Choice and free will are the ultimate and inimitable gifts to us from our Creator. These separate us from the animals and provide powerful opportunities to steer the trajectory of our lives and ultimately determine who we become. A woman’s right to make the extraordinarily personal choice about whether to terminate a pregnancy can be one of the most difficult and pivotal decisions she will make – the effects of either choice has lifetime repercussions. The experience of abortion is something millions of women have experienced for many decades, but there is no universal experience because each woman’s life and circumstances are different. This choice is both rife with emotional and social complexity and charged with political and religious dogma. And yet the relentless chipping away at this right to choose in our country has been the enduring obsession of groups driven and led in large part by white men.

On December 15, 2021, almost 150 WLALA members and supporters convened at the beautiful outdoor patio of Redbird in Downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the newest members of the judiciary. The food was top-notch but even better was the company. View some of the photos from this festive evening!

We also want to extend our thanks to those who have already given to this year's Charitable Fund Campaign, including the dessert contest participants. For those of you who have not yet contributed, there's still time to do so! We are about halfway to our goals and this month is critical. The campaign is open until January 31. To make your contribution, text “Give” to (213) 262-2638 or click here:

WE NEED YOUR VOICE. We want to make WLALA better—more inclusive, more responsive, and more in line with our mission. To do so, it is absolutely critical that we hear from each and every member of the WLALA community. Please take 3 minutes to complete this survey. Because if we don’t know better, we can’t do better. 

Sowing the Seeds of Social Justice: Support WLALA Foundation's Charitable Fund in the Campaign's Final Month

WLALA also offers the opportunity for a named scholarship with a $6,000 contribution. Email info@wlala.org to establish a named scholarship for your organization or as an individual.

Text “Give” to (213) 262-2638, donate online, or by mail to WLALA; 634 S. Spring St., Ste. 617; Los Angeles, CA 90014

Inner City Law Center (ICLC) and the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation (WLALA Foundation) are partnering for the fifth year in a row on a law student fellowship program. The WLALA/ICLC Fellow will work with ICLC’s Homeless Veterans Project during the summer of 2022 on issues and cases impacting women veterans and survivors of sexual trauma, and receive a stipend of up to $6,000 from the WLALA Foundation. Students will engage in legal research, draft legal briefs, review medial and military records, work directly with clients and their healthcare providers at the VA, and assist with all aspects of ongoing cases.

Judge Kimberly Guillemet of the Los Angeles Superior Court is now an author! Her new book is entitled Black Prep: Life Lessons of A Perpetual Outsider.

Black Prep equips young people with the tools they need to succeed in competitive academic and social settings that are both foreign and uncomfortable. Through intensely personal and moving stories filled with heartbreak, humor, and ultimately, triumph, this memoir provides support to young people who are navigating the unfamiliar terrain of elite educational and professional environments with no roadmap. The book offers the Black Prep Pillars of Success, concrete steps readers can take to change the course of their lives. Black Prep will impress upon readers that they are more than enough and will help them appreciate that their uniqueness, background, perspective, and all of the elements that make up the texture of who they are make them the prize. It is a must-read for parents, educators and young adults alike.

Black Prep is available for purchase at the links below:

Criminal defense attorney Natasha Deón has published her critically acclaimed novel The Perishing.

"Natashia Deón’s critically acclaimed debut novel, Grace, ushered in a brand-new literary talent whose fans have been waiting five long years to see what she would do next. It’s clear within the first few pages of her new novel, The Perishing, that the wait has been well worth it . . . The Perishing is a downright masterpiece. Welcome to the world of literary stardom, Natashia Deón." —Scott Neumyer, Shondaland

"Alongside authors who have portrayed Black Los Angeles with imaginative, complex soul—from Octavia Butler to Venita Blackburn—Deón has subverted the fantastic in the most satisfying of ways" —Jason Parham, WIRED

"The Perishing is a startling, luminous love letter to Los Angeles and one of the best books of 2021." —Adam Morgan, The A.V. Club

"History repeats itself on a personal level in this time-travel novel from Natashia Deón . . . The book is a fascinating and thrilling mystery, but for Deón, it’s also a commentary on the frustrating cycles of injustice that have yet to crack." —Rosa Cartagena, Bitch

"An intoxicating blend of sci-fi and historical fiction, The Perishing is a unique perspective on Depression-era life for a Black woman, time traveler or not." —Kirby Beaton, BuzzFeed

"This marriage of period lit and science fiction will plug the Lovecraft Country sized hole in your heart." —Keyaira Boone, Essence

The Perishing is available for purchase at the links below:

Congratulations to WLALA Foundation Board Member Elizabeth Bock for being promoted to partner at O'Melveny!

Congratulations to Jeannine Yvette Taylor for being recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal on their "Thriving in Their 40s" list.

WLALA Immediate Past President Jessica Kronstadt has donated these beautiful postcards, which were specially designed for WLALA by Schuyler Polk of Polk Paper and Grace Cope. Only a limited number of sets of these postcards are available. All proceeds will benefit the WLALA Foundation. 

The 19th Amendment Speaker series features interviews with successful, inspirational, and impactful women in entertainment, sports, politics, law, academia, and business. Originally recorded in Summer/Fall 2020 as part of the 19th Amendment Speaker Series, this podcast is presented in conjunction with the National Association of Women Judges and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Here are six ways to listen to the podcast:

Email Calendar@iDepoReporters.com or call 323-393-3768. 

Patricia Fullinwider has dedicated her entire career to helping the vulnerable and underserved. Before law school, she worked as a legal assistant and helped with asylum petitions, which first opened her eyes to the risks of abuse faced by that population. Patricia went to law school at the University of San Francisco, drawn by its robust human rights program. She interned at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center one summer analyzing trial transcripts for instances of ineffective assistance of counsel and visiting clients on death row. The next summer, she interned at the Georgia Justice Project. As a 3L, she made a presentation to the United Nations on the juvenile death penalty and life sentences without parole. It should come as no surprise, then, that upon graduating from law school, Patricia became a public defender with Los Angeles County. She now works at the Office of the Alternate Public Defender, where she represents defendants charged with the most serious of criminal felonies, including murders, rapes, sex abuses, and capital cases.

Outside of work, Patricia continues to give back to the community. She mentors young female attorneys to help them pursue their professional goals, and also mentors a local high school student through MOSTe (Mentoring Our Students Through Experience), an organization dedicated to mentoring young women from underserved communities. Patricia joined the Board of WLALA this year as a co-chair of the Criminal Justice Section, where she hopes to continue her work in advancing the access to justice, particularly by indigent people.

APAWLA Young Lawyers and Law Students (YLLS) is having an ongoing Resume Review Workshop. To participate you must be an active APAWLA member. Please send in a Word copy of your resume and/or cover letter to apawla.ylls@gmail.com. You will be assigned an APAWLA board member who will review and suggest revisions in the document with track changes. The anticipated turnaround for feedback is one week. Please be sure to maintain prompt communication. This is an ongoing workshop open until the end of the pandemic.

“Is that a baby under there?,” a colleague asks.

Yep. That’s my 6-month-old son, Everett, nursing under a cover on a Zoom call. This usually happens two or three times during every work day, since returning from my parental leave a few months ago. I’ve nursed him on calls with executive leadership, team meetings, calls with outside counsel, and even during interviews. This has been a very conscious decision. It has been my way of expressing just how impactful the digital workplace has been on my ability to show up as a mother and as an employee. I feel fully able to excel at both in a way I didn’t think was possible prior to the pandemic reshaping our working world.

Everett is my second child, and this year brought the second maternity leave I have taken while working as a lawyer for Procore. I had my daughter Juno in 2018, in the “before times” pre-pandemic, where the bulk of the employee population still came into the office most of the time--and certainly the bulk of executive leadership. This time, with Everett, I returned from leave in June 2021 to a still almost exclusively remote workforce.

This. Has. Been. A. Game. Changer.

Applications are now open for the 2022 Munger, Tolles & Olson ("MTO") Fellows Program. This program is designed to encourage, promote, and support a community of individuals who contribute to the diversity of the legal profession. The program is intended for individuals seeking to start law school in fall 2023 (college juniors or seniors as of spring 2022, or individuals who have already graduated). 

January 27-28, 2022

Virtual Berkeley Law

Volunteers Needed for the 2022 UCLASSIC and ORCS Mock Trial Tournaments

On behalf of the UCLA Mock Trial Program and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, UCLA invites you to volunteer as a presiding trial judge or scoring judge at one of the two 2022 collegiate mock trial tournaments in Los Angeles. The 2022 UCLASSIC Mock Trial Competition will be virtual and is on Martin Luther King weekend, January 15-17, 2022. The Opening Round Championship Tournament currently anticipated to be held at the Santa Monica Courthouse is on March 12-13, 2022. This year's case involves a criminal aggravated arson case where a firefighter died.

You'll see college students present Openings, Closings, and Direct & Cross Examinations. Presiding judges will rule on objections and introduction of exhibits, while scoring judges will rate the students' performances. Some of the top teams in the nation will compete at UCLASSIC, and most of the California/Southwest colleges will be at both tournaments (UCLA, USC, UCI, Cal, Stanford, ASU etc.).

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