Unity Bar Dinner 2012 and Justice Moreno

Everyone who travels by air knows that flights sometimes get canceled.  It happens to everyone, even retired California Supreme Court justices, as we all found out yesterday.  Justice Carlos Moreno, who retired from the Court last year, was set to fly to Sacramento in time to participate in a noon panel discussion of In re Sergio Garcia, the California Supreme Court case that will decide whether undocumented immigrants can be licensed to practice law in our state.  Unfortunately, his flight was canceled, and he arrived too late for the panel, but did make it to King Hall to share his knowledge and expertise with students that afternoon, then speak at the Unity Bar Dinner in Sacramento that evening.

I’m pleased to be able to say that the panel, which included Sergio Garcia himself, and American Civil Liberties Union attorney Jennifer Chang Newell, was still very interesting.  Garcia talked about the hardships he endured in seeking his law degree and Newell covered the complex legal issues at play in the case as Holly Cooper, staff attorney with our Immigration Law Clinic, acted as moderator.  Attendees included Garcia’s attorneys, Jerome Fishkin and Lindsay Slatter. 

Justice Moreno, a dear friend of the Law School and frequent speaker at King Hall, arrived that afternoon in time for a lunch with Professor Emeritus Cruz Reynoso, California Supreme Court Clinic Director Aimee Feinberg, Immigration Law Clinic Director Amagda Pérez, Holly Cooper, and Prison Law Clinic Supervising Attorney Cappy White, a group of California Supreme Court Clinic students, and me. Then, together with Justice Elena Duarte of the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District, he spoke on appellate advocacy in meetings with students from the California Supreme Court Clinic and Immigration Law Clinic.  I know that everyone involved was very grateful to Justice Moreno and Justice Duarte for sharing their knowledge and experience.

That evening, I had the pleasure of hearing Justice Moreno deliver the keynote speech at the Unity Bar 25 th anniversary dinner in Sacramento.  It was a great event, with Justice Duarte acting as emcee. I was seated at a table with Justice Moreno, Justice Duarte, Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District Vance Raye, Cruz Reynoso, Patty Tsubokawa-Reeves ’86, and June Coleman of Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, president of the Sacramento County Bar Association. We had a large number of King Hall students, staff, and faculty in attendance. King Hall was the event co-sponsor. 

Many of our alumni were present, including Judge Dave Brown ’74, Judge Judy Hersher ’84, Justice Louis Mauro ’87, Justice Kathleen Butz ’81, Judge Larry Brown ’89, Alumni Board President Kara Ueda ’00, Alumni Board Member John O’Malley ’98, and many more.  Former Dean Rex Perschbacher, Senior Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Hollis Kulwin, and Professor Lisa Ikemoto also attended.  The evening included scholarship presentations to King Hall students Lance Martin ’13, Tara Shabahang ’14, Elise Weinberg ’14, Katherine Fowler ’14, and Beth Weaver ’14. Special thanks to Kara Ueda, Patty Tsubokawa-Reeves, Shama Mesiwala ’98, and everyone who helped to organize this outstanding event!