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2014 HNBA Annual Convention but We Will Also Chart New Directions to Help Us Size and Economic Spending Power

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2014 HNBA Annual Convention but We Will Also Chart New Directions to Help Us Size and Economic Spending Power HiSPanic natiOnal Bar AssociatiOn Unidos En Washington: Our Struggle, Our Pr OgreSS 2014 NHNBA AN uAl CoNveNtioN SePtemBer 10-13, 2014 renaissance WaSHingtOn Dc DowntOWn HOtel We are proud to be a sponsor of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s 2014 Annual Convention. table of contents 2015 06-31 CORPORATE welcome letters COUNSEL Greetings from our Leaders CONFERENCE HISPANIC NATIONAL BAR 32-41 ASSOCIATION Hnba leaDersHIP March 18-21, 2015 Meet our National Leaders San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter 42-47 career & exHIbItors HNBA Career Fair and Exhibitor Showcase 48-79 agenDa CLE and Plenary Programing 80-103 awarDs Recipients of the 2014 Annual Awards 104-117 sPeakers Our Distinguished Speakers 118-155 sPonsors Sponsor Recognition HISPANIC NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION 4 HNBA ANNuAl coNveNtioN | wAsHiNgtoN, dc FINAL SAN ANTONIO R2.indd 1 5/12/14 10:27 AM Unidos En Washington: our struggle our Progress welcome letters 6 HNBA ANNuAl coNveNtioN | wAsHiNgtoN, dc sePtemBer 10-13, 2014 7 welcome letters Unidos en Washington: Our Struggle, Our Pr Ogress HNBA NATIONAL the country. We also saw the gap widen and the OUR Programs and STraTegIC ParTnershIPS We: (i) relocated our national office to a new, modern PRESIDENT number of Latina lawyers continue to shrink despite We expanded some of our core programs, while creat- yet cost effective space; (ii) refreshed our website the number of Latinas that attend law school each ing other opportunities for our members. and added increased functionality; (iii) launched a year. Most recently, we have seen a crisis unfold at In March 2014, we announced a groundbreaking new look for our now weekly e-Noticias newslet- our Southern border. new program and strategic partnership with long- ter to keep our members informed; (iv) migrated to a new membership database, which will provide In February 2014, we took a stand in the face of in- time partner Walmart. The HNBA/Walmart “Latina additional member resources and information; and justice and challenged Arizona’s latest discriminato- Leadership Academy” is designed to equip Latinas to (v) conducted staff training at the National office and ry law, SB 1062, which would have allowed business succeed in the legal profession by removing barriers made strategic promotions. owners to use religion as a basis to discriminate and obstacles to their success. The inaugural HNBA/ against LGBT consumers. When our call to Governor Walmart “Latina Leadership Academy” will begin We executed two of my signature new member Janice K. Brewer went unanswered, the HNBA Board with 25 Latinas from across the country and will initiatives: working through our Affiliate relation- of Governors did a courageous thing–voted unani- debut here in Washington, DC during the Annual ships, we “built bridges” and “turned on the lights” in Convention. Indeed, for its extraordinary commit- MIGUEL mously to pull the HNBA’s 2015 Annual Convention parts of the country where the HNBA was previously out of Phoenix. Within hours of our announcement, ment, Walmart is the HNBA’s 2014 “Corporate Partner inactive. We grew from 43 Affiliates last year to 47 ALEXANDER POZO and under significant pressure, Governor Brewer of the Year.” Affiliates in 2014, including the newly formed Rhode finally vetoed the bill. In March 2014, we offered the first-ever, HNBA Island Hispanic Bar Association. We advocated before members of Congress for Mini-Executive MBA program in partnership with We secured our future by seizing the present. We ear HNBA Members, Sponsors, the passage of the Fair Pay Act/Paycheck Fairness the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins modernized our election protocol and refreshed the Colleagues, and Friends: Act, seeking to secure pay equity for women. Did College. We unveiled this innovative new program process making it easier to navigate. We ensured you know that women compose nearly half of the during our 2014 HNBA Corporate Counsel Conference that all eligible Hispanic lawyers are able to serve On behalf of the Hispanic National Bar Association D American workforce? Yet, according to the latest in Orlando, Florida, which marked the first time that our great association. (HNBA), I am pleased to welcome you to the HNBA’s U.S. Census statistics, on average, full-time working the HNBA hosted a major event in Central Florida. 39th Annual Convention from September 10-13, 2014, women still earn only 77 cents to every dollar earned In short, as I promised, we built on our founda- at the Renaissance Hotel Downtown DC in the heart of In April 2014, the HNBA raised over $100,000 and by men. Latinas are the hardest hit of all women. We tion—brick by brick—focusing on our members, our the nation’s capital. hosted our most successful Tennis & Golf Classic asked members of Congress: “What if it was your finances, our programs, and our sponsor relation- charity fundraiser ever at Pacific Palms Resort in ships. Today, thanks to our sponsors and fiscal I want to thank our Affiliate, the Hispanic Bar Association daughter (or sister or mother)?” Los Angeles; the first time we hosted it on the West conservatism, we enjoy greater financial stability of DC (HBA-DC), the HNBA National Leadership team, Coast. This charity fundraiser benefits the HNBA Legal than in recent years. Indeed, in 2014, we raised over the National Office staff, and the over 70 volunteers who Education Fund (LEF) and helps the HNBA provide 2 million dollars, the highest amount we have ever labored to make this ambitious convention a reality. Yet, according to the latest U.s. census statistics, scholarship funds for Latino law students.. raised in one year. on average, full-time working women still earn Our theme “Unidos en Washington: Our Struggle, During the Convention we will announce anoth- Our Progress” is especially apropos as we celebrate only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. er groundbreaking program: the HNBA/Prudential the 60th Anniversary of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Fellowship Program in partnership with Lowenstein ...we have begun to assemble teams of lawyers to decision in Hernandez v. Texas (challenging the Sandler LLP, which beginning in the fall of 2014, will ensure that these children have access to counsel systematic exclusion of Mexican Americans from jury afford a unique opportunity for a graduating law and are being treated with dignity. duty) and the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act On immigration reform, we convened senior leaders student to spend one year in Prudential’s corporate of 1964; landmark civil rights legislation that outlawed from Microsoft, Walmart, and others in Washington, law department and two years at Lowenstein Sandler. discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or DC, during our annual 2014 HNBA Legislative Day in This unique program is another example of creative national origin. But even as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 May and made the business case for immigration ways in which the HNBA is partnering with corporate Finally, as we glance back and look forward, we signaled a turning point in our country, today we are reform. We also advocated for a pathway to citizen- America to create opportunities for Hispanic lawyers. still dealing with the vestiges of a darker time in our ship and other measures to ensure a fair process to believe that the best years for our association, nation’s past. address this ongoing threat to America’s greatness. OUR Members and our nation, are ahead of us especially with We also got our house in order to better serve our leaders like incoming President Cynthia D. Mares OUR ADVocacY Last month, we established a taskforce to address the members and the legal profession. and incoming President-Elect Robert Maldonado. In 2014, we watched as a paralyzed Congress failed needs of the thousands of unaccompanied children Together, we can accomplish anything. to pass immigration reform and at the same time arriving at our Southern border. Whether at the hands We began by amending our HNBA Bylaws to institu- fumbled an opportunity to restore the effectiveness of smugglers or as refugees seeking shelter from tionalize the HNBA’s Latina Commission, previously only Con mucho respeto y cariño, su amigo, of the Voters Rights Act of 1965. At the same time, we violence in their country of origin, these children need a standing commission created by a visionary former HNBA 36th National President witnessed the passage of a law in Arizona that dis- our help. Accordingly, we have begun to assemble president. As a result of an important Bylaw amend- criminated against the LGBT community, even as civil teams of lawyers to ensure that these children have ment, it is now a full-fledged part of the HNBA, with a rights advocates are winning victories in courts across access to counsel and are being treated with dignity. vote and seat at the table. 8 HNBA ANNuAl coNveNtioN | wAsHiNgtoN, dc sePtemBer 10-13, 2014 9 welcome letters Unidos en Washington: Our Struggle, Our Pr Ogress HNBA NATIONAL PRESIDENT-ELECT CYNTHIA D. MARES aludos and welcome to beautiful increase awareness of the HNBA not only through be closed out of a legal degree for lack of under- Washington, D.C., for the 39th Annual social media but also television and radio, to standing, support and guidance, please volunteer Convention of the HNBA. As we gather reach our members and to improve our advocacy to make this program a success. sin the nation’s capital, not only are we mindful of on a wide range of legal issues that affect the how much we have achieved in recent years but Hispanic community. We are always looking for expanded benefits for how much more there is to do. We enjoy more our members.
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