Lawrence Baca recieved the President's Award (one of the three highest awards that the FBA presents to an individual) from the Federal Bar Association.

Congratulations to Jose E. Martinez on becoming the newest District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida. Jose's nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a unanimous consent vote.

Paula Boggs is the new General Counsel for Starbucks.

Talk about celebrating the nation's birthday! Congratulations to Adrienne Banks Pitts of Winston & Strawn in Chicago on the birth of her son, Michael William Pitts on July 4th. Michael was 19 inches and weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz.

Isaac K. Byrd, Jr. of Byrd & Associates in Jackson, MS and Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr. of Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston were awarded the 2002 Trial Lawyers of the Year by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for their work in Ayers v. State of Mississippi.

Pedro DeJesus, Jr. has become of counsel to Ross & Hardies in Chicago.

Earl J. Barnes, II, is the new general counsel of Rockford Health Systems in Rockford, Illinois. He will remain of counsel to Gardner Carton & Douglas in Chicago.

Fred Gray was installed as president of the Alabama State Bar Association. Congratulations!

Senior Vice President Robyn Mitchell has been named by Bank of America to lead its anti-money laundering compliance for consumer and commercial banking. In this role, she will be responsible for development and implementation of strategies and procedures to ensure compliance with the Regulatory and Corporate policy within the consumer and commercial customer segments.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Granados-Perez of Earl Neal & Associates on her election as president of the Hispanic Lawyers of Illinois. Karina Ayala-Bermejo is the new president-elect, Daniel A. Trevino of Hinshaw & Culbertson is the recording secretary, Jose A. Lopez of Schopf & Weiss is the communications secretary, Frederico M. Rodriguez of Lawrence Hyman & Associates is membership secretary, and Mercedes Luque-Rosales, assistant Cook County state's attorney is the treasurer.

Jorge Contreras will be leading the London joint venture Brobeck Hale & Dorr.

Congratulations to Jeannie Hong on her appointment to the Maryland District Court for Baltimore City, Jeannie is the first Asian Pacific American judge in Maryland.

Congratulations to Linda E. Lu on her election as president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area.

Gurjeev Sachdeva has become of counsel to the patent group of Dorsey & Whitney's San Francisco office.

Charisse R. Lillie of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll in Philadelphia received the first J. Michael Brown award from the DuPont Minority Counsel Network. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Dawn M. Gonzalez on her election as recording secretary of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois.

Mei Li Benni, Hoon Choi, Autumn Hwang, Nathan Khalil, David Lee, and Henry Wu are new associates at Pennie & Edmonds.

Condolences to Mercedes Laing on the passing of her mother, Laura.

Congratulations to Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles on being named Litigator of the Month in July by the National Law Journal for his work in City of Hope v. National Medical Center.

Congratulations to Joy V. Cunningham, senior vice president and general counsel of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago on her installation as 2nd vice president of the Chicago Bar Association.

Richard M. Macias has been selected by the minority members of the ABA's House of Delegates to serve as Chair of the group's Minority Caucus.

Congratulations to Harriet J. Parker on her election as president of the Cook County Bar Association. Stephen Stern, the director of the litigation for the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities was elected 1st vice president. Larry R. Rogers, Jr. of Power Rogers & Smith was elected 2nd vice president and Bruce Cook of O'Hagan, Smith & Amundsen was elected 3rd vice president.

Governor Gray Davis of California appointed Jacqueline H. Nguyen as a Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, making her the first Vietnamese American woman to be appointed as a judge in California.

Manuel Sanchez was awarded the Celebrate the Children Award from the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago.

Mark A. Darden, III and Evelyn O.A. Darden of the Law Offices of Addison-Darden in Glen Burnie, Maryland and James E. McCollum, Jr. of James E. McCollum, Jr. & Associates in College Park, Maryland were recognized by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for their work in winning juvenile justice reforms in Gary J., et al v. State of Maryland.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Banks was elected Chair of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Shirley Higashi, the new president-elect of the District of Columbia Bar Association. Shirley is the first Asian Pacific American to hold that office.

Maria Guadelupe Calderon Garcia is the new General Counsel for the Chicago Park District.

Anita Ponder has joined Quarles & Brady's Chicago office, where she will head the firm's government and contracts practice.

Ramon Garcia and Sonia I. Lopez of the Law Office of Ramon Garcia in Edinburgh, TX were recognized by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for their work in redressing police misconduct in Salinas, et al. v. City of Harlingen.

Dorothy Li was appointed associate dean of library services at the John Marshall Law School. She also received the distinguished service award from the John Marshall Alumni Association.

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Have some good, bad, happy or sad news you’d like to share with minority lawyers and others interested in diversity issues? E-mail any announcements or other news (personal or professional) to the Commission on Racial & Ethnic Diversity in the Profession at yamates@staff.abanet.org– of course, the Commission reserves the right to edit or refuse publication of any submission.