Hispanic National Bar Foundation Annual Awards Dinner in D.C.

I traveled to Washington D.C. this week to attend the Hispanic National Bar Foundation Annual Awards Dinner.  The HNBF sponsors a leadership program for high school students from across the United States who are interested in law school. I met a number of these amazing students from Illinois, Arizona, Texas, California, and many other states. 

One of the "camp counselors" was law student Nelly Chavez 19, who is working the rest of the summer at the Agricultural Labor Relations Board in Visalia. A number of alums, including Gary Solis ’71 (and his lovely wife Andrea) and Meredith Linsky ’98 were in attendance.  It was great seeing them.  I also was able to catch up with a friend, Alberto Arevalo, who I practiced law with in San Francisco many years ago.  Now with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Alberto is an extremely influential attorney and was one of my role models in private practice.

At the dinner, I was honored to receive the Latino Academic Leadership Award.  Among the other award winners was Colorado Supreme Court Justice Monica Marquez.  (Our own Cruz Reynoso was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the HNBF a few years ago.).  Among those in attendance at the dinner was U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, who formerly was the dean at Florida International University College of Law. The keynote speech was offered by Congressmember Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas).

I was inspired by the wonderful students, judges, and lawyers in attendance, and grateful to have the opportunity to tell the group about the incredible things going on at UC Davis School of Law.