Patiño Banquet 2012

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Dave DeAlba was the evening’s emcee.  I sat at the table with the event’s keynote speaker, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s General Counsel Ramona Romero, as well as her husband and two daughters.  Romero gave an inspiring speech about how she grew up on Food Stamps in NYC and eventually became the General Counsel of the agency that administers the Food Stamp program.  She lamented the small numbers of Latinos in universities and law schools and said that she was proud to be among our La Raza Law Students, who attend a school with a great student body and commitment to public service.

LRLSA gave awards to Professor Amagda Pérez ‘91 (Alumni of the Year), Professor Clay Tanaka (Professor of the Year), and Jenni Gomez ’12 (Patiño Award).  I had the honor once again of announcing the Patiño award winner.

Attendance was excellent, with many alums in attendance including Desiree Velasco Zavala ‘06, Esmeralda Soria ‘11, Emilio Camacho ‘11 (and his ten year old son, Emilio Camacho IV), Aida Macedo ‘11, Miguel Martin ’84 (who founded the Patino Banquet), Dian Vorters ‘97.  Justice Elena Duarte of the California Court of Appeals was in attendance.  Bounty hunter and Sacramento mayoral candidate Leonard Padilla was there in his black hat. 

Many faculty were in attendance, including Amagda Pérez, Cruz Reynoso, Miguel Mendez, Clay Tanaka, Larry Green, Alan Brownstein, and Floyd Feeney.

Thanks to Monica Crooms ’13 for sharing pictures for my blog!