Kenneth E. Walton, II has been appointed to the Miami-Dade County Court Bench, along with being the new president of the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association (formerly the Black Lawyers Association).

At the 11^th Annual El Humanitario Awards Ceremony in Chicago, Hon. David Cerda, retired Justice Appellate Court of Illinois, and Amalia Roja, Deputy General Counsel of the Office of Illinois State Comptroller Daniel Hayes, were honored.

Associates Naho Kobayashi and Raj Natarajan joined Kilpatrick Stockton (Atlanta) in the firm’s finance practice group.

Mark and Alex Keam (Fairfax, VA) proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Brenna Nicole Keam, on September 15, 2003.

Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) of Los Angeles County recently held their 6^th Annual Installation of the Officers and Board of Governors of APABA of Los Angeles County.  Officers include: Teri T. Pham (President), Paul J. Estuar (President-Elect), Michael F. Yamamoto (Vice President), Belle H. Hsu (Treasurer), and Sandeep Baweja (Secretary).  Board of Governors include: Anna Lisa Biason, Betty Chia, Alexander M. Dai, Gregory Emerson, Lorinda Franco, David Halm, Kathryn Hirano, Jimmy Ho, Deborah Hong, Margaret Johnson, Richard Kudo, Edward Lew, Suma Mathai, Mona Patel Sikora, Raymond Sakai, Jean Song, Michael Suzuki, Diane M.L. Tan, and Rosario Tobias.

Associate John Ken Hsu has joined Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn (Washington) in the firm’s intellectual property group.

Joyce C.H. Tang, part of the legal team for reforming the living and working conditions of Pacific Rim sweatshop workers, was one of the recipients of the 2003 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award bestowed by public interest law firm Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.

Gery J. Chico, the former chairman of Altheimer & Gray, has joined Arnstein & Lehr (Chicago) as special counsel.

Hsing-Hua Pam Chen, formerly of Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman, has joined Sachnoff & Weaver (Chicago) as an associate in corporate law.

Stuart Ishimaru has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  Mr. Ishimaru will be the only Asian American Commissioner and will serve through July 1, 2007.

Viet Dinh and Matt Fong are part of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, Governor Elect of California, transition team.

Marguerite Downing (Inglewood, CA) is the President-Elect of California Women Lawyers.

Clarissa Cerda, Vice President and General Counsel, for Initiate Systems, Inc. (Chicago), was recently honored in Chicago United’s 2003 Business Leaders of Color Publication.

Toney Anaya (Irving, TX) has recently joined Valor Telecommunications.

Adonis Alfonso Neblett (Minneapolis) has become a Shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron’s Intellectual Property Group.

The new officers for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association are: John C. Yang (President); Mike Chu (President-Elect), Donna Chin (VP Programs and Operations), Amy Meyerson (VP Membership), Lu Pham (VP Communications), Arnold Peter (VP Development), David Biderman (Treasurer), Helen Kim (Secretary), and Ruthe Ashley (Immediate Past President).

Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) held a variety of workshops in May 2003. 

Zenobia Lai presented the Health Insurance and Benefits Workshop, discussing alternatives for individuals who do not have health insurance coverage. 

Jeanne Fong conducted the Home Ownership Workshop, providing information about purchasing a home. 

Chi Chi Wu presented the Credit and Loans Workshop, reviewing credit histories, credit reports, and loans.

Jill Feldman and Laurie Hauber conducted the Starting a Business Workshop, providing information on starting a small business. 

Flora Chan, Emily Damiano, Ms. Feldman, Ms. Hauber, and Ms. Lai were on the steering committee that organized the legal workshops. 

AALAM members who helped plan the workshops included Theodore Chuang, Sherry Yee Mullay, Geoffrey Why, Tina Matsuoka, Lena Wong, and student intern Jen Lin.

Patricia Mell has been chosen to be the dean of Chicago’s John Marshall Law School, the first woman and first African American to lead the 104-year-old institution.

Harold Hongju Koh, an expert in human rights and international law, was recently named the new dean of Yale Law School.

Everett S. Ward has joined Schiff Hardin & Waite in Chicago.

As of December 1, 2003, Burris, Wright, Slaughter & Tom, LLC have moved their offices to 35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60601.  Their new phone number is 312-566-0040 and their new fax number is 312-566-0041.

Wendell L. Griffen intends to run for Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court to serve out the remaining years of Chief Justice Arnold's term, which expires December 31, 2008, the same date that his current term on the Arkansas Court of Appeals expires.

Blanca Galo has joined the health law practice area of the San Antonio office of Fulbright & Jaworski.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has named Maria Valdez to head the Chicago office that covers much of the Midwest.

Gloria Santona, general counsel and corporate secretary at McDonald’s Corporation, was recently presented with a 2003 Woman with Vision Award by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois for her work in business and law.

Thu Tran, a 1996 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law who now works for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Pennsylvania, was presented with the college’s Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Award.

The John Marshall Law School named Patricia Mell as its first female and first African-American dean in July.

Southern Illinois University School of Law named Peter C. Alexander its first African-American dean.

Cheryl Blackwell Bryson, a partner in Duane Morris (Chicago), has been named to the board of directors of the DuSable Museum of African American History.

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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.