Meet Your 2018 Queen's Bench Board of Directors and Officers
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Founded 1921 of the San Francisco Bay Area Spring 2018 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Meet Your 2018 Queen’s Bench “I Saw the Sign” by Holly A. Schaitberger Board of Directors and Officers Holly A. Schaitberger, President Sophia Maria Andritsakis, Second Vice “Hear Our Vote” President Holly is a family “A Woman’s Place is in the Resis- Sophia tance” law attorney at Hersh Family Law Andritsakis is Practice, P.C. in Assistant General “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun-da- Counsel at Revel mental Human Rights” San Francisco. She assists clients Systems, Inc., in San Francisco, “The Future is Female” in all manner of family law matters, including California. Ms. These are our voices –the voic- complex property division, child Andritsakis es of the women of Queen’s and spousal support, and child earned her J.D from the Golden Gate Bench who marched under our custody and visitation matters in University School of Law in 2009 and banner at the 2018 San Fran- dissolution, parentage, and post- her B.A. in political science from the cisco Women’s March. Voices judgment matters throughout the University of California at Davis in were similarly raised in wom- Bay Area. Holly obtained her law 2004. She has served on the Board en’s marches across the coun- degree cum laude from the University of Directors of the Queen’s Bench Bar try, both in 2017 and 2018. of San Francisco School of Law in Association since 2012 and previously 2005. As a law student, Holly served was Co-Chair of the Queen’s In recent weeks, children in Flor- as a full-time extern law clerk to Bench Business Development ida and across the country have the Honorable Carlos T. Bea on Committee. During her free time, used their voices in public dem- the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Ms. Andritsakis enjoys volunteering onstration against the plague in her community, traveling, cooking of gun violence in our schools. and interned as an investigator with the Equal Employment and practicing yoga and resides with her family in the Oakland hills. I feel fortunate to have the op- Opportunity Commission and the portunity to serve as President San Francisco Public Defender. continued, page 2 of Queen’s Bench in these in- vigorated times. Women (and Hana Hardy, First Vice President children) are staking their place at the podium of public discourse Hana Hardy is in numbers and at a volume that a Deputy City INSIDE THIS ISSUE are unprecedented in my lifetime Attorney in the and in ways I’d only read of in ear- Transactional “The Race is On!” ...............................................................5 lier periods in our history where Division at the The Current Status of Women in Public voices combined with action to Office of the City Office ....................................................................................7 create substantial social change. Attorney for the LEAADD Cocktail Reception A Success City of San José. Her practice areas Once Again .........................................................................8 The origin story of Queen’s 2018 Induction Ceremony And Champagne Bench is familiar to most of us include real estate and affordable housing. She received her juris Reception .................................................................... 9-10 by now. The pioneering women Judges Dinner, 2017 ..................................................... 11 doctorate from Santa Clara University of Queen’s Bench formed this or- Past Presidents’ Dinner, 2017..................................... 11 ganization in 1921 to unify their School of Law with a concentration in QB New Members ......................................................... 12 voices in a time when their very Public Interest Law and Social Justice. Announcements ............................................................ 13 participation in the legal profes- She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree Committees & Appointments ................................... 14 sion was rejected and discour- in International Relations and German Calendar ............................................................................ 15 Studies from Stanford University. continued, page 3 2018 Board of Directors Ms. Brand was in the San Francisco office of Barger & Continued from page 1 Wolen. While there, she concentrated on civil and busi- ness litigation, including of breach of contract, unfair Alice Purdy, Treasurer competition and life and disability insurance disputes. Alice A. Purdy is an associate Ms. Brand is a graduate of Hasting College of attorney with Flicker, Kerin, Kruger the Law and the George Washington University. & Bissada, LLP. The enthusiasm Ms. Purdy brings to family law is Michelle Dylan, Assistant Secretary/Newsletter Editor based on a strong sense of justice Michelle (Thomson) Dylan and commitment to make a mea- has 19 years of criminal de- surable difference and improve- fense experience successfully ment in the lives of her clients. Ms. representing clients in state and Purdy transitioned from environ- federal court. During her career, mental law and civil litigation practice to exclusively family she has consistently obtained law in 2013. Her practice includes all aspects of family favorable results in complex and law matters, including high-asset property division, child challenging cases, winning be- and spousal support, complex custody issues, paternity fore or at trial on such charges matters, domestic violence, prenuptial agreements, and as DUI, domestic violence, mari- post-judgment matters. juana cultivation, and vehicular manslaughter. Ms. Purdy received her J.D. and Certificate of Michelle has drafted numerous significant motions Specialization with Distinction in Environmental Law and appeals, including an Appeal in the California from Golden Gate University School of Law where she Supreme Court and a Petition for Certiorari in the United earned the CALI Award for promising student in Water States Supreme Court. Over the years, Michelle has Law and served on the Moot Court Board. She has a B.A. worked to improve the justice system and bring about in English as well as a B.S. with honors in Conservation systemic change, taking on such projects as challeng- and Resource Studies from the University of California ing the use of juvenile adjudications as strikes under at Berkeley where she completed her thesis in the California Three Strikes law, aiding in the creation of a Environmental Science Honors Research Program. diversion program for minors in traffic cases, and object- Ms. Purdy is a volunteer attorney for Bay Area Legal ing to the scientific foundation related to the automated Aid and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Justice red light system in San Francisco. Michelle graduated and Diversity Center, where she represents low-income from Boston College with a dual major in Philosophy and victims of domestic violence in restraining order and Economics. She received her JD from the University of child custody matters. She serves on the Color of Justice San Francisco School of Law, where she served as a Committee, organized by the National Association of member of the school’s Law Review and a Tutor in USF’s Women Judges and California Women Lawyers, that en- Student Bar Association Program. Michelle previously courages young minority and women students to consider served as the Co-Chair of the Education Committee of a career in law or the judiciary. In addition to serving on Queen’s Bench and a Queen’s Bench Mentor. She has the Board of Queen’s Bench, Ms. Purdy is a co-chair of judged moot court competitions and has presented in Beverly Brand, Secretary various venues, including at USF and SFLN and at local bar associations. Ms. Brand’s current emphasis is in the area of insurance regula- Sara Craig tory advice and insurance cover- age, bad faith and related litigation. A Bay Area native, Sara She has extensive experience in Craig is an associate at Levin most areas of insurance, includ- Simes LLP. Her practice focuses ing general liability, property and on plaintiffs’ personal injury casualty, personal lines, entertain- and products liability litigation. ment, directors and officers, surety, She is active in several MDLs workers compensation, professional liability, excess, in federal courts around the umbrella and reinsurance. In addition, Ms. Brand rep- country, as well as the JCCPs resents and advises clients on life and disability cover- for Pradaxa and California North ages, both with respect to individual and group policies. Bay Fire Cases, both in San Before joining the Lesser Group, Ms. Brand was in Francisco Superior Court. In house counsel at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company her spare time, Sara enjoys reading, traveling on the where she practiced general litigation. Her practice Pacific Coast, baking, and spending time with her pets covered a broad range of civil litigation across the and other animals. country, including contract, business and employment disputes as well as insurance bad faith. Prior to that, continued, page 3 2 QUEEN’S BENCH NEWSLETTER 2018 DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE President’s Message Hon. Ruth S. Astle, Ret. Continued from page 1 Dr. Ruth Astle is an aged, and when some of the most talented legal Administrative Law Judge. minds of the time were being told to treat their le- She received her S.J.D. in gal education as a mere dalliance and either “re- International Legal Studies from turn home” or accept a job as the legal secretary Golden Gate University in May to their male colleagues. Those were unaccept- 2008. Her research dissertation able alternatives to our early members, just as concentrated on Integrity and accepting the status quo remains unacceptable Ethics in Western Adjudicatory to the women of Queen’s Bench today. We con- Systems: Toward a Standard tinue to strive for equality for all women, and we with an emphasis on fair prac- look forward to 2018 as another opportunity to cre- tices. She received her J.D. from Golden Gate University ate timely and engaging programming, direct out- reach, and volunteer opportunities for our members School of Law in 1974. She was an administrative law in furtherance of the mission of Queen’s Bench. judge from 1985 to 2015, hearing cases for the California central panel agency.