14th Annual Gala Dinner a Record Breaker!

The 14th Annual ACCA SoCal Gala Dinner was held May 1, 2009 to another sell out audience, reaffirming this event as the largest in-house gala dinner in the US. President Clinton transfixed and inspired our nearly 1500 guests describing the way that his foundation is doing its work, and with stories of his visits to other countries to see the progress of the foundation.

Huge support was shown for the Silent Auction, a record $45,000 in Silent Auction Proceeds was donated to Public Counsel to assist in its continuing mission of providing legal services to the disenfranchised members of the Los Angeles community.

2009 Street Law at Dorsey High School

In March and April of this year, ACCA-SoCal held its Spring installment of the Street Law Program in partnership with Southwestern Law School. Street Law, Inc. is a nationally renowned non-profit organization dedicated to providing practical, participatory education about law, democracy, and human rights. The Street Law Program provides law firms, corporate legal departments and attorney organizations the opportunity to teach public school students basic legal concepts across a variety of disciplines. In recent years, ACCA-SoCal attorneys have taught such subjects as Contract Negotiation, Entertainment Law and Juvenile Justice to students at Dorsey High School and Foshay Middle School.

In March and April, ACCA-SoCal members and students from Southwestern Law School taught the following subjects to 12th graders at Dorsey High School:

• Contract Negotiation
• Entertainment Law
• Sports Law
• Landlord/Tentant Law

The classes were a resounding success and were followed by a culmination a day of workshops and interaction with Southwestern Law School professors, law students and attorney volunteers.  Congratulations to everyone who participated on making ACCA-SoCal's presence felt in the community! event at Southwestern Law School where volunteers and students gathered for

August 3, 2007 Latin Jazz Concert Under the Stars Was Smooth Success

June 10, 2007 ACCA-SoCal and San Diego Chapter Goof off at Disneyland Social Event

William Messner

ACCA SoCal and the San Diego ACCA Chapter co-hosted a fabulous family event at Disney Land on Sunday, June 10th  with over 200 tickets sold.

Amidst blue skies and dazzling sunshine, the attendees ate a delicious lunch at the Thunder Mountain Picnic Area, participated in a great raffle loaded with prizes for the kids and adults, and enjoyed a surprise visit by Mickey Mouse. Attendees also watched parades and princess shows, and they whooshed and floated through countless rides among many familiar and brightly smiling ACCA faces.

It was an exciting way to create community by mingling, networking and just enjoying the day and new friends.

June 2, 2007 ACCA-SoCal Partnered with Foley & Lardner LLP for L.A. Works Day

Ajay Patel

For the second consecutive year, ACCA-SoCal partnered with the Los Angeles office of Foley & Lardner LLP for L.A. Works Day 2007. On Saturday, June 2, the ACCA-SoCal/Foley Team came together along with thousands of other helping hands to renew, refurbish, and restore nine local schools, parks and community service centers across Los Angeles.

This year, the ACCA-SoCal/Foley Team was assigned to Bethune Middle School in South Los Angeles. Bethune Middle School opened its doors in 1925 and now serves 2,400 South Los Angeles students. The ACCA-SoCal/Foley Team and other volunteers planted trees, added a fresh coat of paint to the school's buildings, built new benches and reshaped the landscaping. They also conducted interactive programming with Bethune students including a large scale reading project. Thanks to the hard work of the ACCA-SoCal/Foley Team, Bethune Middle School is now a more exciting place to learn and a more beautiful place for students to go every day.

ACCA volunteers included Vince Gonzalez (Sempra Energy), Christine Helwick (California State University), Marlin Howes (Sempra Energy), Ajay Patel (Sony Connect Inc.) and Christine Smith (Newegg Inc.). Volunteers from Foley were Kumar Maheshwari, Liz Nesbitt, Jimmy Nguyen and Rick Seiden. A special thank you to ACCA-SoCal members Ajay Patel and Julie Pierce as well as Jimmy Nguyen from Foley for organizing the ACCA-SoCal/Foley Team.

June 6, 2007 ACColades: A Salute to Women Who Inspire Us at MOCA

William Messner

On a wonderful summer evening on June 6th, ACCA held its spectacular ACColades event. In what is becoming an annual ACCA SoCal tradition, two inspirational women were honored at ACColades.

This year’s honorees were Jamie McCourt, Vice Chairman and President of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Audrey Irmas of the Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation.

In her short time in her position, Ms. McCourt has been actively involved in the Los Angeles community - teaching at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and serving on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Business Council and the Board of Directors of LA INC, as well as the Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Ms. Irmas is a long time supporter of worthy causes in Southern California including L.A. Family Housing and The Keck School of Medicine of USC.

This year’s event was sponsored by O’Melveny & Myers LLP and held at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, where attendees were able to experience the "Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution" exhibits.

May 30, 2007 DoubleHeader® : Intellectual Property Protection & Enforcement – A California Adventure

Joe Craciun

On May 30, 2007, ACCA-SoCal held its MCLE DoubleHeader® event entitled, "Intellectual Property Protection & Enforcement: A California Adventure" at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and California Adventure Park. The event was sponsored by ACCA-SoCal sponsor law firm, Knobbe Martens Olsen & Bear, whose partners John Sganga, Mark Benedict, Ph.D and Vito Canuso provided state-of-the-art information on how corporate counselors can better protect and enforce their company’s intellectual property portfolio. Specifically, they addressed the basics of IP due diligence, patent law opinions of counsel (when you need one and why) and how to defend against patent trolls. During the breaks two attendees were awarded special Disney pins for their knowledge of Disney trivia.

After the program, the attendees were given a guided tour of Disney’s California Adventure Park where they learned about all the details that went into creating the Golden-State themed park by Walt Disney “Imagineers.” Following the fun and enlightening tour, attendees enjoyed delicious California wine and an outstanding multi-course dinner overlooking the park on the outside terrace at the Golden Vine Winery. And if that weren’t enough, our gracious hosts provided each attendee a free ticket to Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park!

May 4, 2007 ACCA-SoCal’s 12th Annual Gala Dinner Was Another Smashing Succcess

Renee Benjamin

On May 4th, a sell-out crowd of over 1,400 in-house counsel, outside counsel, judges, business executives and dignitaries attended ACCA-SoCal’s 12th Annual Gala Dinner and Pro Bono Silent Auction, the largest in-house networking event in Southern California.

The keynote speaker, the Honorable Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States, confronted environmental issues that impact our global civilization today in a presentation based on the Academy Award winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

Approximately $40,000 in proceeds from the Silent Auction -- a new record -- went to benefit Public Counsel, the largest pro bono public interest law firm in the world. In addition, ACCA-SoCal presented its inaugural Diversity Award to Susan Liebson, Associate General Counsel, BP, and the Pro Bono Corporate Counsel of the Year Award to Chris Murphy, Associate General Counsel, DirecTV, Inc.

Ms. Liebson designated the Asian Pacific American Legal Center to receive the $10,000 charitable donation accompanying her award and Mr. Murphy designated Public Counsel to receive the $10,000 donation accompanying his award.

April 24, 2007 Wine Tasting Social

Vincent Gonzales

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, ACCA-SoCal hosted another sold-out wine tasting reception at The Wine House in West LA. This time around, instead of tasting the wines from the Central Coast of California, ACCA-SoCal wine aficionados took a tour of the delicious wines and exotic foods from the countries bordering the Mediterranean including Spain, France and Italy.

Our “tour” guide was none other than the Wine House’s General Manager JB Severin. JB began with a brief, yet informative tutorial on how to tell the difference between decanting a wine bottle and allowing a wine to “breathe”. He continued with a quick recap of how to smell and look at a glass of wine. JB then took us on a whirlwind tour of the seven wines that we were having that evening, including a discussion of each wine’s unique characteristics and distinctive flavors.

ACCA-SoCal would like to toast Board Member Phil Maynard and the members of its Social Committee who helped produce this very memorable evening.

March 28, 2007 DoubleHeader® at the Getty Villa: Discovering Art and the Value of eDiscovery Tools

Mark Harrington

Continuing the tradition of combining top notch MCLE programs with exclusive locations and entertainment, ACCA-SOCAL held another DoubleHeader(R) event on March 28th at the J.Paul Getty Museum "Villa" in Malibu.

Recently re-opened after an eight-year closure, the Getty Villa museum features Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities arranged by themes including Gods and Goddesses, Dionysus and the Theater, and Stories of the Trojan War.

The evening commenced with an MCLE presentation in the beautiful auditorium of the Villa by sponsors Duff & Phelps and Guidance Software on "The Best Friends of the In-House Counsel: Computer Forensics and eDiscovery Tools" to update ACC members on best practices for ediscovery and computer forensics. The panelists and opinions were well-rounded and included ACC members, and outside attorneys and others who are experts in the field. The stimulating academics were followed by a networking reception with food and drinks held outdoors and overlooking the museum and Pacific Ocean. Guests were lucky to have the museum to themselves at this event and capped off the evening by touring the museum galleries and gardens. A real night to remember!

February 10, 2006 11th Annual Gala Dinner with General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) Former United States Secretary of State

Community Service with Habitat For Humanity ("HFH")

ACCA-SoCal members volunteered their valuable time to participate in a day of community service with Habitat For Humanity ("HFH") on November 15, 2004. The project work site was located in Pacoima (San Fernando Valley) and contained six attached duplexes and two detached homes in various stages of development.

More than 80 ACCA-SoCal Attendees at the AM04

A record 2,500 attendees were at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Annual Meeting ("AM04"), held at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago on October 25–27, 2004. More than 80 ACCA-SoCal members traveled from Southern California to the Windy City to join their in-house counsel colleagues from other Chapters around the US, as well as other countries, in three days of meetings, MCLE classes, luncheons, receptions, and programs, not to mention non-stop networking. 2006 Annual Meeting will be held in San Diego.

7th Annual Reception Celebrating Diversity

ACCA-SoCal cohosted the 7th Annual Reception Celebrating Diversity with the California Minority Counsel Program (CMCP) at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall on September 22, 2004 in downtown Los Angeles. The event was held for and in honor of minority corporate counsel in California. It attracted over 200 attendees.

Roses and Reds Reception a Resounding Success

ACCA-SoCal celebrated the summer solstice by hosting "Roses and Reds: A Wine Tasting Reception" on June 22, 2004. Over 100 in-house counsel and their guests attended what many described as an absolutely perfect pairing: tasting award-winning wines from Santa Barbara's Rideau Vineyard while enjoying one of the more beautiful venues in Southern California, Pasadena's Tournament House which is home to the Tournament of Roses Association.

LA Works Day 2004: ACCA-SoCal Volunteers Clean Up the Los Angeles River

Several ACCA-SoCal members volunteered their time on June 5, 2004 to take part in the LA Works Day-an annual day where volunteers do various projects such as clean up and paint public schools in downtown LA, and landscape at local public parks and nearby east LA neighborhoods. The ACCA-SoCal volunteers teamed up with volunteer attorneys from the firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart to clean up refuse and other debris along the banks of the nearby Los Angeles River.

ACCA-SoCal's 9th Annual Gala Dinner with Keynote Speaker Dr. Madeleine Albright

A record 1,400 in-house counsel, outside counsel, friends, and colleagues attended ACCA-SoCal's 9th Annual Gala Dinner and Pro Bono Silent Auction on February 27, 2004 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Dr. Madeleine Albright delivered keynote speech to the attendees

ACCA-SoCal's 8th Annual Gala Dinner

George Bush, the Forty First President of the United States, and his wife Barbara Bush, recently addressed over 1400 attendees at ACCA-SoCal's 8th Annual Gala Dinner, the biggest in-house networking event in Southern California.

President Bush spoke and answered audience questions at a very crucial timein world history. He also joined in congratulating two special ACCA-SoCal honorees that evening : 1) Pro Bono Corporate Counsel of the Year honoree Madi Kleiner, the Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Hilton Hotels, and 2) Corporate Counsel of the Year honoree Valerie Schurman, Vice President & Assistant General Counsel of Boeing Intergrated Defense Systems.