As part of the Chicago Humanitieis Festival, Sergio Acosta, administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board of the Illinois Department of Revenue, and Andrea Zopp, Depurty General Counsel of Sara Lee Corporation, were two of the lawyers involved in the mock appeal by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, regarding who deserves credit for the work attributed to William Shakespeare.

Congratulations to Amy Tu, assistant corporate secretary and counsel for the Boeing Company on her selection for the Leadership Great Chicago 2003 Fellows Class.

Roland M. Juarez is a newly-elected partner in the Houston office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cecil S. Chung on becoming a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Pillsbury Winthrop!

Jorge Espinosa has joined Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin in Miami as a partner in the firm's intellectual property practice.

Audra Mori has joined the Los Angeles office of Piper Rudnick.

Congratulations to Ashish Prasad on becoming a partner in the Chicago office of Mayer, Brown, Row & Maw!

Congratulations to the Hon. Ruben Castillo and Jesse H. Ruiz of Gardner Carton & Douglas on being honored at the 10th Annual El Humanitario Awards in Chicago.

Congratulations to Paula A. Daniels on her installation as President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles. Joining her as officers are Teri T. Pham, President-Elect; Paul J. Estuar, Vice-President; Treasurer Kathryn G. Hirano; and Secretary Belle H. Hsu.

Michael H. Cho is the new First Vice President and Counsel for Law, Compliance and Government Relations at Bank One in Chicago.

Congratulations to Victor H. Reyes, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig, on being named the recipient of a Rerum Novarum Award from St. Joseph College Seminary. The awards recognize supporting labor and the dignity of the worker.

Rafael A. Ongkeko was appointed a Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, John Sugiyama was appointed a Judge of the Contra Costa County Court, and Delbert Gee was appointed a Judge of the Alameda County Court by California Governor Gray Davis.

Michael T. Cruz has joined McAndrews, Held & Malloy.

Peter Hong is the recipient of the 2002 Schiff Hardin & Waite/John J. Waldron scholarship at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Sandra G. Rodriguez on being elected to partner in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins!

Robert Y. Tseng, Wonah Kim, Luis Rosario and Sanjay Murthy have joined Bell Boyd & Lloyd in Chicago.

Ambari Prakash has relocated to Thelen Reid & Priest's New York office.

Robert L. Wilkins, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Venable was selected as an All-Star in the National Law Journal's Litigation Yearbook 40 Under 40.

Edward Blackmon, Jr. of Blackmon & Blackmon in Canton, MS, was selected as one of 10 Winners at Establishing Juror Credibility by the National Law Journal's Litigation Yearbook.

Congratulations to the new officers of the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association: Pamela Loh Veljacic, Co-Chair; Anastasia Yu Meisner, Secretary; Aruna Masih and Akira Heshiki, Members at Large. They join Liani Reeves, Co-Chair, and David Giles, Treasurer.

Cristina Espinosa Rodriguez is a new partner in the Houston office of Baker Botts. Congratulations!

Gary A. Hernandez, a partner in Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal's San Francisco office has been appointed to lead the California Insurance Industry Advisory Team. The Advisory Team is a newly created entity to formulate solutions to the state's growing insurance issues.

Congratulations to Maxwell Griffin, Jr. on being named one of the top twenty tort defense lawyers in Chicago by Chicago Lawyer Magazine.

Joe L. Mendoza has joined Gardner Carton & Douglas in Chicago.

Denise M. Chan has left Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood to join Funkhouser, Vegosen, Liebman & Dunn.

Back to current Commission Reporter

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.