Mexican American Bar Association. Artwork by Lalo Alcaraz Volume 9, Issue 2

Transcription

1 Artwork by Lalo Alcaraz Mexican American Bar Association 2013 Volume 9, Issue 2 MABA is committed to the advancement of Latinos in the legal profession and the empowerment of the Latino community through service and advocacy.

2 2 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County The President s Message Greetings Fellow MABistas, Greetings Fellow MABistas, It is hard to Elizabeth P. Uribe believe that 2013 MABA President more than half the year is now behind us! It has been a very busy year for MABA and we hope that you have had the opportunity to partake in the events we have hosted this year. It has been one of our goals to encourage our membership to be active in MABA's committees, mentorship program and volunteer opportunities. Our annual softball tournament was a day of fun and friendly competition out at the park. Congratulations to Latino Comp for winning first place, and to the Whistleblowers and the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association, our second and third place winners. Our Spring Mixer cohosted by Latino Comp and The Esquire Network at the San Antonio Winery was an opportunity reconnect with old friends, network, and meet new people. It was a great opportunity for MABA to H H H H H H H H H work with other bar associations and this is something we have focused on this year. To this end, we also co-hosted an Elimination of Bias MCLE with APABA, Langston and LGLA; participated in the Celebration of Judicial Diversity under Governor Brown through our membership in the Multicultural Bar Alliance; co-hosted a mixer with grateful to all our sponsors who helped make it one of the best tournament's we have had. We have also continued to fulfill our responsibility to the community. As you may recall, this year we launched our Federal Judicial Externship program for our law students. The three selected students have successfully completed their summer externship and we look forward to the future growth and success of this program. Also, our annual legal fair was held at Bell Gardens High School and provided our members with the opportunity to offer free legal consultations to the community. With over 80 attorney volunteers we were able to offer consultations to over 600 people. The need for legal education, advice and See President, page EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS & TRUSTEES EXECUTIVE BOARD Elizabeth P. Uribe, President Law Office of Elizabeth P. Uribe Erick Solares, President-Elect California Department of Transportation, Gladdys J. Uribe, Vice-President Law Office of Enrique Arevalo Sean Andrade, Secretary Andrade Knott & Gonzalez LLP Felipe de la Torre, Treasurer Office of the Alternate Public Defender Maria Ramirez, Newsletter Editor Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office Cindy Panuco, Membership Director Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP BOARD OF TRUSTEES Alejandro Becerra Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell Elizabeth Alamillo Law Office of Enrique Arevalo Miguel Duarte Law Offices of Miguel Duarte Juan Ramos Law Office of Juan Ramos Shelley Dominguez Los Angeles County District Attorney s Office Pamela Villanueva Office of the Public Defender Humberto Guizar Law Office of Humberto Guizar Pete Navarro Law Offices of Pete R. Navarro Sergio C. Tapia Office of the Alternate Public Defender Araceli Campos MALDEF Jennifer Macias Student Trustee Maria Torres Executive Administrator 2013 MABA BOARD EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS & TRUSTEES MAIN OFFICE Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County 714 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite 450 Los Angeles, CA Tel: Fax:

3 3 Los Angeles Superior Court Exhibit Spotlights Mexican American Legal Roots By Judge Michael L. Stern, Los Angeles Superior Court An historical exhibit that was recently installed at the downtown Mosk Courthouse highlighting the first 100 years of the Los Angeles Superior Court features the first Mexican American judges in Los Angeles. Judge Ignacio Sepulveda Judge Agustin Olvera served as Los Angeles s first District Judge ( ) soon after California attained statehood in Under California s bilingual First Constitution, he conducted proceedings in English and Spanish. Most everyone has visited Olvera Street, named for him at the historic Los Angeles Plaza. Ignacio Sepulveda grew up and became an attorney in Los Angeles in His sense of adventure then propelled him to Mexico, where he served as a legal officer in Emperor Maximilian s army against the forces of Benito Juarez. Following the Emperor s execution and his own imprisonment, Sepulveda returned to Los Angeles. He was elected as a County and District judge and appointed as one of the two first Los Angeles Superior Court judges in Sepulveda held judicial office until 1883, when he resigned and was virtually run out of town by anti-latino newcomers from the East. He fled to Mexico City, where he represented American interests as a confidant of President Porfirio Diaz. Migrating back to Los Angeles after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Sepulveda died with slight notice in A well-known Los Angeles street bears his name. Not a single Mexican American was appointed to the Los Angele Superior Court until 80 years later when Judge Carlos Teran appointed by Governor Pat Brown in A community activist who founded the Pomona Boys and Girls Club, Judge Teran s distinguished judicial career spanned 20 years on the bench. He passed away in Clocktower Courthouse where Ignacio Sepulveda presided. The Highlights of the First Hundred Years exhibit displays historical documents from the Superior Court archives and a revolving video of 70 vintage photos with commentaries. It is located at the Grand Avenue entrance to the Mosk Courthouse. Judge Carlos Terran, appointed to the Superior Court in 1957, served 20 years. Judge Carlos Terran was the first Mexican American appointed since Judge Ignacio Supulveda served 80 years before. Examining portrait of Agustin Olvera, First District Judge,

4 4 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County President Continued from page 2 adequate representation in our community is great. Many members of our community are often preyed upon and fall victim to fraud. While we cannot offer free legal representation our goal is to refer our community to reputable attorneys that can assist them. Our LRIS committee has been working tirelessly to revamp our program which Elizabeth P. Uribe, MABA President, Imad Elias, Arab American Lawyers Association of Southern California (AALASC), President, and Hyongsoon Kim, Korean American Bar Association (KABA), President will be launching very soon. This will be a beneficial program to both our community and our LRIS members as we will finally be able to refer our callers to trustworthy attorneys. Our organization and our events would not be possible without our membership. As always, I encourage all of you to participate in our events, committees and be active participants of MABA. I hope to see you all at one of our upcoming events, including the Fall Mixer, Judge's Night or one of our MCLE's. En Solidaridad, Elizabeth P. Uribe 2013 MABA President MABA PAST PRESIDENTS 2012 Rigoberto J. Arrechiga 2011 Victor Acevedo 2010 Judy Perez 2009 Mario Trujillo 2008 Pete Navarro 2007 Efrain Aceves 2006 Claire Cifuentes 2005 Alan R. Diamante 2004 Edward Ortega 2003 Maribel Medina 2002 Cristina Perez-Gonzalez 2001 Luis Rodriguez 2000 James E. Blancarte 1999 Arnoldo Casillas 1998 M. Leslie Stearns 1997 Maria Villa 1996 Yvonne Flores 1995 Enrique Arevalo 1994 Martha Melendez 1993 Martha Romero 1992 Raul Granados 1991 Raul Ayala 1990 Marcia Gonzales-Kimbrough 1989 Debra Gonzales 1988 Monica Jimenez 1987 Gustavo Barcena 1986 Armando Duron 1985 Carlos Zaragoza 1984 Jaime Cervantes 1983 James E. Blancarte 1982 Honorable Carlos Moreno 1981 Esther Valadez 1980 Oscar Parra 1979 Daniel Garcia 1978 Honorable John Martinez 1977 Honorable Ben Aranda* 1976 Lawrence De Fuentes* 1975 Frank Munoz* 1974 Stanley Delnick 1973 Honorable Joseph Armijo* 1972 Ernest Gallego 1971 Honorable Victor Chavez 1970 Oscar Munguia* 1969 Lorenzo Pereyda* 1968 Manuel Aranda (resigned) 1967 Manuel Valenzuela* 1966 Martin Castillo 1965 Honorable Ray Cardenas 1964 Herman Sillas 1963 Manuel S. Martinez* * Deceased

5 5 MABA Takes a Stand for Humane Immigration Reform By Araceli Campos, MABA Trustee MABA urges the Los Angeles legal community to unify for potential implementation in the coming year. With the largest number of undocumented immigrants of any county in the United States, Los Angeles will play a critical role in setting a model for implementation of potential immigration reform in the coming year. More specifically, Los Angeles attorneys will play the leading role in meeting immigrant community needs should immigration reform become reality. MABA urges everyone in the Los Angeles legal community to unify around humane immigration reform and potential implementation in the following ways: } Take a stand for humane federal immigration reform, focused on recognizing the dignity of the 11 million undocumented immigrants who contribute so much to this country and to our local Los Angeles community. MABA has advocated Congress for legislation that includes a clear pathway to citizenship, a streamlined timeline for naturalization, and critical immigrant integration programs. MABA continues advocacy to ensure that the discourse focus on humane immigration reform instead of on current criminalization of immigrant communities through enforcement and deportations. MABA s full letter to the U.S. Senate will be e-blasted to all members. } Become educated / share information about humane immigration reform. MABA is looking to expand partnerships to educate community members about potential federal immigration reform. MABA is pleased to announce a partnership with MALDEF, ACS, and others to host a major Immigration Reform MCLE Event on Wednesday, October 23, from 6-8pm at MALDEF s National Headquarters, 634 S. Spring Street, in downtown Los Angeles. } Take a stand against immigration fraud and support only legislation that would effectively address immigration fraud. MABA has opposed AB 1159 because, instead of addressing immigration fraud, it adds extraordinary burdens on ethical attorneys, needlessly driving up the cost of ethical representation, and treats attorneys as notarios, adding to the misconception that they are the same. MABA has made itself available to work with our policymakers to identify effective ways to protect consumers from immigration fraud. MABA s full letter to the California Legislature and State Bar will be e-blasted to all members. } Support MABA s Legal Information Referral Service (LRIS) Program. MABA is pleased to announce that after several years of planning with the State Bar, MABA has launched its LRIS Program to connect community members with ethical attorneys, including ethical immigration attorneys. } Volunteer pro bono in immigration clinics to serve local immigrant community members. Should federal immigration reform become a reality, pro bono attorneys will be needed to support community legal fairs to help with local implementation education and service.

6 6 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County LATINO COMP WINS 5th ANNUAL MABA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT By Erick Solares, President-Elect On May 4th, 2013, the Mexican American Bar Association (MABA) held its 5th Annual Softball Tournament at the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in the beautiful city of South El Monte. Eleven teams, representing various sectors of the legal profession, participated in this day-long event which proved to be highly competitive. The teams were divided into two bracketsthe Minors and the Majors. The Minors bracket consisted of MABA, the Benchwarmers, the EWI s, the firm of Hadsell, Stormer, Richardson & Renick, and the Office of the Alternate Public Defender (APD). The Majors bracket was comprised of the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA), the firm of Sedgwick, Deter, Moran, Arnold LLP, the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association (OCHBA), LATINO COMP, the Latino Public Defender s Association and, last year s champs, the Latino Prosecutor s Association (LPA). The teams played two morning qualifying games before being treated to a delicious taco lunch catered by Paulina s Restaurant. The lunch break gave players the opportunity to mingle with players from other teams, friends and family. The afternoon qualifying games proved to be just as exciting as the morning ones and when the qualifying rounds were over, it became clear that LATINO COMP, OCHBA and the Hadsell, Stormer, Richardson & Renick firm would be battling for the championship. In the playoff game, OCHBA faced off against the Hadsell firm and, in a close game, the Hadsell firm defeated OCHBA. In the championship game, the Hadsell firm ran into a fierce LATINO COMP team that ended the day with a perfect record and conquered the championship. Although MABA did not make the playoffs, it finished the day with a very respectable 3-1 record. MABA wishes to thank all the teams and individual players who participated in this fun-filled softball tournament. MABA also wishes to extend a very special thank you to Jeremy Leyva of The Bail Hotline Bail Bonds, the Gold Glove Sponsor for this event. Funds raised from this tournament are being applied toward scholarships for Federal Judicial Externships sponsored by MABA. We look forward to seeing all of you again next year. The LPA has promised that it will reclaim the title!

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8 8 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County Annual MABA Summer Golf Tournament By Miguel Duarte, MABA Trustee On July 26th, MABA hosted the 10th Annual Golf Tournament at the Montebello Country Club. This year s event was the largest tournament held to date with 152 golfers participating. MABA raisee over $15,000 thanks in large part to increased participation by sponsors and players. Golfers of all talent levels enjoyed Tropicana Cuban Bakery respectively. The tournament was a foursome scramble format and awards were handed out to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, longest drive, and the most honest score last place team. On the golf course the players were treated to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and were able to personally interact with sponsors at their designated holes. There were two alcohol sponsors, Classic Distributing Group and Apocalypto Tequila. Golfers also enjoyed tacos, bacon wrapped hotdogs, nachos and spring rolls. Breatheasy Insurance, Bronze sponsors Bad Boy Bail Bonds, Courtcall, Law Offices of Jacob Mojarro, and Tredway, Lumsdaine & Doyle, LLP. Century West the spoils that come with participating such as golf bags filled with swag items including golf shirts, drawstring bags, chips, Tapatio salsa, golf balls, coffee mugs and more. This year s golfers were also treated to breakfast by El Mexicano restaurant and gourmet coffee and pastries by Pasquini Espresso and After the tournament, the awards banquet included a buffet lunch and a silent auction and raffle. Silent auction items consisted of Dancing with the Stars live show tickets, premium cigars donated by Havana House Cigars and Lounge, a golf bag, airplane ride to Catalina island, and premium wine and tequila. The raffle items this year consisted of premium alcoholic beverages and the highlight of the raffle, an Aeron business chair donated by Herman Miller. We would like to thanks our Gold sponsor Independence Financial and Insurance Services, Silver sponsor BMW was our hole in one sponsor once again and our golf shirt sponsor was the Law Offices of Ricardo Perez. We would

9 9 like to also thank our Tee Table sponsors Bail Hotline Bail Bonds, Gilbert Mares & Associates, Gorilla Marketing, John MacDonald Insurance, Last Minute Mobile Notary, New York Life Insurance and Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP. The year s committee consisted of Chair Miguel Duarte, Co-chair Ricardo Perez, MABA administrator Maria Torres, committee members Maria Ramirez, Shelley Dominguez, Jon Garza, Pamela Villanueva, and Felipe de la Torre. We personally want to thank all our sponsors who made this year s event such a great success and helped raise money for MABA which will go to fund programs such as the legal fair and scholarships for law students. MABA LRIS coming soon. By Alejandro G. Becerra, MABA Trustee, LRIS Chair For a year and a half, MABA has been hard at work to re-launch MABA s Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS). The LRIS committee has met several times with representatives from The State Bar of California. The State Bar has been supportive and instrumental in making sure MABA s LRIS will be in operation in the very near future. One of the many things that MABA has done recently is to lease new office space for the LRIS and is in the process of hiring a new LRIS Coordinator. The LRIS program will ensure that our community will have access to competent and insured attorneys. Also, the LRIS will provide the opportunity for our members to sign up as Panel Members. In return, the LRIS Panel Members will have increased access to our community and a greater opportunity to develop their own practices. Spring Mixer Los Angeles On May 30, 2013 MABA Members came together for our annual Spring Mixer at the historic San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles. We were joined at the event by our friends and co-sponsors, the Latino Association of Workers Compensation Professionals and the Esquire Network. The event gave us an opportunity to renew old friendships and begin new ones. It also gave us an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful setting of the San Antonio winery and their terrific wine. Thanks to our members and friends, the 2013 Spring Mixer was a great success. MABA is committed to the success of the LRIS. In the coming month, MABA s membership will be given more details of this great enterprise and will be invited to become a Panel Member. Please stay tuned...

10 10 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County MABA Legal Fair By Alejandro G. Becerra, MABA Trustee This year s MABA Annual Legal Fair was a great success! It was held at Bell Gardens High School on Saturday, June 8, 2013 from 9am 4pm. MABA had the support of over 35 volunteers, including attorneys, law students and members of the community help out with logistics on the day of the event. In addition, 71 attorneys answered MABA s call to give back to the community and volunteered their time to give free legal consultations to an estimated 600 community members. The main areas of law covered by our volunteer attorneys included immigration, family, criminal, workers compensation, personal injury, landlord-tenant, and bankruptcy. Also present, members of MABA Mexico s Guadalajara Chapter provided consultations related to Mexican law. community. Equally important, MABA had the support of individual sponsors and local TV and print media. As chair of this year s Legal Fair, I want to thank all the MABA members and individuals who participated in making this event a reality because together we lived up to MABA s mission of empowering the Latino community. One-on-one consultations took place in BGHS s cafeteria and in their state-of-the art library. Given the importance of immigration issues to our community, this year the committee decided to organize an immigration workshop as part of the Legal Fair. The workshop was held at the school s auditorium. The panel members were outstanding in their presentations to about 150 audience members. This year s legal fair was successful for many reasons: Aside from the Legal Fair committee s hard work, we also had the support of the Montebello Unified School District (that oversees BGHS) and the incredible support of BGHS s principal Juan Herrera, and vice-principal David Hernandez. These individuals opened BGHS s door to MABA because they share the values of service and giving back to the

11 11 MABA Calendar of Events September 18, 2013 Seminar: Judicial Appointment Process MCLE- MABA & Langston September 26, 2013 Fall Mixer October 2013 MABA Immigration MCLE October 17, 2013 Annual Judges Night & Awards Dinner October 2013 Deadline for 2014 Board Candidacy Intent & Statements November 9-16, 2013 MABA Trip to Cuba November 2013 MABA Elections for 2014 Board...working together with MABA. Proudly Housing MABA s Main Office.

12 Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County 714 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 450 Los Angeles, CA 90015