MARK YOUR CALENDAR! MLBA Annual Membership Drive and MLBA 9th Annual Conference

The 9th Annual MLBA Conference, January 30th, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at William Mitchell College of Law

Formerly known as Regional Lavender Law, this annual conference of the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association (MLBA) is a tremendous and enjoyable opportunity for members and friends to learn, share, and network with local and national leaders that promote social justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Our keynote speaker is Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal. Mr. Cathcart will speak during our morning plenary on federal GLBT legal issues such as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill and the pending Employment Non- Discrimination Act (ENDA).

CLE credits are available: Four hours of standard CLE credit and 1 hour of elimination of bias will be applied.

Conference Schedule:
8:30 am – 9:00 am Registration
9:00 am – 10:30 am Keynote Address, Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal Federal

10:30 am – 11:30 am First Session:
1) GLBT Legal Issues: Conquering the Battlefield: Don’t Ask Don't Tell Policy and Progress: Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal
2) Marketing for Firms: How will your clients find you?:
Kathy M. Davis, Attorney at Henson & Efron
Sam McClure, Executive Director of Quorum
3) Topics in Immigration: Neil Grungras, Executive Director of ORAM

11:30 am – 11:40 am Morning Break
11:40 am – 12:40 pm Networking Lunch

12:40 pm – 12:50 pm Second Session:
1) Tax Planning for Same-Sex Couples: Beverly Luther, Attorney at Deloitte & Touche
Karen Sandler Steinert, Attorney at Fredrickson & Byron
2) Overview of Lawyer's Trust Accounting & Accounting Software for Small Firms and Solo Practitioners: Mike Trittipo with the Minnesota State Bar Association
3) Understanding Corporate Entities: Advising your Clients and Yourself: Kathy M. Davis, Attorney at Henson & Efron
Chuck Palmer, Covalent Financial

12:50 pm – 2:00 pm Afternoon Break

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Third Session:
1) Assault by Disease: HIV/AIDS criminal prosecution: Jerry Burg, Attorney at Heltzer & Burg, P.L.C.
2) Large Firm to Small Firm: What it Means to Transition and Start Your Own Practice: David Ahlvers: Attorney at Family Solutions Law Group
3) Trial Skills: Virginia Muphrey, Anoka County Public Defender

Don’t forget to renew your membership! This is a great time to renew or to become a member since the MLBA is currently offering a discounted rate when you register for the Conference.  We’ve made Conference registration and membership renewal as easy as ever! You can either visit Brown Paper Ticket at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/89108 and make your purchase online. Or, you can send a check made out to MLBA via U.S. Mail to: Minnesota Lavender Bar Association, 2751 Hennepin Ave. S. #257, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Please include your name, address, telephone number and email along with your conference/membership fee.

2010 Membership Rates
$75 (annual income more than $50,000)
$35 (annual income less than $50,000)
$15 (law student)
2010 Membership & Conference Registration
$150 (annual income more than $50,000)
$110 (annual income less than $50,000)
$15 (law student)

MLBA CONFERENCE KICK-OFF AT CLUB JÄGER!
January 29th, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
The first drink is on us! Come celebrate MLBA’s 10th Anniversary and as we honor Phil Duran by presenting him with a Distinguished Service Award for 10 years of service on the MLBA Board of Directors. We look forward to seeing you there!
Club JÄGER is located 923 Washington Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN

LAW STUDENTS!
Welcome back from winter break! I would like to invite all law students to this year's annual MLBA conference. The Conference will be held at William Mitchell on Saturday, January 30th. Please see the Conference details summarized in this Newsletter for more information. Admission is free for law students! But, please register on line at Brown Paper Ticket http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/89108 so we know how many people to expect. The Conference is a great way to start networking with other lawyers and legal professionals within the GLBT community. I hope to see you there!

I would also like to invite you to the Conference Kick-Off on Friday, January 29 at Club Jager from 5:30-7:30. The first drink is on us! The Kick-Off is sponsored by Halleland Lewis and will be another great networking event for law students.

If you have any questions, please contact me at jason.schellack@wmitchell.edu

GLBT CURRENT NEWS and UPCOMING EVENTS

Minnesota’s Safe Schools for All Bill Vetoed
Last year, Outfront Minnesota and Rainbow Families drafted the Safe Schools for All bill presented to the House and Senate. The bill successfully passed through both the House and Senate, but was then vetoed by the Governor. Please take time to speak out for equality, fairness and justice at the Capitol.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
I Do Support Love - Freedom to Marry Day Rally, Thursday, February 11th, 8:30am - Capitol Rotunda.
Create your own sign and meet us at the capitol to show support for enacting marriage equality legislation in Minnesota. Clergy and faith leaders will also be present to help lead an inspiring rally for justice.

OutFront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day, Wednesday, April 21st
The rally is at 1:00pm. Minnesota has the largest lobby day in the country for GLBT equality because of your attendance and your help in recruiting your friends and family to speak out for equality. For more information, please visit https://www.outfront.org/takeaction/lobbyday

Sign on to the National LGBT Bar Association's amicus brief in Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez! Due Date is January 29th!
Background: In 2004, the Christian Legal Society’s chapter at the University of California-Hastings filed a lawsuit after the school denied a funding request because of the group’s anti-LGBT discrimination policy. The question before the Court now is whether the “Constitution allows a state law school to deny recognition to a religious student organization because the group requires its officers and voting members to agree with its core religious viewpoints.”

Amicus Brief Opportunity:
The National LGBT Bar Association stands firmly behind UC Hastings’ decision to not fund a student group that openly discriminates against its LGBT students and will be filing an amicus brief (currently being drafted) with the court defending the University and their anti-discrimination policy. As the voice of the LGBT legal community, the LGBT bar is committed to promoting inclusion and fighting bigotry at our nation’s law schools.

If your LGBT law student group or student bar association would be interested in signing on to our amicus brief, please email us at info@lgbtbar.org no later than January 29, 2010. We hope you will join us for this historic opportunity.

The National LGBT Bar Association is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated LGBT legal organizations. The association promotes justice in and through the legal profession for the LGBT community in all its diversity. For more information, contact www.lgbtbar.org

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY FOR LAW STUDENTS OF COLOR, February 26th
Introducing a wonderful networking event for law students of color. For the fifth year running, a walking tour is being offered to law students of color to assist with networking and to learn about career opportunities in the Ramsey County Criminal Justice System.

Seeing a lack of diversity in government offices, Autumn Nelson assisted in the creation of the Ramsey County tour. It is an informal walking tour guided by Autumn who is currently a Diversity Manager at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP, and two colleagues, Nicole Kubista and Evan Tsai who are attorneys with the Public Defender’s Office.

This year’s tour will be held on February 26th at 8:00 a.m. at the Public Defender’s Office located at 101 E. Fifth Ste. 1800 in St. Paul.

If you are interested, you must RSVP by February 15th with Autumn Nelson. You can contact her for more information at AXNelson@rkmc.com or (612) 349-0885.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

State Program Admin Coordinator, Legal Services, Closing Date is January 18th!

The MDH Legal Unit currently has an attorney who has devoted full time to emergency preparedness legal issues since 2001. The current attorney has recently gone into the Post Retirement Option (PRO) and is now working approximately 50% time. The new employee will assist the current attorney in advising on emergency preparedness legal issues and will eventually become the MDH expert on emergency preparedness legal issues when the current attorney fully retires.

Posting Number: 10HEAL000010. Closing Date is January 18th. https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/ to see the full listing about this job.

Get your own newsletter!

Was this newsletter forwarded to you by a friend? Get your own subscription. To add your email address to the newsletter mailing list, click here.

Subscription Update?

Changed your email address or need to unsubscribe to the newsletter?
Click here and let us know.

Job Opportunities posted
on MLBA website

MLBA receives a number of notices from employers seeking candidates for open positions. We try to post these on our web site regularly, and in fact have now created a specific page dedicated to sharing these opportunities.
Please click here for more information. http://www.mnlavbar.org/Employment.htm