We Hope That You Notice. . .
What We’ve Been Up To at the BHBA
By LaVonne Lawson , President, Beverly Hills Bar Association
The Supreme Court Luncheon

We recently hosted our 65th Annual Supreme Court Luncheon. It was an incredible event and an honor to have in attendance the Supreme Court of California.
Each year at this event, the Beverly Hills Bar Foundation provides scholarships to law students committed to public service and it gives awards to legal writing competition winners. At the luncheon, five very impressive law students received scholarship awards. We prepared a short film to note their accomplishments, which you can find here: Scholarship Video. Awards were also given to the Winner and Honorable Mention awardees of the annual Rule of Law Writing Competition.
One of our former scholarship recipients, Joshua Bobrowsky, J.D., MPH Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, LA County Department of Public Health, made very impressive remarks.  Watch Joshua's remarks here. We enjoyed the comments of Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch who humorously noted that by having the event at the Four Seasons, we were across the street from the City of Beverly Hills.  Watch Mayor Mirisch's remarks here. And Dean Jennifer Mnookin of the UCLA School of Law updated us on the state of the law schools. Watch Dean Mnookin's remarks here.

Scholarship Donors were Girardi Keese; Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP; and Sidley Austin LLP. Champions of Justice Donors include Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Greenberg Glusker; Oldman, Cooley, Sallus, Birnberg, Coleman & Gold LLP; Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP; and Valensi Rose, PLC. Press Reception Sponsors were Freeman, Freeman & Smiley, LLP and Judicate West. The “Rule of Law Writing Competition” sponsors are Kenneth and Dale Petrulis. 

Thank you to the Beverly Hills Bar Foundation for organizing this impressive event. This includes a thank you to Alan Forsley, who chaired the Foundation’s Scholarship Committee and to Kenneth and Dale Petrulis, who sponsored the Rule of Law Writing Competition.
If Only I Played Golf . . .

… Then I could participate in the BHBA/BHBF’s 2019 Annual Golf Tournament at MountainGate Country Club on Monday, October 14th. Even so, I plan to volunteer because I do not want to miss this! In my previous message, I noted that we are connecting even more with other associations. So, we are hoping for some serious inter-association competition. And we need you to represent. If you want to get involved or find out more, do not hesitate to contact LeRoy Williams, Chair of the Tournament Committee.
There Is Something Here For Everyone . . .

In addition to our substantial legal subject matter expertise (thank you to our Sections !) we are concerned about the care and feeding of our members.
Our Committee on Empowering Women recently conducted an open-house event where people had an open and honest conversation regarding whether anyone can really “have it all.”

Or consider our BRAG Group, where members connect for the purpose of getting to know other experienced professionals focused on developing business relationships.
For those who want to read more books, or who want to hear from those who write them, we co-sponsored an event with Writer’s Bloc, where we heard from Preet Bharara (who discussed his book, “Doing Justice”) and Jeffrey Toobin (who moderated).

The take-away from this, is that there is something here for you . The only limit to the projects that we can consider is the imagination of our members.
What Are They Saying About It at the BHBA?

Content is requested , so that we can educate our legal and nonlegal community and so that we can promote you - our members.

Watch out for new programming - more about BHBA Stories in the next issue. And please subscribe to the Beverly Hills Bar Association YouTube channel at www.bhba.org/youtube.

We are dedicated to our local community and growing our online community. You don’t have to be local to be a BHBA member and get our excellent programming, and you don’t have to be local to submit articles and more. Whether near or far, you can always be active with the BHBA.

We are on countdown to a new website. Look out for this next month!
Dr. Seuss and Fair Use, What 20+ Years Will Do!
Written by Scott Hervey of Weintraub Tobin 
Over twenty years ago, the Ninth Circuit decided the case of Dr. Seuss Enterprises., LP v. Penguin Books USA, Inc.  That case involved a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Dr. Seuss over a book entitled The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody by Dr. Juice. This book was about the O.J. Simpson trial presented in Seuss style rhyming verse and animation. The work begins: 

A happy town
Inside L.A.
Where rich folks play
The day away.
But under the moon
The 12th of June.
Two victims flail
Assault! Assail! 
Somebody will go to jail! Who will it be?
Oh my! Oh me!

The book also presents a view of the OJ Simpson criminal murder trial from OJ’s perspective: “A man this famous/Never hires/Lawyers like/Jacoby Meyers/When you’re accused of a killing scheme/You need to build a real Dream Team.” The book’s illustrations included Simpson depicted 13 times in the distinctively scrunched and shabby stovepipe hat worn by the Cat in the Hat. The defendants claimed that their use was non-infringing fair use; the court did not agree.  
Letter from the President of the
BHBA Barristers
By Jack McMorrow , President, Beverly Hills Bar Association Barristers
Earlier this week, when discussing how much was going on in our work and personal lives, I jokingly asked a fellow Barristers Member if she knew any young attorney that was not exhausted and did not have too much on his/her plate. While not necessarily 100% true, the answer was, of course, no.

We young attorneys are faced with unique challenges. We are developing as professionals and learning the law and our trade. In addition to learning the law, we are developing our lawyering skills and passing milestones regularly - from our first client meeting to our first trial. In addition, we are negotiating our salary, starting a business, hiring our first employee, or planning a lateral move.

If that were not enough to occupy our time, we are navigating our personal life to achieve a reasonable work-life balance. Young attorneys are getting married, buying a house, having a child, and having a second child, just to name a few big life events.

We all know that. At times we think deeply about it and ask big life questions. At others, we bury our head and churn, churn, churn.
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in a grounding experience — something I used to make more time for — preparing a meal for the homeless at SAMOSHEL (the Santa Monica Homeless Shelter), an event that the Barristers staff the second Saturday of each month. I also went to the park with my dog and played a round of golf. Sacred time well spent.

After a long day Wednesday, I did what the BHBA Barristers do so well, I networked with other attorneys. We discussed the hectic nature of the business and how we so cherish our limited time to rejuvenate ourselves and the things we do to build ourselves back up. 

Connecting and sharing the experience relieves the isolating feeling that one experiences during the “heavy” periods. As a collective, us young attorneys need to stick together and support each other as we chase our goals. Connecting with others will not just increase business opportunities, but it will allow us to be part of a community. Together, we can face obstacles, celebrate our successes, and enjoy the spoils. For this, and many other reasons, I again invite you to attend any and all of our events.