Equal Times. From the President: Upcoming Events. Inside this issue:

November

5 Wills Clinic CLE at Bexar County Courthouse 12 November Wills Clinic

20 Bench Brunch Goes PrimeTime December

3 Wills Clinic CLE at Bexar County Courthouse 10 December Wills Clinic

Upcoming Events

A St. Mary’s University law student attending the BCWBA/WLA mentor/mentee coffee a couple of weeks ago mentioned how impressed she had been with the panel of women lawyers who spoke this past month at our monthly BCWBA luncheon about their recent professional transitions. In fact,

many who attended that luncheon were struck by the panelists’ truly generous and kind sharing of information and ideas with each other, as they each made dramatic changes in their jobs. The women sought each other out for advice, and assisted each other with some of the many moving parts involved in going from a large firm to their own firm, or from the judicial bench to a busy law firm. Whether it was setting up a website, confirming the (con’d on next page)

From the President:

Equal Times

®

BEXAR COUNTY WOMEN’

S BAR ASSOC I ATIO N Established 1983 November 2008

Inside this issue:

President’s Column 1

Bench Brunch Goes PrimeTime 3

Stepping up for Haven for Hope 3

Thanks to our PrimeTime Sponsors 4

It’s Bexar County Women’s Bar Election Time 5

Women’s Law Association to Hold Silent Auction 5

October Wills Clinic 7

BCWBA Mentor/Mentee Coffee 8

BCWBA at the 2008 SABA Installation Dinner 9

bar rules about naming a law firm, comparing notes on mar-keting a new firm, or dealing with client issues, it was appar-ent that all of the women felt a tremendous amount of gratitude towards each other as they sup-ported their individual coura-geous decisions to make giant moves.

So encouraged by their actions, the law student, who has

paralegal experience, is contemplating her own opportunities of opening her own law firm directly out of law school, rather than taking a more traditional route of working as an associate for an existing law firm.

What a pleasure to see how women in our organization are ac-tively assisting each other, and in doing so, showing especially the newest lawyers the benefits of reaching out and helping each other, and also the personal value of reciprocating when the opportu-nity comes along.

Madeleine Albright’s often quoted (and sometimes misquoted) comment that “There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t help other women” touches a nerve in some of us who have worked for a couple of decades or more because we’ve seen why that comment could be made, especially in a competitive environment. We hope that at some point young women will be puzzled by it. We are very grateful to the panel members, who have embraced helping each other and are pass-ing along the sentiment. Thank you to Jan Kpass-ing, now with Kpass-ing & Som-mer, LLP; Shannon Schmoyer, now with Schmoyer Reinhard, LLP; Mary Ann Hisel, now with The Hisel Law Firm; and Judge Lori Massey, now with Ford & Massey, L.P.

Come to PrimeTime! Cocktails and candles at the Witte, and a lovely fashion show, all on November 20 beginning at 6:00 p.m., as Bench Brunch truly goes Prime Time. Please don’t miss our annual event that allows the BCWBF to support deserving nonprofit organizations in the community. We are so pleased that our beneficiary this year is the Haven for Hope.

2008 BCWBA Officers

President—Lisa Barkley President-Elect—Monica Trollinger Vice President—Christine Reinhard

Secretary—Kristal Cordova Treasurer—Emma Cano Directors Connie Basel Priscilla Camacho Emma Cano Graciela Cigarroa

Elsa Marie Garza Natalie Hall Danielle Hargrove Donna McElroy Laura Mason Suzanne Oliva Laura Rodriguez Carmen Samaniego Beverly Smith Nada Taha Michelle Weekley

Immediate Past President—

Carol Jendzrey

Equal Times

Regina Stone-Harris, Editor-in-Chief Maria Harris, Layout

Equal Times is published monthly by the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association. The annual subscription price is $20.00 for non-members.

Send address changes to Katherine Patton at [email protected] or fax 226-8395. Submissions for publications are encouraged, but the right is reserved to select material to be published.

E-mail or fax your announcements and submissions to Regina Stone-Harris at [email protected], no later than the 20th of the preceding month. Views expressed in the Equal Times are solely those of the source of said item and are not attributable to the BCWBA.

From the President (con’d)

ES TABLIS HED 1983 Page 2

Panelists Mary Ann Hisel, Janet L. King, Shannon B. Schmoyer & Lori Massey

BCWBA President Lisa Barkley at the Octo-ber BCWBA Luncheon

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Mark your calendar to attend the Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation’s first evening “Bench Brunch” on Thursday, November 20, 2008, at 6:00 p.m., at the Witte Museum, as Bench Brunch Goes Prime-Time!

Please join the BCWBF for a fabulous evening of cocktails, light and heavy hors d'oeuvres/dinner and much more at the beautiful Witte Museum. Besides honoring our women judges, the BCWBF will honor two outstanding San Antonio women lawyers who have been selected for this year’s Belva Lockwood award. Diana Geis, with Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison and Tate, Inc., and Emma Cano, with Haynes and Boone, LLP were selected based on their legal skills, commitment to our community, and involvement with the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association and Foundation.

The evening will also include a spectacular fashion show featuring the talents of: Judge Ed Prado, Justice Rebecca Simmons, Judge Karen Pozza, Judge Larry Noll, Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner, Judge Joe F. Brown, Jr., Judge Laura Parker and Judge Monica Guerrero. You won’t want to miss it!

The BCWBA has selected The Haven for Hope as its beneficiary for the event.

The Haven for Hope is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of homeless people in the San Antonio area by providing a wide array of necessary social services in a convenient, central location. Its mission is to help reduce homelessness in the San Antonio area by providing homeless people the resources, skills and assistance necessary to become self sufficient in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Table sponsorships are still available at the Moonlight ($2,000) and Twilight ($1,200) levels. Moonlight sponsors will receive premium seating for the fashion show. Individual tickets are available for $100. Please contact Carol Jendrzey before November 14, 2008 to purchase a table or for individual tickets, at 554-5558 or [email protected]. For questions about contributions or for information, contact: Priscilla Camacho, 227-2700 [email protected], or Lisa Barkley, 978-7427, [email protected].

Bench Brunch Goes PrimeTime!

Stepping up for Haven for Hope

The Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation (the “BCWBF”) is looking for firms and companies to sponsor a table at its revamped, premiere event – Bench Brunch Goes Primetime – on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at the Witte Museum, beginning at 6:00 p.m.. The legal and corporate community’s generosity and support over the years has been and continues to be greatly appreciated. Plus the positive effects of prior years’ proceeds on non-profit organizations in San Antonio can be seen throughout the community.

This year we are proud to announce that the beneficiary of our event will be the Haven for Hope. The Haven for Hope is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of homeless people in the San Antonio area by providing a wide array of necessary social services in a convenient central location. The Haven for Hope will have some services beginning in late 2008 with the full facility expected to be com-pleted this spring.

BCWBF will be recognizing the wonderful contributions made to our profession by Diana Geis and Emma Cano, our Belva Lockwood and Young Belva Lockwood award recipients, respectively. (con’d on p. 4)

Thanks to all our PrimeTime Sponsors

A special thanks to all our sponsors, with special recognition to our Moonlight Sponsors, Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated, Haynes and Boone, L.L.P., Schmoyer Reinhard LLP, State Bar of Texas, and Valero Energy Corporation. We also want to thank Jackson Walker for purchasing two tables this year!

Moonlight Sponsors

Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated Haynes and Boone, L.L.P.

Schmoyer Reinhard LLP State Bar of Texas Valero Energy Corporation

Twilight Sponsors

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

Branton & Hall, P.C. Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP

Hon. Pamela Mathy Jackson Walker L.L.P. Langley & Banack, Inc. Law Offices of Nissa Dunn

Lisa Barkley

Oppenheimer Blend Harrison & Tate, Inc. San Antonio Bar Association

San Antonio Bar Association Real Estate Section & King & Sommer San Antonio Bar Foundation

San Antonio Young Lawyers Association St. Mary’s School of Law and Alumni Association

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ES TABLIS HED 1983

Stepping up for Haven for Hope (con’d)

Moonlight $2,000 Twilight $1,200

Sponsorship at the Moonlight level includes a table for ten along with your Firm name’s inclusion in advertisements before the event, on event signage, acknowledgement at the event, and a commemorative gift. If your firm or business chooses to sponsor at the Twilight level, you will receive a table for ten, firm name inclusion in advertisement before the event, event signage, and acknowledgement at the event.

If you wish to sponsor, please send a check made payable to the Bexar County Women’s Bar Founda-tion to Carol E. Jendrzey, Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated, 112 E. Pecan, Suite 1800, San Antonio, Texas 78205. A sponsorship form can be found at the back of this newsletter.

By Margaret Schlesinger

Every year the Women’s Law Association of St. Mary’s holds a Silent Auction to benefit a different charity in San Antonio. This year’s auction will benefit the Guadalupe Home and will be held on Tuesday November 11, 2008 in the Alumni Room of the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library on the St. Mary’s Law Cam-pus from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The Guadalupe Home is a transitional living program designed for homeless expectant mothers and homeless mothers with infants (up to one year of age). The home has a current capacity for nine mothers and their infants. The Guadalupe Home provides supportive services to help women develop parenting skills, se-cure housing, and obtain employment or reach educational goals. The home also provides a structured envi-ronment in which each mother is responsible for certain chores such as preparing meals for the house, doing laundry, and general housekeeping duties.

The Women’s Law Association invites everyone to visit and participate in the auction. The associa-tion would also be glad to accept any donaassocia-tions for the aucassocia-tion. For donaassocia-tion informaassocia-tion and quesassocia-tions, please contact Margaret Schlesinger at [email protected] or (210) 563-4298.

Women’s Law Association of St. Mary’s to Hold Silent Auction

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It’s Bexar County Women’s Bar Election Time!

By Monica R. Trollinger

It is time for us to once again choose our Officers and Directors for the 2009 calendar year! Official ballots will be mailed the week of November 10, 2008 and every current attor-ney member should receive one. Voting instructions will be included on the ballots and com-pleted ballots must be RECEIVED by 5 p.m. Monday, December 1, 2008 in order to be in-cluded in the tally.

The slate of Officers is as follows:

President-Elect: Christine Reinhard

Vice President: Kristal Cordova

Treasurer: Emma Cano

Treasurer-Elect: Suzanne Oliva

Secretary: Laura Mason

We have 5 vacancies on the Board of Directors. The candidates for the Board of Directors, as of Oc-tober 31, 2008, are:

Toti Aubrey, Gaylia Brunson, Graciela Cigarroa, Tiffanie Clausewitz, Shanti Day, Natalie Hall, Dan-ielle Hargrove, Marissa Helm, Donna McElroy, Brenda Ryan, Nada Taha, Julie Truss and Michelle Weekley.

We have a wonderful slate of candidates – please remember to vote! If you have any questions, please contact Monica Trollinger, Nominating Committee Chair at 522-6024 or via e-mail at [email protected].

SAVE THE DATE: BCWBA Annual Holiday Luncheon

Please mark December 12th on your calendars for BCWBA’s Annual Holiday Luncheon and Presentation of Bench Brunch Pro-ceeds, which will take place at noon at the beautiful and festive La Mansion del Rio. We hope you can join us to celebrate the holi-day season and our contribution to Haven for Hope as the beneficiary of this year’s Bench Brunch Goes Primetime! Stay tuned for more information regarding cost and RSVPs.

ES TABLIS HED 1983 Page 6

BCWBA–Lites wants to hear from you!

BCWBA is interested in news of your professional accomplishments or activities, awards, mar-riages, changes of address, or other news you would like to share. Also, if you know any BCWBA member who is not receiving Equal Times, please send us a current address. BCWBA wants to stay in touch.

Name

New Firm, Corporation, or Government Agency

New Mailing Address City/State

New Telephone Number New E-mail Address New Fax Number

News for BCWBA-Lites

BCWBA November Luncheon: Shelley Grieshaber

Next month, the BCWBA will meet at Club Giraud on Wednesday, November 5th at noon for our monthly luncheon. Please note that we are meeting on Wednesday to avoid conflicting with Election Day. We are pleased to welcome Shelley Grieshaber, Director of the Culinary Institute of America – San Antonio (CIA) at the Pearl Brewery. Ms. Grieshaber is a San Antonio native, with ten years of culinary experience in New York City. Ms. Grieshaber formerly managed HEB’s Central Market Cooking School before taking the helm at the CIA. We hope you can join us for this fun look into the culinary future of San Antonio. Please RSVP no later than Friday, October 31st to Marissa Helm at [email protected]. If you do not timely reserve your spot, we may not be able to seat you inside the room due to room capacity and set-up. Cost is $20. No shows may be billed.

On November 3, 2008, Marissa Helm joined Cox Smith Matthews. Her new contact information is:

Cox Smith Matthews, Inc. 112 E. Pecan, Suite 1800 San Antonio, Texas 78205 210-554-5586

[email protected]

BCWBA Announcements

October Wills Clinic: Thank you Volunteers!

who represented one or more of the clients served at the October 8, 2008 Wills Clinic:

The Ariel House Bruce Mery Gilbert Vara Jr.

Schoenbaum, Curphy & Scanlan, P.C. Patricia F. Sitchler

Law Office of Darrell G. Stewart, PLLC Darrell G. Stewart

State Bar of Texas Stephanie Strolle Sole Practitioner Lynnelle Moore Carmen Samaniego Connie Somers K.T. Whitehead

We thank the following Attorney Mentor, Attor-ney-Client Coordinator, support volunteers and students for volunteering their time at the clinic:

Attorney Mentor Carl Werner

Attorney-Client Coordinator Stephanie Zucco

Regular Support Volunteers Patty Kearney (SABF) Dan Kearney

Patty Villarreal (TRLA) Stephanie Zucco

St. Mary’s University School of Law Elizabeth Dodge Melissa Vidal Rebecca Marroquin Clifford Wheeler Daniel Sandoval Leah O'Leary Justin Malone Bryan Myers Benjamin Hackett Shekinah Hammonds Timothy Ray Guillermo Hernandez Ishan Sareen Destiny Sewell Cristina Sequeira George Wilkins Jessica Ramos Justin Roberts Benjamin Williams Jennifer Abodeely Burke Moore David Voeller Nicole Conger Walter Burrough Gabriel Garcia SALSA Irma O. Alcala Terry Gallegos Carmen Luna Sharon Todd Rosie Trujillo

93d Intelligence Squadron, Lackland AFB (Translators) Thomas J. Bouwman

The Wills Clinic is held on the second Wednesday of each month in the evening usually at St. Mary’s Center for Legal & Social Justice. The exact location is shown on our monthly calendar. Client appointments begin at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is provided. To prepare you for the Wills Clinic, you have the opportunity to get an hour of free CLE by watching videos on Wills and Advance Planning on the first Wednesday of every month from 12-1 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Bexar County Courthouse. The hour of CLE will help you deliver advice and prepare docu-ments at the Wills Clinic. An attorney mentor will be available to answer any questions at the Clinic.

If you are interested in volunteering for the No-vember 12 Wills Clinic, please contact Abigail G. Kamp-mann at 832-0969 or at [email protected]. Thank you for considering a donation of a couple of hours of your time to this very worthy cause!

BCWBA mentors and WLA mentees kicked off this year’s Mentor/Mentee program with their annual Mentor/Mentee meet-and-greet coffee social event on October 18, 2008. Mentee students ranging from 1L to 3L met and connected with some of San Antonio’s finest women lawyers at the home of Danielle Hargrove, our gracious hostess. Everyone enjoyed sharing information and enthusiasm about the profession.

The program has been reformatted this year to allow the mentees to choose their mentor from the BCWBA’s list of volunteer mentors. It is the mentee’s responsibility to make the first contact with a mentor. This change in the matching process allows the mentee to match up with a lawyer practicing in the mentee’s area of interest. Several mentees have already made contact and have their mentor for the upcoming year. The rule of law in the matching process is “First Contact Prevails!” However, if there are unmatched Mentees or Mentors out there, we will gladly assist you with this process. Contact Mentor/Mentee Co-Chairs Margaret Schlesinger at [email protected] or Beverly Smith at [email protected] for help in facilitating a match. The 2008 mentees and mentors send our thanks and appreciation to Danielle Hargrove for hosting this wonderful event!

Below is the list of volunteer mentors for the 2008/2009 Program. Biographies and contact information are on the BCWBA website under the Mentee/Mentor Program Link.

BCWBA and St. Mary’s University Women’s Law Association Enjoy Mentor/Mentee Coffee

1 Teresa Morales Ahnberg 2 Lisa S. Barkley

3 Stephanie R. Brown 4 Christine H. Campbell 5 Karina C. Cantu 6 Mary Elizabeth Coleman 7 Elizabeth Copeland 8 Shanti Day 9 Natalie L. Hall 10 Marissa Helm 11 Deborah Letz

12 Justice Sandee Bryan Marion 13 Greta McFarling 14 Laura C. Mason 15 Jennifer Parks 16 Dalila Paxton 17 Christine E. Reinhard 18 Aida R. Rojas 19 Hella Scheuerman 20 Beverly Smith 21 Monica R. Trollinger 22 Elena P. Villaseñor 23 Michelle Ruttan Weekley

Law Students Deborah Lutz, Julia Le-Thi, Arzoo Rajani & Suzaane Schoeder

BCWBA Member Beverly Smith & Law Student Margaret Schlesinger

Page 8

BCWBA at the 2008 SABA Installation Dinner

Past BCWBA Presidents Dayla Pepi & Carol Jendrzey

Beverly Smith & fiancé Marshall Harris

Marissa Helm & husband Kyle Sylvia Cardona & escort Marc Stroope

Regina Stone-Harris & BCWBA Photographer Extraordinaire Elsa Marie Garza

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Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation Presents

Bench Brunch Goes Primetime

November 20, 2008

Witte Museum

6:00 p.m.

Sponsor Information

Sponsorship Level

I/We wish to be a sponsor of the Bench Brunch Goes Primetime. A check made payable to the Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation is enclosed for the following amount:

MOONLIGHT Sponsorship ($2,000)

[10 complimentary tickets (1 reserved table), firm name's inclusion in advertisements before the event, on event sign-age, acknowledgement at the event, and a commemorative gift

______ TWILIGHT Sponsorship ($1,200)

[10 complimentary tickets (1 reserved table), firm or business name inclusion in advertisement before the event, event signage, and acknowledgement at the event.

Please return this form to: Carol E. Jendrzey

Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated 112 E. Pecan, Suite 1800

San Antonio, Texas 78205 (210) 554-5558

(210) 226-8395 (Facsimile) [email protected]

Support the Follies, the CJP, and your Fellow BCWBA Members!

It’s almost here – Ethics Follies 2008! By attending this CLE event on November 6 at 1:00 p.m. at the Empire Theatre, you’ll not only receive a year’s worth of ethics credit (3 hours), you’ll also enjoy the wonderful talents of many BCWBA members who are in the cast of the production. The following women judges and lawyers will either perform or speak at this event, which is sponsored by the South/Central Texas Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and whose proceeds will help benefit the Community Justice Program:

Justice Sandee Bryan Marion Tiffanie Clausewitz Beth Smith

Justice Karen Angelini Kelli Cubeta Ann Smith Justice Phylis Speedlin Ingrid Etienne Kay Grimes

Judge Karen Pozza Kathy Yates Cindy Smith Judge Barbara Nellermoe Diane Hirsch Mary Doggett Judge Bonnie Reed Erin Higginbotham Danielle Hargrove

The registration cost for three hours of Texas Ethics CLE is $125. If you don’t need CLE, just pay $10 to at-tend and sit in the balcony of the Empire Theatre (no CLE, T-shirt, tote bag or materials). The South/Central Texas Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel is greatly appreciative of all of the sponsorship support and for the leadership roles these law firms, businesses and organizations* have taken in promoting ethical legal and business practices:

Community Leader Sponsors ($10,000):

Cox Smith Matthews Valero Energy Jackson Walker (Reception Sponsor)

The Producers ($5000):

Schmoyer Reinhard, LLP Langley & Banack AT&T Andrews Kurth, LLP Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP

HEB Conflict Solutions of Texas, Inc.

Media/Playbill Sponsors ($2500):

San Antonio Bar Association San Antonio Bar Foundation

Corporate/Law Firm Sponsors ($1500):

Ariel House Bracewell & Giuliani Brock Person Guerra Reyna, P.C. City of San Antonio

Clear Channel Communication CPS Energy

Haynes and Boone, LLP Family Law Section – SABA

Frost Bank Strasburger & Price, LLP Hill & Ford, P.C. IE Discovery

Lexis Nexis Mission Pharmacal Company NuStar Energy, L.P. Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, Inc. Padgett, Stratemann & Co., LLP Prichard, Hawkins, McFarland & Young Plunkett & Gibson, Inc. Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen & Benson, LLP San Antonio Housing Authority Sol Schwartz & Associates, P.C.

USLAW Network, Inc. University Health System XCEL Document Systems Corporation Service Company E. Conry Davidson/Dennis J. Drouillard/Barbara Hutzler

St. Mary’s University School of Law and Alumni Board

To register or for more information, call (830) 336-2049, or email [email protected]; or visit the website www.ethicsfollies.com.

*As of October 13, 2008.