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BASF Welcomes Mediator to its Panel

The Bar Association of San Francisco welcomes Allan Schwartz to its Bay Area Mediation Services panel. Schwartz’s specialty is small to medium sized cases. His fee structure is commensurate. Schwartz states his prime goal in mediation is to help place…

Special Offer from 2017 JDC Gala Sponsor Legalweek West

Special offer from 2017 JDC Gala Sponsor Legalweek West: Save 25% Off Your LegalDiversityForum Pass! Enter Promotion Code: JDC25 to Claim Your Exclusive Discount. Join your colleagues at the inaugural LegalDiversityForum, an area of focus at Legalweek West, taking place…

The Digital Milieu: A Lawyer’s Duty of Competence and Protection

Mickey Haller sat in the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car on his way to the office of his murdered criminal defense attorney colleague to take possession of his dead colleague’s client files. The murdered colleague had included Haller…

Section Member Spotlight: Ana Fatima Costa

Author. Speaker. Mother. Coach. These are just a few of the words used to describe Ana Fatima Costa, marketing coordinator for BASF’s Paralegal Section. Born in Portugal, Costa and her family immigrated to America when she was seven years old…

Online Personas Cause Custody Repercussions

The founder of a right-wing website and a YouTube prankster normally wouldn’t have much in common. However, Alex Jones (Infowars.com) and Michael Martin (DaddyOFive of YouTube) both recently lost custody battles because of, at least in part, their public personas.…

Legal Writing Tip: Seriously, Just Use the Serial Comma

Of all punctuation marks, the comma is the one most often debated in courthouses; its presence or absence in statutes and other legal texts has determined the outcome of cases—going back in U.S. history to at least 1872, when the…

Attracting the Right Clients Through Effective Branding

Of particular importance to solo and small firm attorneys is the idea of effective branding. If you are just starting out, or you feel like your brand needs a makeover, there are three scary things you must do to ensure…

Senior District Judge Thelton Henderson Set to Retire

Senior District Judge Thelton E. Henderson has informed the Court that he will step down from the bench and assume inactive status in August 2017. Judge Henderson was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat vacated by Judge Cecil…

Legal Leaders Dinner Draws More than 40 Bay Area Corporate Counsel

The Spring 2017 General Counsel Dinner was held on Thursday, April 20 at Wayfare Tavern. The event was sponsored by Baker & McKenzie and was a huge success. Over 40 in-house counsel were in attendance making it the largest turnout…

Seyfarth Shaw Helps Client Gain Freedom

Congratulations to Seyfarth Shaw for settling a case on behalf of a client with the Justice & Diversity Center’s Federal Pro Bono Project. The client, “Mr. M,” was incarcerated when he filed suit against the Department of Corrections. After reporting…

Homeless Advocacy Project, Orrick and UC Hastings Team Up For Homeless San Franciscans

The Justice & Diversity Center (JDC) thanks the law firm and law school volunteers of a unique pro bono collaboration. Every week, JDC’s Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) runs a clinic at a shelter with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and UC…

Staff Attorneys Talk Equal Justice at ABA Conference

JDC’s Cary Gold, Katie Danielson and Mairi McKeever (pictured above) were featured panelists at the American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference held in early May. Gold and Danielson were speakers on the “Holistic Legal Services: Model and Uses” panel. McKeever…