GN summer fall09 Digital.indd - National Lawyers Guild

Guild Notes ▪ Summer/Fall 2009San Francisco planning for the futureby Carlos Villarreal, Marc-Tizoc Gonzalez, David Waggoner,and E. Teague BriscoeThe first half of 2009 has been eventful, featuring a rangeof activities from the San Francisco chapter. Perhaps mostimportant has been the realization of our multi-year aspirationto assess comprehensively the state of the chapter and planstrategically for the next decade. With the generous supportof the Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood,Harley & Oberman Foundation and the San FranciscoFoundation, we hired veteran strategic planning consultantMike Wong. Thanks to the active support of the entire NLG-SF staff, executive board and other members of our strategicplanning committee, we are developing a member-informedand external stakeholder-relevant vision for how the NLG-SF can truly serve the social justice movement of the 21stcentury.Of course, doing is as important as planning, and 2009has featured noteworthy human rights activity. For example,the chapter signed onto a bar association amicus curiae briefagainst California Proposition 8, which amended the stateconstitution to discriminate against same-sex marriage,contravening the California Supreme Court’s 2008 decision,which held unconstitutional a similar initiative-instituted law.Also, the NLG-SF Committee Against Torture (C.A.T)has worked tirelessly to make accountable those Bush-eralawyers who abused their licenses to practice law to providelegal cover for heinous human rights violations. Expandingits focus beyond infamous torture memo author, John Yoo,the C.A.T. has led the chapter to file a State Bar of Californiacomplaint against Chevron registered in-house counsel WilliamHaynes and to protest Bush-era appointed Ninth CircuitJudge Jay Bybee. Beyond calling for the legal communityto acknowledge, investigate, repudiate and censure thosewho advised the Bush Administration on violating domesticand international law, the C.A.T. has worked with local andnational activists to educate the broader society on this issue(see article on page 8).The chapter has also continued expanding its membershipservices with a new MCLE committee, which hasalready coordinated a voir dire workshop with the NationalJury Project, designed and started a multi-part elimination ofbias workshop series and plans a mindful lawyering seminarand Alien Tort Claims Act class featuring the Chevron-instigatedmurders in Nigeria.Earlier in the year, the NLG-SF honored legendary legalservices lawyer, Steve Bingham, a past local Guild presidentwho worked in Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committeeon the Freedom Summer (1964) and assisted in the representationof Black Panther Party Field Marshal, George Jackson.The annual Testimonial Dinner featured numerous movementcomrades, who together painted a marvelous picture ofSteve’s persecution for providing legal access to an eminentpolitical prisoner, his sustaining family life and his ongoinglegal services work at Bay Area Legal Aid.Finally, in June the NLG-SF took up the issue of PresidentObama’s historic nomination of Second Circuit JudgeSonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Responding tothe neoconservative vitriol against and its taint of mainstreammedia coverage on the first Puerto Rican woman nominatedto the high court in U.S. history, the NLG-SF highlightedJudge Sotomayor’s undeniable judicial qualifications andcalled for the Senate to confirm her nomination.In the second half of 2009, the NLG-SF executive boardlooks forward to furthering a robust dialogue within the Guildon the merits of a multidimensional approach to social justiceand the coalitions and mutual accountability that we believeare necessary in the 21st century.¡Adelante pa’justicia (onward toward justice)! □MIKE CLYBURN NAMED PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOWMike Clyburn, chair of the student chapter at Seattle University for the past two years, was recentlyawarded the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship. The fellowship is part of a two-year trainingprogram, leading to a permanent position. Mike will work in the Community Planning and Development officeof the region 10 Housing and Urban Development office in Seattle.The purpose of the fellowship is to attract to the federal service outstanding men and women from a varietyof academic disciplines who have a clear commitment to excellence in the leadership and managementof public policies and programs. The NLG, especially his colleagues in Seattle, want to congratulate Mikeon this great achievement.▪ 22 ▪