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In Memoriam of Julius Turman,
Former BALIF Co-Chair
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The BALIF community received sad news this week that former BALIF Co-Chair Julius Turman had passed away unexpectedly. He was 52 years old.
Julius served as BALIF's Co-Chair from 2004-06. Julius was the managing partner at the firm of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP in San Francisco. A skilled labor and employment lawyer, he previously was a partner at Reed Smith LLP and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. In the early years of his career, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
From 2012 until earlier this month, Julius served as a commissioner and the president of the San Francisco Police Commission. During his tenure, he helped write rules for body-worn cameras, revised the City's use-of-force polices, made reforms recommended by President Obama's Justice Department, and crafted a new policy for the use of Tasers in San Francisco. During his tenure, significant reforms were put into place to make the city safer for all.
Kelly McCown, Julius' BALIF Co-Chair, stated, "Julius' passing is a true loss to the legal community and BALIF. He was a terrific Co-Chair and great leader. He was opinionated but always diplomatic, charming as well as humorous, and a tenacious fighter for the LGBTQI community. He will be sorely missed."
Julius took on tough fights and cared deeply about working on difficult issues. His generosity and tenacity will be long remembered. BALIF extends its condolences to Julius' family and loved ones.
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BALIF/FBANC Spring Diversity Mixer
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On behalf of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), in collaboration with the Filipino American Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC), I would like to invite the MBC and all of its members to the BALIF/FBANC Spring Diversity Mixer.
At BALIF and FBANC, we want to celebrate and bring together the diverse legal workers and attorneys in the LGBTQ community. Many of us in the LGBTQ community hold complex identities that may not be well represented in the mainstream whether because of our race, gender, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation. Whenever possible, it is important for us to reflect on that diversity and provide support to others within our community who may be different than us. To that end, we are hosting a happy hour on:
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BALIF Foundation Fellowship Awarded to Alex Thomas
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The BALIF Foundation is pleased to announce that its $2,500 summer fellowship has been awarded to Alex Thomson, who is finishing up as a 1L at Berkeley Law. At Berkeley, Alex serves as a Co-Director of the Name and Gender Change Workshop, where Alex works with clients to obtain court-ordered name and change changes. Alex is also the Programming Chair of Queer Caucus, the LGBTQ Berkeley Law student organization. This summer Alex will be a law clerk at the NCLR, and will be working on several cases including challenging the ban on transgender people in the military, requiring a school district to respect a transgender student's gender, and securing access to gender affirming care for a prisoner while in custody. Before law school, Alex worked in Development at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish Federation of Boston, and served on the Finance Committee for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Congratulations Alex!
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BALIF IS PROUD TO SUPPORT SB 990
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In late 2017, BALIF's CCBA Committee debated a resolution at the CA Conference of Bar Associations (CCBA) Conference of Delegates that provides for equal access to rehabilitative and other programming opportunities to LGBTQI and other prisoners at high risk for sexual assault placed in solitary confinement for their own protection. The resolution overwhelmingly passed. That portion of the resolution has now been included in current legislation being considered by the CA legislature: SB 990.
SB 990 will help ensure that the dignity of transgender people is honored in incarceration settings and that LGBTQI people and others at high risk of sexual assault and harassment have an equal opportunity to access rehabilitative, educational and work programs. SB 990 will also require that people entering jails and prison be given an opportunity to specify their preferred first name, gender identity, gender pronoun, and honorific (e.g., Mr., Ms, Mx.) and will require all facility staff to use the designated name, pronoun and honorific when addressing the person. SB 990 will further require that people housed outside of the general population for their own safety be provided equal access to rehabilitative, religious and educational programs.
We are very proud to support SB 990 and submitted our Letter of Support to Senator Wiener on April 2, 2018. You can view that letter here. We are also proud to have ensured the support of CCBA's lobbying staff as this bill moves through the legislature.
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Fundraiser for Rafael for Supervisor
on May 20!
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* This candidate has not gone through the BALIF endorsement process, so BALIF does not express an opinion on Mr. Mandelman's candidacy.
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The National LGBT Bar Association is proud to launch their
Commit 2 Inclusion campaign this month.
A petition is being circulated to law schools around the nation, asking the legal education community to support diversity and inclusion and reject hate groups.
The campaign recognizes that the rise of hate groups in our society and in our justice system is a direct threat to diversity and inclusion efforts and equality at large. Hate groups are defined by the FBI as those whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons of or with a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity which differs from that of the group's members or the organization.
The petition asks members of the legal education community to publicly acknowledge their commitment to the rule of law and the principles of the
American Bar Association's Resolution 113. That guiding Resolution urges all providers in the legal profession, including law firms and corporations, to attract and retain the talent of diverse attorneys.
Law students, law professors, administrators, and law school groups must work to uphold the rule of law and promote access to justice for all. Hate groups hurt our collective efforts to foster a diverse workplace and a more inclusive society. Hate groups marginalize diverse communities and promote hostility against them. Discrimination and hate have no place in law schools or the legal profession.
National LGBT Bar Association is committed to working toward a more equitable future led by legal professionals committed to the U.S. Constitution, its Bill of Rights, and its rule of law.
Join them today.
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The AIDS Legal Referral Panel FREE Spring 2018 MCLE Training Programs
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To RSVP
Call: 415-701-1200 ext. 303
Disability Rights in the Workplace - Reasonable Accommodations and Medical Privacy
Sponsored by the State Bar's Labor & Employment Law Section
*
Tuesday, May 22nd, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
* Presented by Noah D. Lebowitz, Esq. - Duckworth Peters Lebowitz Olivier LLP
Long Term Disability/Veterans Benefits Training
*
Thursday, June 14th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
* Presented by John Unruh, Esq. - Unruh Law
Negotiating for Tenant Attorneys: How To Do Right for San Francisco Tenants
*
Monday, June 25th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
* Presented by Deepa Varma, Esq. - San Francisco Tenants Union
Location:
BASF
301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA
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Join us for LGBTQ Advocacy Day in Sacramento on May 21!
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Join Equality California and our partners for our annual LGBTQ Advocacy Day on Monday, May 21 in at the California State Capitol. Register today at
eqca.org/advocacyday
.
Highschool and college students can register for free, here:
action.eqca.org/studentreg
.
Our
Advocacy
Day will welcome hundreds of LGBTQ leaders, activists and allies from across California for a day of grassroots political action to raise awareness about critical priorities for the LGBTQ community, people living with HIV, and all communities impacted by the divisive actions of the Trump Administration.
Participants of LGBTQ Advocacy Day will:
- Learn how to harness grassroots political power
- Receive training on our legislative priorities and how to advocate for them
- Attend a rally and press conference on the West Steps
- Meet face-to-face with California legislators and staff, urging them to pass key legislation to protect and expand the civil liberties of all Californians
When: Monday, May 21, 2018
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: West Steps, California State Capitol, Sacramento, CA
Limited scholarships and travel grants are available.
We will be lobbying on a variety of issues important to the LGBTQ community including healthcare, education, HIV/AIDS, transgender rights, criminal justice reform, and immigration.
If you have questions about the advocacy day, registration, travel grants, or accessibility accommodation requests (materials, translation, on-site interpretation, and more), please contact Brad Lundahl at brad@eqca.org.
Together, we can ensure that our legislators and policymakers continue to make California a beacon of hope for the rest of the country.
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2018 Bay Area Women Attorneys Mixer
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2018 Arturo Gonzalez Summer
Law Student Fellowships
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Giving to the BALIF Foundation
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Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the BALIF Foundation. The Foundation recently launched and is working to assist BALIF in bringing LGBT judges to the bench and supporting scholarships, stipends and fellowships for law students and attorneys working in the LGBTQ community.
You can donate here. In the four years ahead, we believe the Foundation's work will be critical in helping to protect our community.
For more information about the BALIF Foundation or how to get involved, contact Jamie Dupree
jdupree@fddcm.com.
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BALIF & The BALIF Foundation
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BALIF is the Bay Area's LGBT Bar Association, which is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit, which can engage in political activity. Its Board members are elected by the BALIF membership and chair various committees of the BALIF bar association.
The BALIF Foundation is BALIF's charitable arm. Donations to the BALIF Foundation are tax deductible because it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The BALIF Foundation is dedicated to increasing the number of LGBT judges on the bench through educational programming, supporting LGBT community organizations, and providing scholarships, summer stipends, and fellowships for LGBT law students and young attorneys seeking to help the LGBT community through legal work. It gave its inaugural summer fellowship for the summer of 2017.
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Job Postings Now on BALIF Website
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Looking for a job or a law school internship? As a BALIF member you get access to all job postings. Click
here to see the opportunities, or log into the
BALIF website with your membership ID and password, and select JOBS on the menu on the left.
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May 24 -
BALIF/FBANC Spring Diversity Mixer
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Partner Level
Counsel Level
Advocate Level
A.L. Nella & Co, CPA
Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Pacific Gas & Electric
Perkins Coie LLP
Sanford Heisler Kimpel, LLP
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Tycko & Zavareei LLP
Uber
White & Case LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Benefactor Level
AT&T
Baker Botts LLP
Bonora Rountree, Trial Consulting & Research
Callaway & Wolf
Clarence Dyer & Cohn LLP / Swanson & McNamara LLP
Cooley LLP
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP
Danko Meredith
Epiq Global
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
Futterman Dupree Dodd Croley Maier LLP
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Golden Gate University
Helbraun Law Firm
Jackson Lewis P.C.
JAMS
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Minnis & Smallets
Perkins Coie LLP
Pritzker Levine LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Robert Half Legal
Roeca Haas Montes De Oca LLP
Sally Morin Professional Law Corporation
San Francisco City Attorney's Office
San Francisco District Attorney's Office
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Troutman Sanders
Venable
Veritext
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Individual Sponsors
Joanna Barron - ADR Services, Inc.
C. Todd Norris - Bullivant Houser Bailey P.C.
Michael Colantuono - Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC
Gordon Atkinson - Gluck Daniel, LLP
Peter Borkon - Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
Frederick Hertz - Law Offices of Frederick Hertz
John E. Hill - Law Offices of John E. Hill P.C.
Kelly McCown - McCown & Evans
Jahan Sagafi - Outten & Golden LLP
Saya Wallace - Paul Hastings LLP
Teresa Renaker - Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP
Peter Pierce - Richards, Watson & Gershon
Debra Schoenberg - Schoenberg Family Law
Bao M. Vu - Stoel Rives LLP
John Robert Unruh - Unruh Law, P.C.
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Sarah Davis & Annick Persinger
Sam Potts
Stephan Ferris
Ary Smith & Michael Riggins
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BALIF Foundation
Board of Directors
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Jamie Dupree, Chair
Shay Gilmore
Chelsea HaleyNelson, Secretary
Laura Maechtlen
Nina Paul
Linda Scaparotti
David Tsai
John Unruh, Treasurer
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