• President's Message: President Janet Hong on Native American Heritage Month
• Former President Jessica Kronstadt on Fighting Antisemitism Together
• Honoring Native American Trailblazers 
• Second Vice President Farah Tabibkhoei Interviews Goli Azadeh on the Woman-Led Revolution in Iran
• Law Student Representative Danielle Garcia on Access to Justice in Action: Opportunity for All
• Board of Governors Member Shaun Dabby Jacobs Sworn in as Chair of Conference of California Bar Associations
• WLALA Foundation Annual Charitable Campaign Now Offers Sustained Giving 
• Now Available! Limited Edition WLALA Sweatshirt to Benefit WLALA Foundation Annual Charitable Campaign
• WLALA Foundation Feature: Where Are They Now? An Interview with Danielle Bash
• WLALA Co-Sponsors A Conversation with the Four New U.S. District Court, Central District of California Judges, November 16, 2022
• Save the Date for the WLALA Holiday Party @ Redbird in DTLA on December 8, 2022
• Join WLALA's Rainmakers!
• Mock Trial Volunteers Needed! 45th Annual Los Angeles County Mock Trial Competition, on November 4, 7, 9, 14, 16, 2022
• WLALA Volunteer Opportunity with the Downtown Women's Center 
• Post-Roe Resources
• WLALA at Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association Annual Installation & Awards Banquet; Latina Lawyers Bar Association Annual Awards and Scholarship Dinner; and MentorJet Program at Loyola Law School
• Welcome New Members!
• Save the Date: Roadways to the Bench: Who Me? A Bankruptcy or Magistrate Judge? April 3, 2023

The recent racist remarks by LA city officials shook our entire city. These statements reminded us all of the importance of speaking out and standing up for each other. I am grateful to the leaders of our sister bar associations - Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance President Aimee Camua-Contreras and President-Elect Nina Hong; Black Women Lawyers Association of LA President Jasmine Horton and President-Elect Ronni Whitehead Otieno; Latina Lawyers Bar Association immediate Past President Lucero Chávez Basilio and President Cinthia Flores; and Co-President Lauren Greene of the LGTBQ+ Lawyers Association of LA - for mobilizing so quickly, issuing a joint statement denouncing the remarks, and demanding these LA City Councilmembers step down. Building solidarity with our sister bars is crucial to the advancement of all women.     

Among the groups denigrated were Indigenous Oaxacans. Curious to learn more, and in honor of Native American Heritage Month, I read several articles and found resources that I would like to share. I learned there are about 200,000 Oaxacans living in LA and over 140,000 Native Americans/Alaska natives in LA County, more than any other county in the U.S. As a native Angeleno, I found UCLA’s story mapping of Indigenous LA fascinating. I browsed an on-line exhibit at The Autry Museum entitled, “When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California,” and discovered an art piece called “First Light,” which highlights the central role that women play in Native American communities. I learned about Toypurina – also known as California’s Joan of Arc – a Kizh woman who lead a revolt against Spanish colonial rule in 1785. Understanding the breadth and depth of our history allows us to better acknowledge and appreciate our neighbors and our communities today.

What these councilmembers failed to understand is that the true beauty and power of Los Angeles lies in building bridges amongst our diverse communities. This is why WLALA is focused on ensuring that equity, belonging and anti-racism efforts are interwoven into our work every day. To that end, we will hold an Inclusive Leadership program for our members in February 2023. Because WLALA should be a place where inclusive women leaders are fostered. Because diverse women lawyers at all levels of leadership is not charity but a necessity. And because Angelenos – all of us – deserve better.

Saddle Rock Ranch Pictograph Site, drawing by Chumash people on the National Register of Historic Places depicting the Chumash encounter with Spanish colonizers at Portola. Malibu, California, 

Former President Jessica Kronstadt

On Fighting Antisemitism Together

Former President Jessica Kronstadt is a Deputy District Attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Division.

Jewish communities are under attack. Jews have experienced a very heightened level of fear as we watch virulent Antisemitic verbal attacks, online harassment, vandalism, and violence take place in the United States and around the world. As Jews, we experience a downplaying of our fears far too often.       

In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) counted 2,717 Antisemitic incidents that took place across the United States. That represented a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents recorded in 2020 and was the highest number on record since ADL began tracking Antisemitic incidents in 1979. 

Last month, Kanye West spewed vicious Antisemitism in his social media postings and in several interviews. Never forget: the Holocaust started with words. Antisemitic hate speech has consequences. Tangible ones. 

Honoring Native American Trailblazers

The Taíno are the Arawakan-speaking indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Many schools still teach the premise that Columbus "discovered" them, but many Taíno descendants maintain the opposite is true. At the time of European contact, they were the principal inhabitants of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico. Experts rendered the Taíno as extinct based on census records. However, historians and DNA testing have confirmed what many modern, self-identifying Taíno already believed: that a genocide was carried out on paper, after the census stopped counting them, but their culture and identity persists.   

The Iroquois Confederacy - consisting of the Mohawk, the Onandaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Seneca Nations - is the oldest living participatory democracy and was foundational to our federal system of government. In 1988, the U.S. Senate paid tribute with a resolution stating, "The confederation of the original 13 colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution itself." For example, the Iroquois Confederacy established a balance of power between the Confederacy and the individual Nations, delineated who has the power to declare war, and designated two branches of the legislature with procedures for passing laws. 

Odilia Romero is the Co-Founder/ Executive Director of Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO). She is an interpreter of Zapotec, Spanish and English in Los Angeles and statewide and has spent over a decade organizing indigenous migrant communities. She has published on the challenges of organizing in indigenous communities, developing women's leadership, and preparing a new generation of youth. Her community organizing and efforts to build power amongst indigenous communities in Los Angeles has also been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, and The New York Times.

Second Vice President Farah Tabibkhoei 

Interviews Goli Azadeh on the Woman-Led Revolution in Iran

Farah Tabibkhoei is the Shareholder for Dominium Law, APC. She recently spoke with Goli Azadeh for background and insight on the current mass protests in Iran. Art (left) by Zaha Rahimzadeh.

What sparked the protests in Iran in late September?

On September 16, 2022, Mahsa “Jhina” Amini, a Kurdish 22 year-old woman (whose name is officially Mahsa on her birth certificate only due to long discriminatory practices against the Kurdish population by the Islamic Republic, including the refusal to legally allow Kurdish names), was killed at the hands of the “Morality Police.” The Morality Police is a group responsible for ensuring compliance by women in Iran with the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab laws. These laws go beyond just the headscarf. Women are required to wear a “manto,” a long covering similar to a coat or poncho, over their clothes, as well as long pants (that are regulated according to the current fashion trends - if skinny jeans are in, you can be arrested for those; if torn jeans are in, you can be arrested for those). A “manto” must cover below the thighs, cannot be too tight, and usually must be buttoned or closed in the front in some way. This is of course not at all how all Iranian women have been dressing for the past 40 years. Instead, some years they were able to get away with more freedom of choice for clothes (when a more liberal president was in power). This past year, women are forced to adhere to the rules or risk their lives. Jhina, was simply not dressed up to the current “standards.” As a result, she was taken away by the Morality Police, in a van that too many Iranian women know all too well, myself included, and then was eventually met with brutal force. She was in a coma for a few days, and eventually died.

Law Student Representative Danielle Garcia

on Access to Justice in Action:

Opportunity for All

Danielle Garcia is working towards a joint degree in law and public policy at UCLA School of Law and the Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is currently a 2L.

At the University of California (“UC”), students who cannot access Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) are being systematically denied opportunities afforded to their classmates, including employment opportunities that would enhance the research, education, and public service mission of the university. This unfair treatment of our undocumented students must end, and the UC has the legal authority to do so.

The federal law prohibiting employment of undocumented people – the Immigration Reform and Control Act (“IRCA”) of 1986 – does not explicitly prohibit the state or the UC from discriminating against its immigrant populations in regard to employment opportunities. Therefore, the UC should allow undocumented students without DACA to benefit from the professional and academic opportunities offered by student employment.

Opportunity for All is a campaign to demand that the UC stop discriminating and barring its non-DACA undocumented students from educational and professional development opportunities by ending the unfair practice of IRCA at the state level.

Board of Governors Member Shaun Dabby Jacobs Sworn in as Chair of Conference of California Bar Associations

The Conference of California Bar Associations (CCBA) held its annual Conference in San Diego on September 16 and 17. WLALA sponsored 8 resolutions (proposed legislation) this year and Board member Merete Rietveld authored another 10-member resolution. Five WLALA resolutions and Merete's resolution were approved at the Conference. For the resolutions that passed, we will take them to Sacramento to find a legislator to sponsor them. You can learn more about CCBA on its website. 

WLALA had a strong presence at the Conference. We had five people in person and two people on Zoom. Our delegation addressed the conference on the resolutions as well. 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly Fujie presided over the swearing in ceremony of WLALA Board member Shaun Dabby Jacobs as Chair of CCBA and the CCBA officers and Board, including WLALA member Michele Anderson as Chair-elect. As Judge Fujie is a good friend and mentor to Shaun, it made the ceremony and the whole day very meaningful.

If you have ideas for legislation or are curious about the Conference, please come to our committee meeting on November 14 at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom. For more information, email committee chairs Shaun Dabby Jacobs shaun.jacobs@lacity.org or Merete Rietveld merete_rietveld@yahoo.com. 

WLALA Board of Governors member Shaun Dabby Jacobs (left) is sworn in by Judge Holly Fujie (right) as the Chair of the Conference of California Bar Associations.

WLALA Foundation Annual Charitable Campaign Now Offers Sustained Giving

The WLALA Foundation Charitable Campaign is underway and proud to highlight a new option online: Sustained Giving. In addition to one-time gifts, WLALA now offers the option of a monthly recurring gift! This is an accessible way to budget support for WLALA Foundation’s scholars, fellows, and community partners. Explore the ease of this new option today—we rely on donors like you to reach our $40,000 goal by the end of January 2023. For more information on who your sustained giving supports, stay tuned for more videos and updates on current recipients. 

Now Available! Limited Edition WLALA Sweatshirt to Benefit WLALA Foundation Annual Charitable Campaign

Donate $100 to the WLALA Foundation Charitable Campaign and receive this luxurious and limited edition sweatshirt free! All proceeds go to our scholarships, fellowships and non-profit community partners.

WLALA Foundation Feature:

Where Are They Now?

An Interview with Danielle Bash

The Foundation’s Scholarship Committee caught up with Danielle (Gersh) Bass, a recipient of the Foundation’s 2014 scholarship, to find out what has been keeping her busy since she graduated from law school. The scholarship is awarded annually to law students with a demonstrated commitment to issues affecting women, children, minorities, or other historically marginalized groups. Not surprisingly, Danielle’s commitment to these same issues has continued since passing the bar.

WLALA maintains a page of resources for our post-Roe world, including ways to donate, take action, and learn. WLALA is a member of the new Southern California Legal Alliance for Reproductive Justice (SoCal LARJ). So Cal LARJ is actively recruiting law firms who are willing to do pro bono work. If your firm interested in joining LARJ, please contact Lara Stemple at stemple@law.ucla.edu.

WLALA at Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association Annual Installation & Awards Banquet; Latina Lawyers Bar Association

Annual Awards & Scholarship Dinner; and MentorJet Program at Loyola Law School

WLALA Delegation Attends the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association Annual Installation & Awards Banquet (from left to right): Board of Governors Member Sherry Patterson; President-Elect Jeannine Taylor; President Janet Hong; Board of Governors Member Leana Taing; Board of Governors Member Hon. Laura Seigle; Secretary Jennie Wang VonCannon; Board of Governors Member Hon. Holly Fujie; and First Vice President Noelle Natoli.

At the Latina Lawyers Bar Association Annual Awards & Scholarship Dinner (from left to right): President-Elect Jeannine Taylor; President Janet Hong; LLBA President Cinthia Flores; Communications Officer Brigit Greeson Alvarez; and Board of Governors Member Maribel Reynoso-Blunt.

Also celebrating the installation of the new LLBA board (from left to right): Amber Finch, former President of Black Women Lawyers; President Janet Hong; Board of Governors Member Sherry Patterson; and President-Elect Jeannine Taylor.  

Offering their expertise to current law students at the MentorJet Program at Loyola Law School (from left to right): Board of Governors Member Leana Taing; Aimee Contreras-Camua, President of Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Association; Ana M. Storey, President of California Women Lawyers; President Janet Hong; Lydia Liberio, Board Member, Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Association and Italian American Bar Association.

Welcome to Our New Members

Ansley Bolick

Monica Borochoff

Tatevik Gasparyan

Kristen Goss

Na Hyun

Michaela Kearton

Joan Komolafe

Lauren Kuhn

Shreya Kurudi

Amanda Lam

Amber Mandt

Abby Moe

Phoebe Richards

Kristen Shear

Florence Yu

Bianca Leitel Zamorano

Mock Trial Volunteers Needed!

Constitutional Rights Foundation

45th Annual Los Angeles County

Mock Trial Competition

November 7, 9, 14, 16; 2022

WLALA Volunteer Opportunity with the Downtown Women's Center

The Downtown Women's Center offers their next virtual volunteer training will take place on Wednesday, November 9 from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM. Sign up to attend via the volunteer portal. This training is required before participating in any individual volunteer opporutnities, as it is meant to prepare volunteers to work directly with the DWC's participants and residents in line with our core values. If you have previously participated in a virtual or on-site volunteer training, you need not attend.

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.