For People of Color, Inc.'s board members Sunita Bali-Williams, Rod Fong, Willie Brown, Tony Tolbert, and Anthony Solana, Jr. discuss the UNC and Harvard U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Supreme Court Decisions: 20-1199 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (06/29/2023) (supremecourt.gov) I've Been to the Mountaintop: I Have Been to the Mountaintop Full Speech - YouTube A Letter from Birmingham Jail: Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (letterfromjail.com)

Norma Nava Franklin is a Deputy Attorney General in the Land Use and Conservation Section of the California Department of Justice. She represents California state agencies in litigation in federal and state forums on matters involving housing and housing element enforcement, resource conservation of environmentally sensitive habitats, protection and maintenance of state lands, and coastal development. Norma returned to public service after a decade in private practice.

Previously, she was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Garcia Hernandez Sawhney, LLP. Her practice specialized in complex litigation and representing the firm’s education and municipal clients. After graduating from UCLA School of Law, Norma clerked for Hon. Oliver W. Wanger (ret.), United States District Court, Eastern District of California. Norma is a seasoned trial attorney with vast experience litigating complex disputes in federal, state, appellate, and administrative tribunals.

Apart from her litigation work, Norma is passionate about civil rights. She worked as a legal fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project and is Vice President of For People of Color, Inc., an organization that provides free law school admissions consulting services to thousands of potential law school students.

Specialties: Litigation, Public Law, Environmental Law

Law School:  University of California at Los Angeles School of Law

Practice Regions: State of California, United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, United States District Court for the Central District of California

Accomplishments:

2018 Hispanic National Bar Association Top Lawyers under 40

2015 Justice Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award, Mexican American Bar Association

2014 Alumna of the Year, UCLA School of Law La Raza Law Students Association

2005 Hewlett Foundation I American Bar Association Section of Environment Energy and Resources Minority Fellowship Program-Environmental Justice Fellow

Community Involvement:

Vice President and Board Member, For People of Color, Inc.

Member, Mexican American Bar Association

Member, Latina Lawyers Bar Association

Given his background as a former federal prosecutor, clients trust Agustin Orozco to lead complex white collar cases and investigations, handle contentious and sophisticated pretrial litigation, and successfully prove highly difficult cases at trial. Agustin’s experience as a federal prosecutor and government contracts attorney leaves him uniquely situated to help clients where government contracts and white collar intersect.

Agustin represents clients in criminal and civil government investigations and enforcement actions. He also represents and counsels clients on matters involving federal, state, and local government contracts. Agustin has litigated civil False Claims Act matters and other government contracts issues, such as disputes, claims, and terminations, as well as suspension and debarment matters. He is also experienced in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including conducting investigations abroad and counseling clients on compliance issues.

Prior to rejoining the firm as a partner, Agustin was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Public Corruption & Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. While serving in this role, Agustin represented the United States in criminal investigations, prosecutions, and/or appeals of public corruption, bribery (both domestic and abroad), conflicts of interest, honest services fraud, procurement fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering, tax, and civil rights crimes. He worked on hundreds of criminal cases, served as lead counsel in federal trials, examined dozens of witnesses on direct and cross-examination, delivered opening and closing arguments, and briefed and argued multiple cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

During law school, Agustin was an extern for the Hon. Barry Russell at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California and interned at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. He also served as the co-chair of La Raza de Loyola and as chief justice of the Scott Moot Court Honors Board.

Agustin is active in the community and serves as a commissioner on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the State Bar of California; on the steering committee of Just the Beginning, Los Angeles; and as a board member of For People of Color Inc. He is also a board member of the Federal Bar Association-Los Angeles and on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Section. Agustin previously served on Project LEAD, where he helped teach elementary school children about the criminal justice system, and as vice chair of the LACBA’s Diversity in the Profession Committee. Agustin was selected to the Pathfinder Program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity in 2016.

Isidro Zuniga Vazquez is a rising senior at the University of Southern California, double majoring in Political Science and Spanish.

At USC, Isidro is the Founder and President of the first cultural pre-law organization, Latino Students in Law (LSL). The organization, which consists of more than 60 members, provides resources such as mentorship, panel discussions with admissions officers, and LSAT tutoring. The goal of LSL is to increase diversity in the legal profession.

Isidro looks forward to applying to law school in the fall of 2023.

A conversation with Willie D. Brown, Jr., Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, San Jose Water Company. Willie is a Founding Board Member of For People of Color, Inc.

https://forpeopleofcolor.org/about/williedbrownjr/

A conversation with Misty M. Sanford, Partner, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher LLP.

For People of Color, Inc. hosted a 3-party Successful Summer Positions webinar. The third session focuses on public-sector positions, including internships with nonprofit organizations or governmental entities or judicial externships.

The panelists are:

Jose Perez, Deputy General Counsel, LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Marisa Hernandez-Stern, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Attorney General's Office

Fabian Renteria, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender

Irina Trasovan, Deputy Attorney General, California Attorney General's Office