Spring Summit, Pathways to Justice, set for June

Attorneys who work in the direct delivery of legal services to low- and moderate-income Californians are invited to attend the State Bar’s 2005 Spring Summit, Pathways to Justice, June 2-4 in San Francisco. More than 40 training sessions will be presented, offering participants the opportunity to earn up to 13.5 hours of MCLE credit (including elimination of bias and legal ethics).

Topics include recent developments in family law, low-income housing, Social Security and SSI; services to self-represented litigants; bias and cultural competency; disability access issues; juvenile justice; federal language access rights; and limited scope representation (unbundling).

The conference is co-sponsored by the State Bar’s Program Development Unit of the Office of Legal Services, Access & Fairness Programs and the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC).

Speakers include U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, the first woman appointed to the northern district federal bench of the Northern District of California and the first female chief judge, and David Hall, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston who was appointed in 2003 to serve on the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation.

Additional conference highlights include training sessions — one on diversifying the funding base and another on donor cultivation for small, medium and large gifts — by Bob Zimmerman of Zimmerman Lehman in San Francisco; an opportunity to provide public comments on the American Bar Association’s Standards for Providers of Civil Legal Services; an opening night reception featuring the LAAC Awards of Merit; and an exhibitors area.

The basic registration fee is $195 with a $10 discount for LAAC members and $75 for law students. A group discount is available for the fourth and additional registrant from the same organization. The pre-registration deadline is Friday, May 20; after that date, the registration fee is $245 and must be paid onsite. The registration brochure (including online registration) will be available in late March. Additional information is posted on the State Bar's Web site.

Further information is available from Rodney Low at rodney.low@calbar.ca.gov or 415-539-2219, or Sharon Ngim at sharon.ngim@calbar.ca.gov or 415-538-2267. For information about LAAC membership, contact Julia Wilson at jwilson@pic.org or 415-834-0100, ext. 306.

Partial scholarships are available; contact Sharon Ngim (see above).