Event Title
The New Mosaic: Professional Identity Development for Diverse Students
Location
Seminar Rooms 4&5 at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, Sacramento, CA
Start Date
6-8-2016 10:50 AM
End Date
6-8-2016 11:40 AM
Aug 6th, 10:50 AM
Aug 6th, 11:40 AM
The New Mosaic: Professional Identity Development for Diverse Students
Seminar Rooms 4&5 at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, Sacramento, CA
Speaker Bios
Hether C. Macfarlane, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law Professor Hether Macfarlane has taught skills of legal research and written analysis courses at McGeorge since 1995. She began her teaching career as an instructor in, and then director of, the legal writing program at Albany Law School. She currently teaches in both the 1L and 2L years of the required two-year Global Lawyering Skills course, which introduces students to the most common forms of written communication in litigation practice, as well as to concepts of mediation and out-of-court settlement of legal disputes. Between her two periods of teaching, Professor Macfarlane was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Hunton & Williams, a national and international law firm based in Richmond, VA. Her practice involved environmental administrative law, representing primarily electric utilities in proceedings under the federal Clean Air Act. While in practice, she was able to apply and polish the skills she had taught previously and that she continues to teach at McGeorge. For over 10 years, Professor Macfarlane has also provided international LL.M. students from civil law countries with an introduction to the structure and modes of communication and analysis of the practice of law in the United States. In the process, she has learned about civil law systems from her international students, and she has shared this knowledge with her American students in Global Lawyering Skills I and II. Professor Macfarlane is a co-author of California Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press), a text for both law students and California practitioners. She is also a contributing author to Global Lawyering Skills (West Academic Publishing).
Bashar Ahmad, Boutin, Jones, Inc.
Bashar Ahmad is an associate in the Sacramento law firm of Boutin, Jones, Inc. He practices in the areas of general business, bankruptcy and real estate litigation, handling contract disputes, representing lenders/creditors in bankruptcy court, and practicing health care-related litigation.
He is proud that he is able to be an important resource to Sacramento’s Arab-American community because he is from the Middle East and is fluent in Arabic.
Mr. Ahmad is a 2008 graduate of McGeorge School of Law and has an undergraduate degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis. Mr. Ahmad has been honored as a Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Star for 2013, 2014, and 2015. In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Ahmad is an avid soccer player.
Ederlina Co, Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Professor Co teaches in McGeorge's Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic and the Global Lawyering Skills program. She has extensive experience in the public and private sectors. Most recently, she spent nearly a decade clerking for the Honorable Dale A. Drozd at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. She worked almost exclusively on prisoner civil rights cases and is considered an expert in this area of the law.
Before Professor Co joined Judge Drozd's chambers, she was Counsel at NARAL Pro-Choice America in Washington, DC. She spearheaded the organization's Prevention First initiative aimed at reducing unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion. She also led NARAL's proactive policy efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive health care.
Professor Co began her legal career as an Associate in the Insurance and Litigation practice groups at Wiley Rein LLP, also in Washington, DC. At Wiley Rein, she gained significant appellate litigation experience and engaged in wide variety of pro bono activities.
Throughout her legal career, Professor Co has been guided by the four words inscribed on the United States Supreme Court building: "Equal Justice Under Law." In addition to teaching her students the skills they need to be highly effective attorneys and advocates, Professor Co strives to instill in them the importance of public service and the principle that no one is above or beneath the law.
Professor Co graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center where she was the Editor In Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law and recipient of the National Association of Women Lawyers' Outstanding Law Student Award for her contribution to the advancement of women in society. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley, with a B.A. in Political Science. Professor Co is a member of the California Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.
Fredericka McGee, American Beverage Association Ms. McGee was recently named the Vice President of California Government Affairs & Operations for the American Beverage Association. In that capacity, she oversees state, local and regulatory activities, coordinates strategy for statewide operations and community outreach on behalf of non-alcoholic beverage companies. Ms. McGee formerly served as deputy chief of staff and general counsel to California State Assembly Speakers Toni G. Atkins and John A. Pérez and general counsel to Speakers Karen Bass, Fabian Núñez and Antonio Villaraigosa. Her portfolio included coordinating Assembly litigation, developing staff training and retention programs, managing the Speaker's constituent affairs unit, and overseeing the state court budget and judiciary policy. She shepherded significant public policy related to judicial diversity, mortgage foreclosure safety measures, legal representation for unaccompanied undocumented minors, 1st Amendment protections for on line reviews, and safeguards for victims of domestic violence. Prior to her career as a public servant, Ms. McGee practiced as a defense litigation attorney with Murtaugh, Miller, Meyer & Nelson where she handled personal injury, bankruptcy and employment cases. Before attending law school, she served as Sr. District Assistant to the late Congressman Glenn M. Anderson of Long Beach. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Marketing from California State University, Long Beach. She later received her Juris Doctorate degree and was voted the Faculty's Most Outstanding Student from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Ms. McGee is a member of the California State Bar where she previously served on the Council on Access & Fairness, the 2015 Mentoring Task Force, and as a probation monitor and mentor for the Bar's Volunteers on Parole program. She has worked with several youth programs, acted as a mock trial judge and taught paralegal courses. She is also the founding president of the Black Youth Leadership Project, Inc., a non-profit organization which offers interactive legislative and debate programs to African American high school students throughout California. She was in the 2005 class of Leadership California and is currently a part of the 2015 class of American Leadership Forum. She has served on the board of the Wiley Manuel Bar Association of Sacramento for several years in many capacities, including president.
Kathryn Patterson, Cota Cole, LLP Kathryn "Katie" Patterson is an associate attorney specializing in employment litigation with an emphasis on FEHA and Title VII claims. Ms. Patterson has drafted dispositive motions, including motions for summary judgment and demurrers, conducted workplace investigations regarding all manner of employment issues, and responded to EEOC charges and complaints filed with DFEH. Ms. Patterson has significant experience in employment-related defense litigation, managing cases from inception through trial. Ms. Patterson is admitted to both the California and Texas State Bars (Texas Bar No. 24072275). She attended the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctor, With Distinction, in 2009. She was a judicial extern for the Honorable Morrison England in 2009, where she researched and composed orders for a motions (including summary judgment motions) and discovery disputes. She obtained her Texas law license by exam in 2010. Ms. Patterson received her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and History from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ms. Patterson is very active in the Sacramento community. She is a founding member of Sacramento's "100 Women Who Care," a group that was formed to empower women and raise money for various Sacramento Valley charities-, and remains very active in that group. Ms. Patterson has been active in the LGBT community both during law school and presently. Prior to going to law school, Ms. Patterson worked as a 911 paramedic, where she had the perhaps dubious honor of responding to a 911 call at the United States Supreme Court.