PLC Staffer Liz Paez (left) and PLC Volunteer Professor Nielan Barnes
with their 2014 OC Lavender Bar awards
Just last month, many of you joined me and the entire PLC family at the 2014 Volunteers for Justice Dinner to pay tribute to our work, our clients, and our collaborators. Well, the celebrations continue as many members of the PLC family have recently received awards and honors.
The Orange County Lavender Bar Association recently held their highly successful 4th Anniversary Party and they honored three individuals with close ties to PLC.
Professor Nielan Barnes received the M. Katherine B. Darmer Outstanding Community Service Award. Nielan provides pro bono expert testimony in many PLC LGBT asylum cases. She became acquainted with PLC after receiving a plane ride to Mexico for research from PLC’s Board President and volunteer pilot, Julie M. McCoy.
Elizabeth “Liz” Paez received the M. Katherine B. Darmer Equality Scholarship. Liz is currently an administrative assistant in PLC’s Immigration Unit and we will be both sad and proud to see her leave in August to begin her first year of law school at UC Irvine.
Both the Outstanding Community Service Award and the Scholarship are named after the late Law Professor M. Katherine B. Darmer, who was a champion for marriage equality. Professor Darmer is survived by PLC Board Member Roman E. Darmer II and their two children.
Finally, I would be in a lot of trouble if I failed to mention the Community Leadership Award bestowed on Presiding Justice Kathleen E. O’Leary. As many of you know, K.O. happens to be my wife and certainly my better half.
Please join me in congratulating these three remarkable women for their achievements and the Lavender Bar for another wonderful event.
The celebrations continue with the Wiley W. Manuel Certificate for Pro Bono Legal Services. This past year, 130 PLC volunteers received the certificate. See below for the full list. The Wiley W. Manuel Certificate for Pro Bono Legal Services was created in 1989 to recognize the contributions of the many lawyers, law students, paralegals and secretaries in California who volunteer their time and expertise on behalf of low-income clients.
At the PLC office, we have several transitions as well. Chelsea Hadaway was recently promoted from PLC Legal Fellow to Staff Attorney in our Health Unit. Zeenat Hassan was also recently promoted from PLC Legal Fellow to Staff Attorney in our Health and Housing Units. Melissa Perez finished her postgraduate fellowship from Harvard and will become an Administrative Assistant in our Immigration Unit. Finally, Matthew Vela joined our staff as an Administrative Assistant in our Veterans Unit.
In addition to Liz Paez’s upcoming transition to law school, Housing Unit Staff Attorney Ingrid Arriaga is now with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. EJW AmeriCorps Legal Fellow Daniel Triplett recently joined the IRS office in Los Angeles. Finally, Administrative Assistant Mario Castillo is now a public interest fellow in Europe.
I want to also thank outgoing board member Eric Altman for his leadership here at PLC, and with our partner organization OCCORD as their founding Executive Director. Please join me in wishing everyone great success in their new positions.
As you can see, PLC is able to serve our clients because of the remarkable people who work here and work with us. I look forward to what we can accomplish together in the second half of 2014 and beyond.
Thank you to PLC’s 2013 Pro Bono Volunteers who Received the Wiley W. Manuel Certificate for Pro Bono Legal Services
Erica Anderson
Gary Angotti
Katherine Annushcat
Charles Anthony
Daniel Barry
Mark Bentley
Sandra Berumen
Andrea Bird
Elliot Blair
Evan Borges
Corey Boyd
Brent Brandon
Rob Briseno
Kelsey Bryan
Matthew Buttacavoli
Jeffrey Cancilla
Frank Capurro
Anthony Carucci
Sirena Castillo
Laurel Chang
Lee Wei Chen
David Brandon Clark
Daniel Cornelious
Brian Daluiso
Sarah Diamond
Katrina Diaz
Charles Elder
Mustafa El-Farra
Robert Eller
Joseph Farrell
Jonathan Feldman
Pilar Ferguson
Erin Fitzgerald
Megan Fitzpatrick
William Frederick
Leah Gasser-Ordaz
Charity Gilbreth
Michael Godfrey
James Goff
Roger Grable
Rachel Hale
Gabriel Hernandez
Collin Higgins
Tammi Hill
Patrick Hovakimian
Jenny Hua
Desirae Hutchinson
Mayra Joachin
Deirdre Jones
Michael Jones
Michael Kang
Mark Karpe
Leslie Kaufman
Bridget Kelly
Michelle Kim
Richard Kim
Jared Kirkwood
Michael Koplow
Claudette Kunzman
Joseph Laska
Lisa Lee
Jennifer Leeper
Meagan Licata
Glen Liu
Abigail Lloyd
Carisia Lloyd
Johnny Lopez
Deborah Mallgrave
Erna Mamikonyan
Marco Marquez
Adrianne Marshack
Tim Martin
Marilyn Martin-Culver
Lindsey Martinez
Bryn Mcdonough
Roxana Mehrfar
Will Melehani
Sean Menendez Cabrera
Allison Meredith
Ashley Merlo
Blair Miles
Brian Mills
Myrna Miranda
Brian Neach
Joy Nemirow
Anthony Nguyen
Peter Nguyen
Ken Nielsen
Kathy Oeung
Diane Pang
Harsh Parikh
Karen Patterson
Sara Perez
Jamison Power
Erik Pritchard
Marco Pulido-Marquez
Michael Purtill
Rina Quiban
Dina Randazzo
Linda Rangel
Natasha Rieger
Justin Rodriguez
Stephen Rossi
Mayte Santacruz
Gaelen Schumann
Sean Sherlock
Sheniece Smith
Jack Sorokin
Richard Spix
Beau Stockstill
Davin Stockwell
Jane Stoever
Jeanne Thomas
Maria Silvina Tondini
Lindsey Torp
Eve Torres
Lydia S. Tse
Adanna Ukah
Nicole Vanderlaan-Smith
Jeffrey Wachs
Cynthia Waterson
Blake Wettengel
Christina Whittaker
Jack Wiliams
Beverly Wilkinson
Jack Williams
Matthew Williamson
Kristopher Wood
Ed Wunch
Jihann Yalung