Your support will help us continue our nationally and locally-recognized work. 

Despite the challenges that the global pandemic brought on, FBANC continues to serve our community and remains committed to diversifying the legal profession and providing a voice for, and advocating on behalf of, Filipino/a/x and Filipino/a/x-American interests in various forums.

In the summer of 2020, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) bestowed its prestigious Affiliate of the Year Award to FBANC based on our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as our zealous service to the community. 

The San Francisco Mayor’s Filipino American History Month Celebration also recognized FBANC’s four-decade-long commitment to the community.

With your support, FBANC will continue to provide programs and events that serve our members and the community.

Highlights from 2020 include:

FBANC’s COVID-19 Relief Efforts and Community Outreach

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, FBANC recognized the widespread need in our community for support and legal assistance.  FBANC contributed to relief efforts and outreach to the community through the following initiatives:

• Releasing a Resource Guide for workers, tenants, domestic violence survivors, and immigrants days after California’s shelter-in-place orders took effect (March 2020). 

• Presenting legal information via webinars and through interviews with The Filipino Channel to provide legal resources to the Filipino/a/x and Filipino/a/x-American community (April and May 2020).

  • Unemployment Benefits Clinic featured on Balitang America

  • Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants Presentation on Adobo Nation

• Launching a two-month long Virtual Unemployment Form Assistance Clinic with Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus in Apirl 2020.  Over 70 volunteer attorneys, law students and advocates offered 1400+ pro bono hours to the public. The virtual clinic provided services in Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Spanish to almost 500 callers.  The clinic assisted 140 clients with filling out unemployment, disability and paid family leave benefit from start to finish.  FBANC also trained two local organizations to provide a similar service and relaunched this clinic in the Fall of 2020.

• Providing (through the FBANC Foundation) over $10,000 in COVID-19 relief stipends to law students who have been affected financially by the pandemic (June 2020). 

• Providing a wills assistance virtual clinic and legal resources to emergency responders through a partnership with Legal Access Alameda and hosting a free webinar on basic estate planning for health care professionals (June 2020).

• Providing a Know Your Rights Webinar on Navigating Tenants' Rights During COVID-19, in collaboration with Asian Law Alliance and API Legal Outreach (September 2020)

• In response to the potential barriers the COVID-19 pandemic brings to our community members, the state of California is offering several ways to vote in the 2020 General Election. The purpose of this resource guide is to provide information on how to participate in the 2020 General Election (October 2020).

FBANC’s Advocacy

FBANC is committed to providing a voice for, and advocating on behalf of, Filipino/a/x and Filipino/a/x-American community. This year, we released several statements standing up for justice and equality and collaborated with various organizations on the following programming and initiatives:

• Fireside Chat on Race, Sexuality, and Policing (September 2020);

• Building a Coalition for Racial Justice and Civil Rights During a Time of Crisis (September 2020);

• From Prop 209 to Prop 16: Historical, Legal and Activist Perspectives on Affirmative Action (September 2020);

• Civil Rights in Crisis: A Critical Discussion of Racial Justice, Voting Rights, Women’s Rights and LGBTQ Rights in Advance of the 2020 Election (October 2020);

• Beyond the Storm: A Webinar on the Impact of Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses, Climate Crisis and Human Rights (December 2020);

• FBANC Matching Donations to NAFCON’s Typhoon Relief Efforts (December 2020).

FBANC’s Commitment to Diversity in Law: Professional Development, Networking, and Member Engagement

This year, FBANC’s legal, educational, leadership, and professional development virtual programming focused on improving the well-being of our members at work and also personally:

• Women’s Committee’s 5th Annual Tea Party (September 2020)

• Social Committee’s Fil-Am History Month Trivia (October 2020)

• In-House Committee’s Luncheon (October 2020)

• FBANC Legacy: Presidents Panels 1 and 2 (June 2020 and November 2020)

• Cocktail Reception celebration FBANC’s recognition as Affiliate of the Year by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (November 2020)

• Social Committee’s Virtual Holiday Party (December 2020)

Supporting the Pipeline: “Komunidad” Conference, Mentorship and Scholarship Programs

Komunidad Conference

FBANC and a newly formed coalition of Pilipinx-American law students in the Bay Area hosted “Komunidad”(Community), the inaugural conference for Filipino/a/x-American Law Students, in February 2020.  Komunidad is the first conference of its kind in the country.  Designed to empower and inspire Filipino/a/x identifying law students, the conference brought together 45 law students from across Bay Area law schools and over 45 lawyer volunteers and panelists, making it the biggest gathering of Filipino/a/x-American law students in history.  FBANC followed up Komunidad with a virtual conference in August 2020 and one-on-one mock interviews and resume review workshops in December 2020. In February 2021, FBANC will be hosting another Komunidad conference for law students.

Mentorship Program
Asian-Am lawyers have been, as a whole, underrepresented in the profession. The same is true for the Fil-Am legal community, and thus the need for mentorship relationships is acute. Early each fall, the FBANC Mentorship Committee pairs law students and new attorneys with FBANC mentors and hosts our annual Mentorhsip Pairing Event.

Scholarship Program though the FBANC Foundation

The FBANC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.  Thanks to the generous donations of community members, the Foundation has awarded scholarships to numerous Fil-Am law students every year for many years.  The scholarship program is a way to help Fil-Am students, and as an investment in the future of our community.  In the 2020 application cycle, FBANC provided more than $40,000 in scholarships and stipends to the Fil-Am law student community.