Blog - Page 23 of 174 - The Bar Association of San Francisco

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Barristers Club Diversity Awards: Interviews with 2020 Recipients, Kevin Benedicto and Liên Payne

This year marks the twelfth anniversary of the Barristers Club’s Diversity Reception. Each year, two individuals are honored for their outstanding efforts to increase awareness of diversity issues in the Bay Area legal community. Below are excerpts from interviews with…

One person uses their laptop on their bed, with a mug on top of a book.

Working From Home During the Pandemic: Top Tips and Considerations from a Solo and Small Firm Attorney

In March 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shelter-in-place order in California. On March 25, 2020, I, alongside Diane Camacho of DLS Consulting Services and Brittny Bottorff of the Law Office of Brittny Bottorff, presented a panel entitled “Change…

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2020 BAUDL Champions of Diversity Fundraiser!

The Bay Area Urban Debate League (BAUDL) works with Bay Area public school districts to make competitive policy debate available to every public high school student. BAUDL believes that debate increases student academic performance, enriches and expands their college and…

Practical Tips for Pursuing a Judicial Appointment

Editor’s note: In the short period since press time, Justice Martin Jenkins has been nominated by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve on the California Supreme Court. Congratulations, Justice Jenkins! A survey by the Bar Association of San Francisco shows a…

A picture of National League of Women Voters hold up signs reading, 'VOTE', Sept. 17, 1924. Millions of women voted in 1920 and 1924, but in a lower proportion than men.

Path to 19th Amendment Offers Lessons for Today

The Nineteenth Amendment federally guaranteed women the right to vote on August 26, 1920: 100 years ago. On this occasion, celebration is warranted; but it is not enough. The Nineteenth Amendment’s adoption followed over seven decades of continuous advocacy. The…

BASF Task Force Facilitates Police Reform

Editor’s note: Since press time, San Francisco’s Police Commission passed new body-worn camera measures that had been stalled in negotiations for more than two years. After the death of George Floyd reignited national conversations about police violence against Black people,…

Protestors raise sign on racism and BLM.

2020: A Time for Change and Action

I remember being very excited for 2020. The even numbers. The symmetry. The start of a new decade. I had made New Year’s resolutions – basically the same as the ones last year, but this year I promised myself I…

People in front of Los Angeles’ City Hall protest the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in May.

Liberty of Movement and Assembly

When everyone is potentially lethal to others, without any individual choice on anyone’s part Restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly in a time of epidemic are massive restraints on liberty. They would normally be intolerable. But I think that…

Notes and flowers left at the U.S. Supreme Court in memory of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

How Will SCOTUS Handle Future Issues Related to the COVID-19 Crisis?

The COVID-19 pandemic, not surprisingly, has led to a great deal of litigation throughout the country, especially as there have been challenges to the shelter-in-place and shutdown orders. Overwhelmingly, federal and state courts have ruled in favor of the government…

A health care professional kneels in protest as part of the movement, 'White Coats for Black Lives,' during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic Constitutional Rights: Not an All-or-Nothing Proposition

The death toll associated with the novel coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, has surpassed 200,000 in the United States. To place this suffering in context, more Americans have died due to COVID-19 than all the American deaths suffered during the…

Attorney is working, with a scale on the table.

What It’s Like To Litigate Appeals During COVID-19

I’m the chairman of a specialty appellate law firm with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and I’m involved with a number of appellate-related local and federal committees and organizations. COVID-19 disruptions began to appear on my…

When to Stay Away From Him, Her, and Them

In legal and other formal writing, when you don’t know the gender identity of a specific human individual and are not in a position to inquire, it’s best to avoid using any of the singular personal pronouns to refer to…

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