SEDBA COMMUNITY:

This past month found us busy with activity. A great regular meeting with a number of new admittees, a smashing softball tournament, a Board meeting and Law Day with Judge Luna at the Downey Court..

In an effort to reach out to those brave souls just entering our profession, Alex Saab, Diana Fukushima and Jennifer Lumsdaine set out to invite the new admittees in our community to our April SEDBA meeting. We have been working on ways to capture the attention and interest of new attorneys in the community. New attorneys frequently bring a fresh approach to many of the issues our clients face and are often closer to the needs of our constituents than many of us. The committee figured we could contact the State Bar for the contact information of attorneys who passed the bar examination within the last year or so. Not exactly. In keeping with privacy concerns, the State Bar does not provide ready access to the identity of recent admittees nor ready access to their contact data. We did however figure out a way to allow us to determine the identity of the new members and their contact addresses. SEDBA sent out invitations to the admittees and I am pleased to report that four new attorneys joined us at the last meeting.

Your Board made it a point the act as greeters for our visitors. A warm welcome goes a long way to establish a connect and, I think, greatly increases the chance we will see that guest again. I understand the event went very well, at least that is what the Board tells me. (Unfortunately, I was laid up in a hospital bed for a few days, suffering from severe food poisoning.) My thanks to Alex and Diana for getting this project going from the nascent idea we explored at our retreat in January. Special thanks to Irma for her help in identifying the recent admittees and for the mailing she sent to the prospective guests and the follow up. We will include the new attorneys in our mailings and hope they return for another meeting and membership!.

By all accounts our U.S. Attorney for the Central District, Andre' Birotte, Jr. made quite a positive impression at our last meeting. He was open and candid about the challenges of running one of the largest prosecutorial agencies in the U.S. We were privileged to have him join us. My thanks to fellow Board member, Mario Trujillo, for all he did to set the event up.

Your SEDBA Board and friends put together a softball team to participate in the MABA annual softball tournament at Whittier Narrows Park two weeks ago Saturday. Mr. Softball, Alex Saab, captained our crew: Irma Puente, Maria Puente-Porras, Diana Fukushima, Michael Cooper, Robert Jacobs, myself and a few others….what a team! We did not win the tournament but in terms of spirit, creativity, imagination and guts we are legendary… tops in the intangibles. Although the phrase “better luck next time” was often mentioned by opposing teams, we had a great time. Hopefully the photos make their way to the newsletter.

On May 4th, Judge Ana Luna hosted about 45 students from St. Raymond Catholic School at the Downey Courthouse for a morning of Law Day. Diana Fukushima participated for the Board. Yours truly also made an appearance and had an opportunity to share a few minutes explaining my background and such. Such eager attentive faces. We are blessed to have leaders like Judge Luna who take time from busy schedules to share insight and perhaps spark an interest in the profession to the next generation.

Thanks for your participation.

Del Hovden, President
Southeast District Bar Association.