"I made a choice to be vigilante even though unpopular."

State Supreme Court Justice 

Supreme Court of the State of Washington

Congratulations to SDPA Vice President, Sheila Grela 

SPEAKER

Congratulations to SDPA President, Angela DeSaracho

SPEAKER

The 2022 IPMA Conference & Expo in Montreal, Quebec Canada

Visit: https://sites.google.com/view/2022ipmaconferenceexpo/speakers

Congratulations Director, Kristine Custodio Suero

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Congratulations Director, Kristine Custodio Suero

FWN AWARD NOMINEE

• SUSTAINING MEMBER(S):

  
  
  
  
  
  
  AMN Healthcare, Inc., an innovator in healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities across the nation. AMN offers facilities the ability to efficiently balance staff management with the achievement of key financial, operational and clinical goals. 
  

https://www.amnhealthcare.com

Voting MEMBER(S):

Luz Lopez

Ms. Lopez was born in San Diego, California and is from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. She is currently a paralegal with Johnson Fistel. 

Ms. Lopez graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2019, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Public Law). Ms. Lopez received her ABA Paralegal Certificate from the University of California, San Diego in 2019. 

Ms. Lopez is a member of Maria Reina Catholic Church in Tijuana. She enjoys reading, singing, playing guitar, composing songs, and taking care of her cat Nina. 

Ms. Lopez had her grandfather and father to thank for her passion towards the legal field.  Her grandfather, Luis Humberto Lopez Gutierrez, founded the first school of law in Tijuana at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC).  She inherited her love for writing from her father, Luis Humberto Lopez Torrescoto. 

STUDENT MEMBER(S):

Sherry Johnson

I hail from Seattle originally.  However, I have lived in Southern California for 13 years and San Diego for 1 year and 4 months.  I am currently enrolled in classes at University of San Diego.  I am taking the extended day course, which I will complete in April, 2020.  

Hobbies and interests? Well that's a fun subject! I love rock climbing, canyoneering, snow skiing (on and off piste), road cycling, crocheting (yes it's true), baking, and lounging at the pool.

The past 18 years I've been in the dental field.  As much a I love my patients and my profession, mt back was getting tired of leaning over patients on a daily basis.  Recently married, I've found that I wanted to back to school and work in the legal field to aid my husbands growing Law Firm.  He is a solo and needs someone he can trust working as a paralegal for him to help reduce the overall cost for his clients.  Plus, it's a wonderful step into a new field that fascinates me.  

NEW MEMBER(S)

Be sure to say hello to our new members:

Rachel	Beardsley
Hollie	Berman
Samantha	Dice
Ashley	Dominguez
Ashley	Engelman
Yvonne	Hunt
Sherry	Johnson
Mayra	Langer
Yuwei	Lee
Luz	Lopez
Candice	Markowitz
Evelyn	Ngo
Gabriela	Sil
Pervinder	Singh
Mia	Watson-Good

Want to be featured on our next Members Spotlight Blog? 

Are you a new SDPA Member? Want to share your journey? Inspiring stories? 

Send your short, informal biography and a small photo to Membership, include the following:

• where you are from
  
• where you are going to school or went 
  
• where do you work
  
• hobbies/interests/ something unique about you 
  
• why you want to work in the legal field 

By Dawn Regner

Tom Homann LGBT Law Association 

Website:  https://thla.org/

Brief History: 

The Tom Homann LGBT Law Association (THLA) exists to carry on the legacy of its namesake, attorney Tom Homann, who fought for the rights of the gay and lesbian community during the late 1970's and 1980's.  "The hallmark of [Tom's] efforts was to empower those who were shunned by society and to prevent the government from silencing minority voices."  Tragically, Tom died of AIDS in 1991 at the young age of 42, but his impact on San Diego's LGBTQ community and beyond is felt even today, and his work continues through the ongoing efforts of THLA members.

Mission:

The mission of THLA is to support and advance gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, both on a national basis and in the state of California. THLA also provides a place for San Diego's LGBTQ's lawyers to network together and further develop their careers through events such as educational and networking events, law student receptions and awards dinners.  Members actively participate in LavLaw, the nations largest legal conference promoting LGBTQ issues, sponsored annually by The National LGBT Bar Association.  

Services offered: 

THLA offers numerous CLE and networking opportunities, such as its upcoming "LGBTQ Discrimination in the Workplace CLE", to be held Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019 at 6:00 pm (free of charge to THLA & SDPA members).  Additionally, THLA offers a mentoring program for current law students, as well as scholarships opportunities.  

By Dawn Regner

Name/Entity: Voices for Children

Website:  https://www.speakupnow.org/

A Brief History:

On any given day, roughly 3,000 children in San Diego County face the challenges of the foster system.  Incredibly, those children generally remain in the system for an average of 40 months - that's more than 3 years. 

Voices for Children (VFC) was founded in 1977 by Judge David Soukup in Seattle, Washington. The heartbeat of VFC’s solutions-based approach is its Court Appointed Special Advocate (or, CASA) program. There are currently around 1,000 active CASA programs in the United States, consisting of approximately 80,000 volunteers. Voices for Children describes their mission as follows:

Voices for Children transforms the lives of abused, abandoned, or neglected children by providing them with trained volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs). Voices for Children believes that every child deserves a safe and permanent home, and to that end, will provide a trained CASA volunteer to every abused, abandoned, or neglected child who needs one, and advocate to improve the lives of foster children.

Services offered:

Voices for Children provides evaluation, monitoring, and advocacy to foster children in San Diego through their Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program.  As the name suggests, the CASA serves as an advocate for the foster child assigned to them and is officially appointed by a Juvenile Court judge.  Through their court-assigned designation, the CASA becomes involved in the child's case, gains access to their records, and serves as the court's "eyes and ears" for the child.  They act as fact-finders for the court, and provide them with vital information in order to properly assess the child's welfare.

CASAs attend Advocate University, where they receive 35 hours of training to fully equip them, and, at the end of the training, are sworn in as officers of the court by a Juvenile Dependency Court judge. CASA's are also matched with an Advocacy Supervisor who will work closely with them throughout their case.  CASA's must make a minimum 18-month commitment, and generally volunteer an average of 10-15 hours/month.

How Can I Help?

Those interested in the program can attend a Volunteer Information Session to learn all the details.