The year 2020 has come and gone. We started the year declaring optimistically that 2020 would be the year of ‘perfect vision.’ But between a global pandemic and an exhausting presidential race, the optimism became an afterthought as we were suddenly charged with staying abreast of temporary, yet constantly changing court rules, and simply trying to stay safe among the Bay Area’s rising COVID-19 positivity rates, job losses suffered by friends and family, and loss of income due to changing business dynamics.

Despite the uncertainty of the year, the Paralegal Section pushed forward and we presented our Second Annual Paralegal Conference: Ethics & Wellness. This was the Bar Association of San Francisco’s (BASF) first fully virtual conference and was a complete success! A sincere and hearty thanks goes out to all of our loyal section members and colleagues for attending. Of course, none of it would have been possible without the support of our sponsors for the event: Cañada College, Divergent Language Solutions, Hersh FamilyLaw Practice, Fink Family Law, MacroPro, Inc., and Deposition Reporters Association. Thanks also to the San Francisco Paralegal Association who was our gracious supporting sponsors. We hope to see you this year at our Third Annual Paralegal Section Conference.

We capped the year off with our most treasured event, our Annual Holiday Mixer and Awards Ceremony. Another round of thanks goes out to our sponsors for this event: B2 Consulting, IT Management Services, Bosco Legal Services, Inc., Hersh FamilyLaw Practice, Nachlis Freeman, and Van Voorhis & Sosna. Thank you!

As our section underwent a changing of the guards, our 2021 Section Chair, Karin Buckley, Voorhis and Sosna, beautifully expressed our section’s appreciation and admiration for our esteemed outgoing Chair, Javier Morelos, Hersh FamilyLaw Practice, who will always be remembered as an outstanding leader – one who was innovative and focused, yet patient, kind, and inclusive. Congratulations to Javier on an amazing term, and congratulations to Karin for what’s to come!

Given the pandemic, the 2020 Awards were truly significant. We sought nominations for the superstars who stepped up to the plate and quickly adapted to working remotely, stayed abreast of remote hearing procedures and court processes, became experts in Zoom and other conferencing platforms, and essentially helped their firms run smoothly despite, or in spite of, the craziness of the year. Thank you to BASF’s legal community for all of your wonderful nominations! It was an absolute pleasure to read all of them, and we only wish we could present an award to each and every nominee. If your nominee was not an award winner this year, please do share your sentiments with your nominee. I assure you it will be appreciated.

The BASF Paralegal Section was extremely proud to present awards to:

• Tom Eberhart, Sucherman • Insalaco – Paralegal of the Year
• Kelsey Schur, Swanson & McNamara – Legal Professional of the Year
• Elizabeth Shimozaki, Greene Taubman Dias Chernus Simborg & Dominguez – Paralegal of the Year
• Stephanie Wickizer, Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer – Paralegal of the Year

Lastly, our section has been fortunate to have on our team the most amazingly hard-working BASF crew ever. This crew handles an amazing section case load, but has somehow managed to make ours feel like we are their one and only. Please give a standing ovation to: Raquel Cabading, Director of Continuing Legal Education, Jordan Banez Ching, Senior Events Coordinator, Donia Abdelhameed, Events Marketing Coordinator, and our tech wizard, Peter Gillen, Online CLE Manager. Cheers to you all for a fabulous year ahead!

About the Author:

Erin J. Keller is a family law paralegal at Fink Family Law. She is active in the paralegal community and works to promote continuing education and networking for her colleagues. Erin enjoys volunteering with several Bay Area legal organizations and is proud to be the 2021 Marketing Coordinator for the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Paralegal Section.