The California Bar Foundation (calbarfoundation.org) announced the Equal Justice Society as one of its 2015 Leading Change Diversity Award recipients. Every year the California Bar Foundation selects leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to receive the Leading Change Diversity Awards.
“My deepest appreciation to the California Bar Foundation for this award,” said Eva Paterson, President of the Equal Justice Society. “EJS and our allies are fighting to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in places such as Bakersfield where Black and Latino students and families in Bakersfield are the targets of excessive school discipline practices because of the color of their skin.”
“When we started EJS in 2000, our mission was to put race back on the table. Now that we’re talking about race, we want to transform America’s understanding of race and racism so that we can all be a part of moving this country forward.”
In this 25th year of serving the California legal community and the State of California, the California Bar Foundation also selected one law firm, WilmerHale, and one corporate counsel department, Intel, to receive the prestigious 2015 Leading Change Diversity Award. The foundation recognizes each organization’s work to further the California Bar Foundation’s mission.
WilmerHale, Intel, and the Equal Justice Society will receive the Leading Change Diversity Awards at the California Bar Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Scholarship & Award Ceremony in San Francisco on September 17, 2015. The ceremony will be held at the offices of Morrison & Foerster LLP and serve to close the foundation’s 25th Anniversary Celebration.
California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, the newest member of the California Supreme Court and the first African American on the California State Supreme Court in more than a decade, will provide keynote remarks. CBF Board Member and General Counsel of NBA Champions Golden State Warriors, David Kelly, will introduce Justice Kruger at the ceremony.
For more information on the September 17 awards event, visit calbarfoundation.org.