Katie Danielson Danielson, the Senior Supervising Attorney at the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), is the third recipient since the fellowship was established in 2012 to provide…
Six-figure Settlement for Bicyclist Struck by Car
Anyone who walks, drives, or rides a bike in San Francisco knows that the streets can be a dangerous place where hundreds of “near misses” happen on a daily basis. Whether it be a person darting across the street against…
Mama Don’t Preach: Madonna’s Custody Battle Takes Center Stage
Guy Ritchie and Madonna have kept their co-parenting out of the spotlight for six years, but now they are battling over their 15-year-old son, Rocco. When Rocco did not return to Madonna’s custody after visiting Ritchie in London during the…
Trust Document Can Provide for Attorney Fees in Battle
“No-contest” clauses are designed to discourage beneficiaries from contesting wills and trusts by specifying that those who do so forfeit what they would have received under the will or trust. A “no-contest clause with teeth” contains a defense provision, authorizing…
Medical Legal Project Volunteer Represents Low Income Senior Citizen
The Justice & Diversity Center (JDC) is pleased to recognize Misty Wright, of Paul Hasting, as our Volunteer of the Month. Wright took an appeal of a Cal-Fresh (formerly known as Food Stamps) determination through JDC’s Medical-Legal Project. The project,…
How to Incorporate Legal Design into Your Practice
As lawyers we use words to explain complex ideas and persuade others to agree with our position. Thoughtful attorneys spend a lot of time honing their writing skills and take pleasure in carefully selecting the words they use. But too…
Member Profile: Yana Welinder
BASF member Yana Welinder is Legal Director at Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization that operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, a top ten internet property. Yana is a graduate of the…
Legal Writing Tip: Losing the Legalese, Continued
As we discussed in last month’s column, good legal writing does not sound like it has been written by a lawyer, or worse, a committee of lawyers. That is the basic premise of the movement toward use of plain language…
Justice & Diversity Center Announces 2016 Board of Directors
The Justice & Diversity Center (JDC) of The Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) recently confirmed its Board of Directors for 2016. Michael Tubach, O’Melveny & Myers, will serve as president; Merri Baldwin, Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, will serve as president-elect;…
Keep Your Client in Mind, the Ethics Will Follow
Your phone rings. Being a solo or small firm lawyer, you answer it yourself. The caller, after an exchange of pleasantries, says, “My mom needs a trust.” The flag that goes up in your mind should be, if not red,…
Let Jobs Come to You with the BASF Career Center
Having trouble finding the time to search through available jobs? Let BASF’s Career Center do the work for you! Create a personal job alert and new jobs that match your search criteria will be emailed directly to you. Our Job Alerts…
Michael Tubach to Focus on Connecting New Attorneys with Clients Through Pro Bono Programs in 2016
Michael Tubach, a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, was officially installed as 2016 President on December 17, 2015 at The Bar Association of San Francisco’s Annual Membership Luncheon and Installation of Officers. In his inaugural speech, Tubach highlighted some areas…