San Francisco Attorney Magazine

Spring 2022

Understanding and Navigating Transgender Legal Issues

Helpful Tips for Lawyers, Judges, and Staff

Event Recap






On March 22, the Equality Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues of the Bar Association of San Francisco presented Understanding and Navigating Transgender Legal Issues: Helpful Tips for Lawyers, Judges, and Staff. The featured speakers included the Honorable Suzanne Ramos Bolanos, San Francisco County Superior Court, Asaf Orr, Senior Staff Attorney and Transgender Youth Project Director at National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Honorable Victoria Kolakowski, Alameda County Superior Court. The event was designed to help attorneys understand how to better serve and advocate for their transgender clients.

Panel discussion features (from left to right): Honorable Victoria Kolakowski, Alameda County Superior Court; Honorable Suzanne Ramos Bolanos, San Francisco County Superior Court; Terrance J. Evans (Moderator), Duane Morris LLP; Asaf Orr, Senior Staff Attorney and Transgender Youth Project Director at National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Judge Kolakowski became the first openly transgender trial court judge of general jurisdiction when she was elected in Alameda County in 2010. She explained how as a kid she prayed every day for a year to be a girl. “My family loved me, but they were clueless.” Since April 1, 1989 Kowlakowski has lived openly, explaining she had “gone to graduate school in a dress.”

A major topic was how to handle the situation if the Court or presiding Judge makes a mistake when referring to a client in court. “What is your advice if the Court is aggressive/discriminatory?”

“It’s easy for me to say, but call them on it,” said Kolakowski. “Otherwise, talk to their supervising judge or the presiding judge, who have an ethical obligation to ensure that judges are providing a safe and accessible environment.”

This training is targeted exactly at that issue which is to educate members of the Court staff, both judges and clerks. And really, anyone who might interact with the public, about how to make a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our court users. We all have to continue to educate each other. - Bolano

“It’s always unacceptable for a court officer to deadname, etc.” she continued. “I’ve seen cases with attorneys who who've engaged in inappropriate statements that it gets sort of laughed off like you know ‘that's just them’ and the truth of matter is ‘that's just them’ is never an acceptable answer and we have to hold our colleagues as attorneys and our colleagues as judges to a higher standard than that and without having to necessarily try to have discipline posts, but you know somebody needs to talk to him, or if you have a friend who's a judge who is understanding and tell them this is what happened.”

One of the first questions from an attendee was about their eight-year-old daughter who is transgender.  “We worry about the child abuse laws popping up in Texas and Missouri - what can we do to work against this kind of legislation?”

“Educate policymakers. Find advocacy groups that support the rights of people like you and your daughter,” Kolakowski said. “This isn't likely to be a problem here in California, but it is in many, many places.”

The moderator Terrance Evans, Duane Morris, guided the discussion to the current laws attacking overall LGBTQ community. “Right now there's legislation pending in a number of states that would ban these types of programs and ban even uttering the word “trans” in any public school or university, it's happening right now,” Evans said. “What is your message to folks watching about why it's important for us to have the discussion that we are having today?”

“For me, it was harmful to not have access to information. You can tell people to not talk about something, but they're going to be who they're going to be and they're going to have their own questions,” said Kowlakowski. “So it's really really important I think even if you disagree, I would rather talk to somebody who disagrees with my position.”

As the session closed, Judge Bolano reiterated the importance of these types of trainings. “This training is targeted exactly at that issue which is to educate members of the Court staff, both judges and clerks,” Bolano said. “And really, anyone who might interact with the public, about how to make a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our court users. We all have to continue to educate each other.”

Interested in learning more tips? Register for the program rebroadcast here!