clara Judge Iravani-Sani
Alameda Judge Andrew Seckler, Past Chair of JNE
Marvin Anderson, Past President of BASF and its Judiciary Committee

This event was created by the Bay Area Judicial Mentor Programs of Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara County Superior Courts. The Statewide California Judicial Mentor Program is a collaboration between the Executive and Judicial branches of the state of California.

The purpose of the California Judicial Mentor Program is to assist in the recruitment and development of a pool of qualified, inclusive, an diverse judicial applicants for the courts of California. The program matches an attorney interested in applying to become a judge with a mentor judge who can help to demystify the application process. The program seeks to improve transparency and accessibility for all members of the legal community who are interested in serving on the superior court.

We hope to see you there!

The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC (FACL BC) is premiering its mini- documentary, “But I Look Like a Lawyer”, on Friday, November 5, 2021 from 12:30–1:30 pm pst at a virtual Zoom event.

The mini-documentary highlights the discrimination, stereotyping and bias experienced by members of the pan-Asian legal community. FACL BC’s goal is to strive for change and to recognize and eliminate unconscious biases and discrimination within the legal community. The documentary also aims to bring renewed attention to the original But I Was Wearing a Suit documentary (and its Part II), spearheaded by a group of leaders in the Indigenous legal community.

Please sign up at faclbc.ca/documentary for the registration link for the virtual Zoom event. Any questions? Email us at: documentary@faclbc.ca

Save the date for Nov 4.

5pm PST, 7pm CST 8pm EST

For the NFALA Virtual Gala.

This year's theme is bringing it all together.

Please attend if possible, as past presidents Christine Start and Lorna Garcia de Guzman will be installed in leadership!

You can watch at: http://www.nfalagala.com/

•

Congratulations again to the newly appointed NFALA 2021-2022 NFALA Executive Officers! We’re excited for your leadership and what you will achieve!

#Nfalagala #nfala100

#bringingitalltogether

#nfalafamily

The American Constitution Society is hosting a virtual panel on restorative justice tomorrow, October 28th from 10-11am.

The panelists include:

Hon. Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge, Yurok Tribal Court; former Court Commissioner, San Francisco County Superior Court; former Chair of the Board, Root & Rebound Tribal Reentry Advocacy Project

Lara Bazelon, Professor of Law and Phillip and Muriel C. Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy & Director of the Criminal & Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinics, University of San Francisco School of Law; Author of Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction; former Trial Attorney, Office of Federal Defender, Los Angeles

Hon. Ray Buenaventura, Councilmember, Daly City; former Mayor, Daly City; Attorney, Certified Criminal Law Specialist, Buenaventura Law Firm

You can learn more about the event here: 

https://www.acslaw.org/event/acs-at-large-restorative-justice-a-panel-discussion/

The U.S. Department of Justice is hosting a virtual conference featuring Attorney General of the United States Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke,  entitled “Confronting Hate: Strategies for Prevention, Accountability, and Justice.”

 The Conference will be held Monday, October 25, 2021 from 11 am – 3:30 PM ET. Please see below for more information.

Description:

For far too long in this country, acts of hate have harmed lives and terrorized communities. These threats have only grown more severe in recent years.

Please join the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division for this important and timely convening about how we can all work together to address the scourge of hate-motivated violence and discrimination. This virtual conference will include discussions about the rise of hate activity, online hate, the recently released 2020 hate crimes statistics, and the role of criminal, civil, and community responses to acts of hate.

Featured speakers include Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke.

For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_nTWQ2tnXRbqzHC_fYmzY2w

UNDISCOVERED CULTURE CRAWL

When: Saturday, October 16th, 2021

Time: 12:00PM-6:00PM Pacific Standard Time
Cost: FREE

Open to All Ages

UNDSCVRD Culture Crawl is a one day celebration of the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District of artists, creatives, food vendors, retail vendors, and wellness practitioners. We’re back #IRL this year and very excited to safely bring our UNDSCVRD community together for the first time on a larger scale post-quarantine to connect and collaborate again. Come through on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16th from 12:00PM-6:00PM! For complete lineup and info, visit: www.undiscoveredsf.com

Advisory Board Member the Honorable Benjamin T. Reyes II will speak on this important panel, co-sponsored by USF Law PALS.

If you'd like to participate in the peer resume review and submit your resume for review, please register for this event and complete this form: https://forms.gle/StVCE4mV3GL1EYQq8

Join AABA’s Civil Rights and Education Committee for a discussion on how hate crimes prosecutions are brought, recent changes in state and federal laws, and what role hate crimes prosecutions should play in combating anti-AAPI violence.

To register, please visit: https://www.aaba-bay.com/event-4410693

The Alameda County Bar Association presents this event moderated by FBANC Past President Mari Bandoma Callado.

In this program, the second of the two part series on Race Discrimination Cases, the seasoned and esteemed trial attorneys will discuss race discrimination trials. This program will focus on pre-trial motions through trial. Some key topics the panelists will discuss include: successful strategies for prosecuting and defending the foregoing cases in trial; jury selection; case presentation/structure; opening and closing statements; and the impacts of recent violence against minorities, if any, on trying race discrimination cases.

Moderator

Mari Bandoma Callado is a Senior Associate Attorney and Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at the Dolan Law Firm, PC. She exclusively represents workers/plaintiffs from many industries against employers in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation cases as well as in human trafficking cases. She also represents plaintiffs in hate crimes, child abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse and neglect lawsuits. Since 2017, Mari has been selected as a "Rising Star" every year in the Northern California edition of SuperLawyers magazine.

Speakers:

Theodora Lee's recent litigation successes include class actions involving disparate impact; unpaid commissions and expense reimbursement; employee status, overtime, meal and rest periods; and overtime and exempt status under the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. She also has served as lead trial counsel or co-counsel in multiple jury trials and obtained defense verdicts in cases alleging race discrimination, racial harassment, sexual harassment and retaliation, as well as a case alleging violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Additionally, she defends various corporations in cases in state or federal courts alleging Fair Employment and Housing Act violations, wage and hour class actions, and whistleblower and wrongful termination claims, and has obtained dismissals via summary judgment in countless cases. A settlement commissioner, AAA certified arbitrator and mediator; Theodora has concluded more than 1,000 matters through use of private arbitration or mediation, including large, complex, multi-party litigation actions, and individuals suing their employers. Theodora has been a contributing writer to numerous employment law publications and presents seminars on a wide variety of employment issues and regularly conducts in-house employment law training programs. She is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

Jim DeSimone is the founder of V. James DeSimone Law, a Los Angeles-based litigation practice located in Marina del Rey. V. James DeSimone Law takes on civil rights cases including, employment cases, police brutality cases, and cases where people are harmed or injured through abuses of power or negligence. Jim is a trial lawyer going to bat for the people against corporations and the government and has achieved ground-breaking trial verdicts and appellate victories in civil rights and employment cases. He has been named a Top Employment Lawyer in California by the Daily Journal for the past ten years. Jim has been named a top 100 Southern California Super Lawyer for the past four years and has been honored as a Best Lawyer in the United States of America. In 2014, Jim was honored with a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year award for Civil Rights Lawyer of the Year. In 2018, Jim was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Westside Bar Association. Learn more about V. James DeSimone Law at:http://www.vjamesdesimonelaw.com

If interested, please: Register here

 The Judicial Diversity Summit (presented by CLA, California Judges Association, and Judicial Council of California) is coming up.  The Judicial Diversity Summit – which is targeted to lawyers, judicial officers, and law students – has been held every five years since 2006 to assess the efforts to increase judicial diversity in California, and to make recommendations for future activities and initiatives to diversify the judiciary.  This year, the summit is titled Stronger Together: Judicial Diversity Summit 2021, and will be held virtually (9/14, 9/21, 9/28).  In addition, leading up to the summit, there will be a series of pre-event sessions in the weeks leading up to the Summit, which sessions start on 8/4.  Specifically, the schedule is as follows:

1. Pre-Event Sessions:

8/4 – 5:00 PM Judicial Diversity Yesterday

8/11 – 12:00 PM Judicial Mentoring: Inside and Out

8/18 – 12:00 PM Affinity Judicial Associations

8/25 – 12:00 PM From the Cafeteria to the Courtroom

9/8 – 12:00 PM Barriers to the Bench

1. Judicial Diversity Summit: Will be held remotely on the following three Tuesdays:

Day 1:  September 14, 4:30-6:00p – Judicial Diversity Today

Day 2:  September 21, 4:30-6:00p – Sharing What Is Working – “Side Bars”

Day 3:  September 28, 4:30-6:30p – Judicial Diversity Tomorrow

For more information and to register, please visit: https://calawyers.org/2021-judicial-diversity-summit/