February 2012
From UMBA President Janise Macanas
Dear UMBA Members, Friends and Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce Patrick Tam from Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association is our new Treasurer and member of the UMBA Executive Board of Officers. Patrick will be handling our finances and will oversee our Membership Committee. I again express appreciation to fellow UMBA officers Jesse, Melinda, Patrick, and Linh, who are doing a great job in their official UMBA capacities and to Chrystal and Grace who lead the work of the Foundation, our charitable arm of UMBA.
We also want to shout out thanks to those who attended our quarterly membership meeting and social held on January 24, 2012 at Maxwell’s. With over 50-60 attendees, UMBA members got to mix and mingle and renew acquaintances with each other, rub shoulders with our friendly judges from the Third and Second District Court bench, and meet over 25 enthusiastic 1L, 2L, and 3L law students. Jesse Nix and Sade Turner, our UMBA social planners are already getting input and ideas for our next “big thing” to be held sometime in April. UMBA also partnered with the Young Lawyers Division to sponsor the annual Mentoring Marathon for law students and assisted with organization and planning and served as panelists for the event.
The hot topic for UMBA right now is openly advocating for minorities to be appointed to the judiciary bench. UMBA invites and encourages its members to apply for two judicial openings in the Third District Court which close on February 13, 2012. Vacancy announcement and application can be found on the CCJJ website. We have put together a judicial appointment committee to help applicants with the process which begins with submitting a well-thought out and carefully prepared application and resume. The judicial appointment committee is offering to review applications/resumes before you submit. The application reviewers consist of law school faculty, retired judges, and attorneys with helpful experience in legal writing. If you are interested in this service, please contact me directly. Looking ahead to the interview stage of the application process, UMBA will also provide mock interviews and assistance to anyone interested. We highly encourage everyone to sign up for the 3 credit UMBA CLE on March 28, 2012, “Get the 411: The Judicial Application Process Demystified.” Presenters include among others our own UMBA members Judge Vernice Trease and Andrea Martinez Griffin of the Third District Court Nominating Commission. Registration and details will soon be available through the Utah State Bar and UMBA members receive a discount rate. Also don’t forget, our one hour quickie “Get the 411: Using Tablets” CLE to be held on March 2, 2012, presented by Lincoln Mead, Information Technology Extraordinaire, registration again is handled by the Bar.
Having spent the past two months gaining visibility and strengthening our ties to our valued partners in the legal community, UMBA is pushing forward. 2012 is going to be an exciting year ahead with national and local political elections and changes on the judiciary bench, especially the Third District where it is anticipated that several judges will retire this year.
The drive right now within the UMBA organization is to swell in numbers, spread the good word, involve those who have never had the opportunity to be involved, increase networking opportunities for our members, and advance and promote minority members to positions of importance and influence. I invite you to be part of the action.
Sincerely,
Janise Macanas
