SAN DIEGO – The Earl B Gilliam Bar Association will use its Annual Scholarship & Awards Dinner this year to do something critically important: acknowledge and celebrate the role of women leaders in the organization and the San Diego community. The dinner, held in November each year, raises money to provide scholarships to law students for tuition, costs and even bar study – the loans for which frequently carry higher interest rates than typical student loans.
“The Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association has a long history in San Diego County of helping provide access to the legal system and support for diversity in the legal profession,” said Judge Randa Trapp, a San Diego Superior Court judge for 10 years and San Diego native. “I graduated from Lincoln High School and am proud of this organization’s commitment to young people and to advancing opportunities for San Diego’s underserved communities.”
The dinner features Keynote Speaker Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the first woman and first African-American ever elected to serve as District Attorney in Los Angeles County, as well as Dr. Helen Griffith, the Executive Director of e-3 Civic High School in the new Central Library, who serves as the Mistress of Ceremonies for the event. “As an educator, I am honored to be a part of this opportunity to help students excel. As a mother, a daughter and a life-long leader in this community, I stand on the shoulders of many strong female leaders in San Diego who have paved the way for all to follow. That great company of women leaders has given us a picture of success and the opportunity to replicate the same.”
The Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association is a local non-profit organization that focuses on promoting diversity in the legal profession and access to justice for members of the San Diego community. The organization is named after the first African-American to serve on the federal bench, Judge Earl B. Gilliam. The group provides free Neighborhood Law School workshops in the spring, mentoring for students and professional opportunities for its members – primarily African and African-American attorneys, law students and judges in San Diego County. “As a newer attorney and a woman, I am inspired by the many successful attorneys and judges who chose to give their time to support our community,” said co-organizer Joy Utomi, a Deputy Attorney General in the San Diego office. “This dinner is a great reminder of the strength that our community has when we focus on and value diversity and inclusion.”
For more information about the organization, please visit www.earlbgilliambar.org Today, EBGBA represents the interests of African-American attorneys, judges, law professors and students in the county of San Diego. The non-profit organization’s mission statement articulates its commitment to “defending the legal and human rights of African-Americans; eliminating the root causes of poverty, powerlessness and racism; preserving the high standards of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession; and promoting the professional and personal interests of individual members.”
