From the Executive Director

Executive Director, Bruce Iwasaki

November 2005

LAFLA’s Access to Justice Dinner

 

LAFLA’s Access to Justice gala dinner this past October 18 was a smashing success.  Thank you to staff members who assisted in the evening, and of course to Kathleen Sheldon our Development Director, and the development department for all their work.  But the real glory belongs to a handful of board members Rita Tuzon, Jim Hornstein, Marc Seltzer, Steve English, and Harriet Posner, who, despite their own killer schedules, worked the phones relentlessly to push the event beyond our target, beyond what we’ve done before, and beyond our wildest hopes. 

 

Maybe I shouldn’t think this way but I do:  every table we sell is three weeks of a LAFLA lawyer’s salary.  We depend on this event to go beyond fickle government funding.  A lesson from this year’s dinner is that LAFLA’s base of support is strong.  Two weeks before the dinner, Kathleen and I were sweating.  It looked like the event would be respectable, but fall short of our target.  That would have pushed us deeper into deficit for the year.  Instead, because of the dinner committee’s efforts, we had our best dinner revenue ever, and we are poised for an even more impressive gala next year.

 

But the dinner was successful on other levels as well.  First, it ended on time – very important to getting people to return next year.  Also, there was a nice buzz because the crowd was big, Warren Beatty drew attention, and Judge Wardlaw’s speech linked judicial independence and access to justice by bluntly criticizing politicians who attack the judiciary as it.  In addition, Victor Geminiani, LAFLA’s incoming Executive Director, was introduced to the audience and offered heartfelt remarks.

 

The highlight for me was the generous speech by one of my heroes, the father of the modern legal services movement, Justice Earl Johnson about me, and the presentation by the board of a tome containing my collected letters to you.  That part of the program was a complete surprise to me – I later learned about the secret e-mails and conference calls that I was excluded from; Kathleen even sent me on a wild goose chase to Staples to buy something so I wouldn’t arrive at the hotel while Justice Johnson was practicing his speech.

 

Since 1997 I have had the privilege of leading a law firm with talented advocates and staff, a dedicated board of directors, and with strong community support from people like you.  It is no secret that nine or ten years ago LAFLA was on its knees. With hard work we bounced back, and are once again one of the premier law firms for low income people in the country.  Under Victor, I am confident, LAFLA will soar. 

 

Frequently on my mind during this journey have been two of my predecessors as heads of LAFLA. One is here tonight, the supervising judge of the Probate Court, recipient this year of the State Bar’s Benjamin Aranda Award, the Hon. Aviva Bobb.  The other executive director of LAFLA was cruelly taken from us ten years ago, a dear friend to so many of us, Kathy Krause.  The standards set by these two women have inspired and challenged me.

 

My friends, thank you for being a partner with us in the struggle for equal justice.  Thank you for being here.  Enjoy this evening, but most important please know this:  Because of your support, children are safer, communities are stronger, lives have been saved.  Please tell me:  Will you stay with us in this fight?  I believe you will.   

 

BGI