• President's Message by Janet Hong
• Honoring WLALA's Queer Herstory: WLALA Past President Sheila Kuehl, WLALA Communications Officer Brigit Greeson Alvarez
• WLALA Condemns Bigotry Revealed in SoCal Lawyers’ Emails
• Susan Oki Mollway, First Asian American Woman on Federal Bench: “Believe in Yourself”
• Photos: Food From the Bar - Honoring WLALA Volunteers
• Photos: California Women Lawyers Conference
• Photos: Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance Event in Support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
• WLALA and Women Lawyers of Long Beach Mixer: Fuego at la Playa, June 29
• Basics of Family Law Road Map – Part II and What to Consider When Working With A Domestic Abuse Survivor, July 19, 2023
• SAVE THE DATE! WLALApalooza Summer Mixer & Fundraiser, July 18, 2023
• SAVE THE DATE! WLALA Awards Gala, Justice|Faith|Power, September 29, 2023
• WLALA Mentoring Program for Lawyers x Law Students
• Results of WLALA Bylaws and Officers Vote
• Post-Roe Resources: Pro Choice and Reproductive Rights Committee of WLALA
• Latest News in Opportunity for All Campaign
• WLALA Board of Governors Member Judge Holly J. Fujie Honored by LACBA 
• Highlights from WLALA Past President Jessica Kronstadt’s Judicial Investiture Last Month at Stanley Mosk Courthouse
• Board of Governors Member Shaun Dabby Jacobs Published by the Daily Journal
• Welcome New Members!
• Local Bar Calendar
• Ask Your Senator to Support SB 616: Paid Sick and Safe Days for All Working Californians
• California Lawyers Association, Pathways to the Bench, June 8, 2023
• Italian American Lawyers Association Celebrates Pride Month with Discussion of Implicit Bias in the Courtroom, June 14, 2023
• Daily Journal, ChatGPT and Generative AI Tools for Legal Consumers: An Introduction and Tutorial, June 14, 2023 
• 2023 LACBA Installation & Awards Dinner
• WLALA Resources

June is Pride month. I was looking forward to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, but instead I'm reading about the anti-Pride protests at Saticoy Elementary School. I found the statement released by the Chief Impact Officer of the LGBT Center of Los Angeles helpful in understanding the protests in the overall context of what is happening nationwide. I think of the impact that such ignorance and hate must have on the 300,000+ children with same sex parents in this country and on their mental and emotional health. According to the Trevor Project's 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year and 60% of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to receive it.

Instead of celebrating, I'm reading about the record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced across the country. This includes 300+ education related anti-LGBTQ+ bills that include "forced outing" bills -- these would require teachers to alert parents when a student starts using another name or pronouns different than those assigned at birth, without the consent of the student. It includes bills criminalizing gender affirming-care for trans youth. This assault on education, healthcare, and other civil rights is real. One of our most vulnerable communities is under attack.

What can we do? How can we be effective allies? Below are some suggested resources and action items.

Educate

Listen to this short take on the context of current anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/06/02/pride-celebrations-anti-lgbtq

Mental Health

https://www.statnews.com/2023/05/01/mental-health-lgbtq-youth/

Gender-Inclusive Reproductive Rights Advocacy

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/abortion-law-trans-inclusive-advocacy.html

Donate

LA LGBT Center

LGBTQ Center of Long Beach

The TransLatin@ Coalition

Show Up

On June 14, 2023, WLALA is co-sponsoring the Italian American Lawyers Association Dinner for Pride month. Register here:

https://iala38.wildapricot.org/page-1836071

On June 29, 2023, WLALA's Solo/Small Firm Committee is hosting a fundraiser to benefit LGBTQ+ youth in Long Beach. Register here:

https://wlala.org/event/wlala-and-wlba-mixer/

WLALA stands in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in this time of crisis. We hear you. We see you. We are here for you.

Honoring WLALA's Queer Herstory

Sheila James Kuehl is a former president of WLALA (pictured here during her term) who most recently served as the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District and as board chair and chair pro tem. Kuehl was California's first openly queer state legislator, having previously served in the California State Senate and the California State Assembly, where she was the Assembly's first female speaker pro tem.

During her 1986 inauguration as president of the Women Lawyers' Association of Los Angeles, Kuehl introduced Torie Osborn as her partner in the same manner that previous presidents had introduced their husbands. The incident became the lead story of California's daily law journal. 

One of the first acts Kuehl did while in the Assembly was to introduce a bill (The Dignity for All Students Act – AB 222) to protect public-school students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. After three terms in the Assembly, she was elected to the California State Senate in 2000 and become the first openly queer person elected to that body. In 2002, Kuehl co-authored the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act that defined marriage as a civil contract between two persons. The bill went on to pass the state legislature – the first time a state legislative body in the nation voted to approve same-sex marriage rather than respond to a court order to do so. The bill was vetoed on September 7, 2005, by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who stated that the matter should be decided by the courts or by popular referendum.

On November 4, 2014, Kuehl was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. She assumed office on December 1, 2014, thus becoming the first openly queer person to ever serve on the Board. She was succeeded by Lindsay Horvath and stepped down in December 2022. Indeed, her accomplishments while in office and on the path towards them are too numerous to recount here. What we aspire to do is honor her service to this organization -- amongst many others -- while being true to her identity.

Brigit Greeson Alvarez is the current Communications Officer for WLALA and admits her bio desperately needs updating, principally to reflect her dream job, Deputy County Counsel at the Office of the County Counsel, and also because her son Auggie is almost 8 years old.

Since I write the newsletter, I will lay down the mask of anonymous author for a moment. At this point in our Nation's history - a time when queer people and allies are fighting to preserve some basic recognition and rights only recently granted - it might be more meaningful to share some lived experience instead of my accomplishments. Because context.is.everything.

Our President's Message was profoundly moving because for so many of the statistics that Janet cited - even ones she did not - I have been there and done that. Struggled with suicidal ideation as a queer youth. Lacked access to mental health care. Experienced discrimination at work because I was too "out." Experienced shunning from family members who called me a sinner. Then called my mother to shame her (she hung up). And even survived domestic violence. Before experiencing it myself, I did not know that LGBTQ+ identity itself is a risk factor for intimate partner violence.

Pride is more than just parties. Everyday, so many queer people like myself struggle under the weight of enormous loss. Friends who don't make it for so many reasons, usually linked to trauma and violence because mainstream society and/or their families reject their identities. Friends who are afraid to attend Pride celebrations, even in Los Angeles, due to growing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. Friends who suffer severe anxiety about anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in their home states, fear for their safety, and question whether to move.

And despite all of this, for me Pride signifies the enduring resilience of queer joy. Before attending festivities for my 25-year college reunion last weekend, I went to my favorite museum (El Museo del Barrio) and was surprised to see a picture of my friend and mentor, Silvia Rivera (pictured below, center). She was the first person who encouraged me to become a lawyer. The picture was from 2000 when I worked at The Audre Lorde Project and where Silvia volunteered. I cried a little. But I was also grateful. Grateful that Silvia was on that wall so that others can learn from her like I did. Grateful that I am still here and still queer, despite all of those pesky statistics.

WLALA Condemns Bigotry Revealed in SoCal Lawyers’ Emails

WLALA is outraged by the invective employed by two members of the Southern California legal community, John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen. Their use of hateful slurs and violent and demeaning language with respect to women, Black individuals, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Jews, Persians and other minority groups in California was directed with horrifying regularity and callousness at, among others, their colleagues and at least one sitting judge. The reports of this conduct serve as a stark reminder that White supremacy infects all parts of our society, and the legal profession is no exception. Indeed, it can simmer just below the surface, even among lawyers who profess (disingenuously) a desire to “lead with empathy, collaboration and compassion.” News of this sort only motivates WLALA to redouble our efforts to uncover, address, and eliminate racism and other forms of bigotry everywhere they persist.

Susan Oki Mollway,

First Asian American Woman on Federal Bench: 

“Believe in Yourself”

Published on May 16, 2023

As a Japanese American, Judge Susan Oki Mollway never considered herself disadvantaged while growing up in the multicultural environment of Hawaii. So, she was surprised, when she was nominated to the federal bench in 1998, to learn she was the first Asian woman to serve as an Article III federal judge.

“I thought surely by the 1990s somebody must have been ahead of me,” said Judge Mollway, who serves in Honolulu for the District of Hawaii. “But once that happened, I became conscious that I was going to be a role model for many people.”

In recognition of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a new video profile explores Judge Mollway’s heritage. She cites the influence of her father, a soldier in the Army’s highly decorated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team; her mother, who stressed education; and Patsy Mink, the first Asian American woman in Congress.

Judge Mollway has advice for young people considering a legal or judicial career: 

“Do not hold yourself back. Believe in yourself. Do not be so self-denigrating that you let opportunities pass you by.”

Food From the Bar - Honoring WLALA Volunteers

Every May, it's Food from the Bar time – time to donate and volunteer at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to help alleviate child hunger in Los Angeles. WLALA has been a leader in Food from the Bar since the campaign began 15 years ago. The campaign ran through May 31. For those new to WLALA, Food from the Bar is an annual “friendly competition” among law firm and legal offices to raise funds, donate food, and volunteer at the Feeding America-affiliated, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

This year, the Food Bank brought back Friends and Family Volunteer Days. Children as young as five years old participated in the volunteer activities, sorting produce and packing food.

WLALA never misses an opportunity to support sisters in need (from left to right): Board of Governors member Patricia Fullinwider, WLALA Foundation President Jennifer Leland, and in an effort led by Board of Governors member Kathleen McDowell (far right).

California Women Lawyers Conference

An opportunity to learn about the power of solidarity from women who learn by doing (from left to right): Board of Governors member Leana Taing; Latina Lawyers Bar Association board member Cinthia Flores; President Janet Hong; and Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance Board of Governors member Hildegarde Aguinaldo.

Pausing for a moment after a successful panel discussion (from left to right): WLALA Board of Governors member Judge Susan Formaker; Board of Governors member Leana Taing; CWL President Mika Domingo; Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance Board of Governors member Esther Ro; President Janet Hong; and California Women Lawyers First Vice President Tracy Hughes.

CWL President Mika Domingo (left); Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance Board of Governors member Hildegarde Aguinaldo (left of Janet); California Women Lawyers First Vice President Tracy Hughes (right); and WLALA President Janet Hong (center) with attendees of the CWL panel.

Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance Hold AAPI Unity Night In Support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Showing us that the bonds of sisterhood know no borders (starting third from left to right, front row): APAWLA Board of Governors member Ayano Wolff; APAWLA Board of Governors member Esther Ro; APAWLA Board of Governors member Angela Tam; (second from right) President Janet Hong; (back row from left to right), APAWLA President Tracy Nakaoka; APAWLA Board of Governors member Mia Frances Yamamoto; (second from right), Board of Governors member Leana Taing.

WLALA President Janet Hong pauses for a moment to chat with Ju Hong, Director of UCLA Dream Resource Center and host of ImmigrAsians podcast.

WLALA Needs YOU to Mentor a Law Student

WLALA needs attorney mentor volunteers like YOU since our increased presence in the legal community has led to increased participation among local law schools. WLALA's Law Student Mentoring Program pairs law student members with lawyer members to encourage and facilitate the development of women law students. Mentors and mentees are matched based on interests and background where possible. The program is flexible; mentors and mentees choose when and how to stay connected with one another, whether through e-mail, telephone, in-person meet ups, or a combination. Many participants find that the one-on-one mentoring relationship becomes a long-term friendship.

Results of WLALA Bylaws and Officers Vote

On May 22, 2023 WLALA held a special vote for electing the 2023-2024 WLALA and WLALA Foundation Officers and to adopt the new WLALA bylaws. Voting closed on May 26, 2023. The vote passed to adopt the new WLALA Bylaws and WLALA and the WLALA Foundation are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 Officers:

Noelle M. Natoli, President-Elect

Farah Tabibkhoei, First Vice President

Jennie VonCannon, Second Vice President/Treasurer

Brigit G. Alvarez, Secretary

Leana Taing, Communications Officer

Sarah Quist, WLALA Foundation President

Latest News in Opportunity for All Campaign

Undocumented student leaders at the University of California secured a critical victory in the Opportunity for All campaign last May when the UC Board of Regents announced their plan to move forward with removing hiring restrictions for all UC students, regardless of immigration status. The Opportunity for All Campaign, a coalition of the Undocumented Student-Led Network, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, and the UCLA Labor Center, identified that the federal prohibition on hiring undocumented people did not include state entities such as the University of California. After a thoughtful presentation by Law Student Liaison Danielle Garcia (above right), the WLALA Board voted to stand in solidarity with undocumented students and lend its support to the Opportunity for All Campaign.

WLALA Board of Governors Member

Judge Holly J. Fujie Honored by LACBA  

WLALA Board of Governors Member Hon. Holly J. Fujie will be awarded the Phillip H. Lam Diversity Impact Award at the 2023 LACBA Installation & Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Congratulations to Judge Fujie for all of her efforts and encouragement to others to embrace being the "first." To attend the dinner, register here.

Highlights from Past President Jessica Kronstadt’s Judicial Investiture

at Stanley Mosk Courthouse

Past President Jessica Kronstadt addresses the sizable audience that attended to wish her well on her new position as bench officer for the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.

Past President Jessica Kronstadt administered the oath of office by her mother, Associate Justice Helen I. Bendix, while her daughters look on.

WLALA shows its deep leadership bench at Stanley Mosk (from let to right): Secretary Jennie Wang VonCannon; Past President Helen Kim; Board of Governors member Susan Yu (in pink suit); Second Vice President/ Treasurer Farah Tabibkhoei; Board of Governors member Vicky Ourfalian; President Elect Jeannine Taylor; Past President Jessica Kronstadt; Past President Mary McKelvey; Past President Stacy Horth-Neubert; Past President of Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Lisa M. McLean; Communications Officer Brigit Greeson Alvarez; Board of Governors Members Jacquiline Wagner and Board of Governors Member Patricia Fullinwider.

Later, at the reception in honor of Judge Kronstadt (from left to right): Past President of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Lisa M. McLean; President Janet Hong; WLALA Foundation Board of Governors Member Kelly Hanker; President-Elect Jeannine Taylor; Communications Officer Brigit Greeson Alvarez.

Board of Governors Member Shaun Dabby Jacobs Published by the Daily Journal

Congratulations are in order for Board of Governors member Shaun Dabby Jacobs who was recently published in the Daily Journal. The article "How to enact a California bill" was published on May 10, 2023. If you have a membership, sign in here.

Welcome to Our New Members

Lilas Abuelhawa

Christina Ahn

Amanda Maher Bladuf

Yanna Bouris

Jioselin Juarez Contreras

Mahnam Ghorbani

Gloria Glasser

Jessica Gomez

Tia Gonzalez

Kelly Greco

Jennifer Hodgins

Melinda Khachaturian

Dalila Lyons

Lowrie Mendoza

Susel Carrillo-Orellano

Sonia Salinas

Alexander Sario

Polina Solok

Rosie Statman

Gabrielle Stefek

Karla Waymire

Alina Zhang

Ask Your Senator to Support SB 616: Paid Sick and Safe Days for All Working Californians!!

The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear how crucial it is for workers to have an adequate number of paid sick days. Yet, Current California state law requires employers to provide only 3 paid sick and safe days per year. This is simply not enough.

SB 616(Gonzalez), which would require California employers to provide 7 paid sick days per year, is currently headed for a floor vote in the California State Senate. Please take action by clicking here to let your State Senator know that you support SB 616. 

No Californian should have to work while ill or have to send a sick child to school. Risking your job and going without pay are not an option when even a few unpaid days off cost, on average, a family’s entire monthly budget for groceries or utilities. Not providing adequate paid sick leave encourages the transmission of contagious illnesses to kids, older adults, workers, and customers, and endangers our state.

Cities across California including San Diego, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville have passed local laws to provide workers with more than 3 paid sick days. Washington, Arizona, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut all provide more paid sick days than California.

SB 616 is necessary to protect the health and well-being of workers in California, their families, and our local communities. It’s time to improve our state law so that no worker has to work sick or risk losing their income or their job.

Please take action by clicking here to make sure that your State Senator hears from you before they vote on SB 616. 

Thank you for your advocacy!

The California Work & Family Coalition

California Lawyers Association Presents Pathways to the Bench

We Need YOU!

For Committees, Sections and Liaisons

Did you know that WLALA is run almost entirely by volunteers? If you're interested in participating in WLALA Committees, Sections or acting as a Liaison, visit our website to find out more and sign up now!

The Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles ("WLALA") promotes the full participation in the legal profession of women lawyers and judges from diverse perspectives and racial and ethnic backgrounds, maintains the integrity of our legal system by advocating principles of fairness and equality, and improves the status of women by supporting their exercise of equal rights, equal representation, and reproductive choice.