LACBA LGBTQ Pride Month Honorees

2025 Honorees:

Stan Bissey
Stan Bissey has served as the Executive Director and CEO of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) since 2018 and has over 30 years of experience in the legal association world. Prior to joining LACBA, he served as the Executive Director and CEO of the California Judges Association (CJA) for 14 years. He began his legal association career in 1995 at the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) in Atlanta.

He is a member of the California Society of Association Executives (CalSAE) and the American Society for Association Executives (ASAE), where he served as Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He is also a member of the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE), where he currently chairs the Compensation and Benefits Committee, and is a past President of the Executives of California Lawyers Associations (ECLA). Stan has served on numerous committees, section councils, and as faculty at local, state, and national conferences.

Raised in a U.S. Navy family, Bissey lived across the country as a child—from South Carolina to Connecticut to Hawaii—before settling in Idaho, where he attended high school and college. In 1987, he graduated from Idaho State University with a B.A. in Political Science, emphasizing Applied Politics and International Relations.

Bissey and his husband, Lucas, have been together for 15 years and married in 2013 when marriage equality became legal in California. They enjoy theatre, eclectic art, mid-century design, The Real Housewives, Harry Potter, time at the beach, discovering creative and classic cocktail bars around the world, indulging in epicurean adventures (from food trucks to Michelin-starred restaurants), traveling, and spending time with family and friends in the United States and Germany. They also cherish the rare, quiet moments spent anticipating and planning what’s next.

Jeremy Lane
Jeremy A. Lane is a partner at Ross + Lane, APC and a Certified Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California.  He is dedicated to assisting clients with dissolutions of marriages and domestic partnerships, custody, child support, spousal/partner support, division of assets in cases with complex financial issues, and premarital agreements. He is a member of the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Lane is the Co-President of the LGBT Bar Association of LA; he is also the Co-Treasurer and involved with the MCLE Committee. He organized and moderated a panel entitled “Marriage Equality vs. Divorce Equality,” detailing the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) 135 S. Ct. 2584 at a Family Law Symposium,.  He was quoted on Forbes.com as a family law specialist in an article, “Transgender Parents Face Opportunity And Challenge.”

A native of Los Angeles, Lane believes in giving back to the community. He volunteers as a Family Law Daily Settlement Officer in the Los Angeles Superior Court. He also rode his bicycle three times from San Francisco to LA for the AIDS/LifeCycle charity ride benefitting the LA LGBT Center, raising over $35,000.

Michelle Mabugat
Michelle Mabugat is a corporate and M&A partner at Greenberg Glusker LLP, where she advises founders, investors, and high-growth companies on matters spanning the business lifecycle — from startup through exit. Often serving as primary outside counsel, she handles a broad range of corporate and transactional matters and leads deals of all sizes. Mabugat also provides strategic counsel to leadership teams in sensitive, high-stakes matters, with a proven track record of guiding clients through complex challenges such as government investigations, regulatory and compliance issues, and internal disputes.

Outside of her legal practice, Mabugat is a dedicated advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She chairs Greenberg Glusker’s Diversity Committee, serves on the DEI Committee for the Association for Corporate Growth’s Los Angeles Chapter, and has served on the Legislative Advocacy Committee for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. She was recently recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of its “Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys” and “Women of Influence: Attorneys.” Mabugat credits much of her success to the constant support of her wife, Taryn.

Jesus Beltran
Jesus Beltran is part of the amazing Events, Multimedia & CLE department at the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA).
 
Born in Mexico, Beltran moved to California to pursue a business degree from Calpoly San Luis Obispo. He has been with LACBA for 11 years, starting as a fee dispute case manager at the Attorney Client Mediation and Arbitration Services department. He then transitioned to the Events, Multimedia & CLE department, where he is responsible for planning and producing events for our members and the legal community.

Beltran is passionate about advancing LGBTQ+ rights and opportunities by creating a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to bring their authentic self to work at LACBA every day.

In addition to his professional skills and contributions, Beltran is also a talented painter who uses abstract forms and geometric shapes to express his identity and emotions.

Beltran is a wonderful colleague who brings his creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication to every project he works on.

Hon. Gonzalo C. Martinez
Justice Martinez is the Presiding Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Seven.

He served as an Associate Justice in Division Seven from 2023 until his confirmation as Presiding Justice in 2024 by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.

Justice Martinez previously served in the Governor’s Office as deputy judicial appointments secretary and also worked in legal affairs. Martinez advised on the appointment of almost 400 judges across California and frequently spoke on judicial appointments throughout the State.

He served as a deputy solicitor general in the Office of the Solicitor General in the California Attorney General’s Office. He represented the State in significant civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court.

Justice Martinez was previously in private practice. He was a partner in the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs (U.S.) LLP, practicing before appellate and trial courts nationwide. He also worked at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP and Morrison & Foerster. As an attorney, he was certified as a specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar of California. The Daily Journal recognized him as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California.”

He graduated from Harvard Law School and Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and literature, magna cum laude with highest honors. He earned a Master’s degree in English from Stanford University. He clerked for the Honorable Maxine M. Chesney at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, and for the Honorable Anthony W. Ishii at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, both after several years of practice.

Martinez was born in Porterville, California, where he attended public schools. He was an appellate lawyer representative and a district court lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council. Martinez also served on the national board of governors for the Hispanic National Bar Association and in leadership roles in several local bar associations. He also coached high school mock trial teams, and regularly speaks to law, college, and high school students.

David J. Richardson
David Richardson is a corporate restructuring partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP. He primarily represents creditors’ committees and trustees in bankruptcy litigation, including as co-counsel to the Official Committee of Tort Claimants that represented wildfire victims in the 2019 bankruptcy case of PG&E.

Richardson has been out and proud since first-year law school in 1990, and presently serves as Communications Chair for LGBTQ Lawyers LA. When not practicing law, he writes true historical stories under the name “D.J. Richardson,” and searches out stories in west coast history that involve queer and other marginal main characters that have been overlooked by history.

Hon. Gary D. Roberts
Judge Gary D. Roberts currently serves in a hybrid family settlement-homecourt in Department Y in Van Nuys. Prior to that, he was assigned to a full-time settlement court in Van Nuys and a homecourt in Stanley Mosk.

Before his appointment to the Superior Court in 2018, Judge Roberts served as Executive Vice President and head of the Fox Group Legal Department for more than 20 years. In that capacity, he represented Fox on the General Counsel committee of the Motion Picture Association of America and oversaw intellectual property, content protection and security, labor relations and employment, state and local government affairs, privacy, investigations and physical security, and litigation for the Fox entertainment companies. That included essentially all of Fox except for Fox News, for which he accepts neither the credit nor the blame.

Before joining Fox, Judge Roberts practiced for eight years at the Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, where he was a litigator. He also clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

Judge Roberts is a past Board Chair of Bet Tzedek, where he served for many years as a director and volunteer. He is an active member and lay leader in many areas at the All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, including medical mission work as a Spanish interpreter in Honduras for more than 20 years.

Judge Roberts received a BA in International Affairs from Texas Christian University and is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He has lived happily in Los Angeles since 1984 but loves to spend as much time as possible with family and friends in Texas and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Samson Spiegelman
Samson Spiegelman is a plaintiff's employment attorney, focusing on single-plaintiff discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, with a focus on sexual orientation and gender identity matters. He is trained in queer theory, critical race studies, and critical feminist theory. Spiegelma is a transgender man with a dedicated history of work with and for the queer community.

Spiegelman is an active member of numerous bar associations, including the California Employment Lawyers Association, California Lawyers' Association Labor & Employment Section, LACBA Labor & Employment Law Section, National LGBT Bar Association, and National Trans Bar Association. Spiegelman is the current Co-President of the Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Lawyers Association.

Aditi Fruitwala
As an attorney for justice with ACLU of Southern California, Aditi Fruitwala’s work in the LGBTQ, Gender, and Reproductive Justice Project focuses on protecting access to reproductive healthcare, challenging the family regulation system, fighting for menstrual equity and lactation rights, improving the conditions and treatment in incarceration settings for women and LGBTQ individuals, expanding the rights of pregnant and parenting people, and combating discrimination against women, non-binary people, and LGBTQ people in public accommodations and employment. This year, she was named one of the nation’s 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by The LGBT Bar.

As a Munger, Tolles & Olson Legal Fellow, Aditi helped litigate the 2017 case Youth Justice Coalition v. The City of Los Angeles, which challenged the City's gang injunctions policies and practices. From 2014 to 2017, she was as an Honors Attorney at the California Department of Justice. Aditi graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law, serving as the Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice co-editor-in-chief and competing on the Vis international moot court team. In law school, Aditi worked at the Institute for Democracy and Justice in Haiti, the plaintiff-side employment firm Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams, and the East Bay Community Law Center. She also co-created "Race Monologues," an accessible cultural reader and theatrical script containing hundreds of interviews with people detailing their personal experiences with race and racism in the United States.

Prior to law school, Aditi worked for the Institute for Policy Studies, the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, Green America, and Inspired Adventures. Since 2015, Aditi has served as the Education and Advocacy Chair for Satrang, an agency supporting South Asian LGBTQ-identified people.

Mia Yamamoto
Attorney, veteran, lifelong civil rights defender, and transgender pioneer Mia Yamamoto was born Michael Yamamoto in 1943 in the Poston Relocation Camp, AZ. She earned a degree in government at Cal State in 1966 before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where she served until 1968 and was decorated with numerous medals.

David McFarlane is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Los Angeles office. David has more than 20 years of experience advising on matters under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Affordable Care Act, and the Internal Revenue Code related to retirement and health plans, employee benefits and executive compensation. David developed a unique Fixed-Fee ERISA Fiduciary Protection Program for corporate plan sponsors of retirement, health, and other employee benefit plans to ensure compliance with ERISA and related laws in order to best protect plan sponsors and their Boards of Directors, Officers, and other employees from personal liability under ERISA.

David has been active in leadership roles for a variety of public and private institutions and organizations including President of the Canadian American Bar Association, Judge Pro Tem of the Superior Court of California, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors at Barlow Respiratory Hospital, and President of the Western Pension & Benefit Council (Los Angeles). Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, David was a former partner in the Canadian law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt before joining Skadden Arps in Los Angeles for 13 years. A longtime legal advocate in Los Angeles, David is the former Co-President of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles, served on the LGBT Advisory Committee for the Mayor of Los Angeles and was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena. David is a frequent speaker and writer on matters related to his practice as well as diversity in the practice of law. He was recently recognized in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the “Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Los Angeles.” David attributes much of his success to the constant support of his four children and husband Kenny.

Tim is licensed to practice law in California, Massachusetts and Virginia. Pending in New York.

Tim received his B.A. in History from Harvard University, cum laude in 2004, and his J.D. from Northeastern University in 2011. Since law school, Tim's practice has focused on civil matters including: trusts and estates, commercial litigation, contract disputes, real estate, defamation, and personal injury. Tim is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, reserved for those who achieve seven figure verdicts or settlements for clients.

Tim is a founding board member of the Virginia Equality Bar Association, Virginia's Association of LGBT attorneys. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Los Angeles LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the LGBT Bar LA.

Prior to law school, Tim worked as a litigation paralegal for a large law firm in Boston and Palo Alto, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, LLP, doing patent litigation. Tim’s legal experience also includes clerkships for Hon. Marianne B. Bowler, U.S. M.J. (D. Mass.), the Massachusetts Attorney General's Civil Rights Division, Alere Inc. (a publicly traded pharmaceutical company), and Lurie, Lent, & Friedman (a litigation firm in Boston, MA)

Richard Wortman manages the Los Angeles office of Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt, LLP, one of the nation’s largest law firms devoted exclusively to international trade and customs matters. His practice focuses on import and export trade law, trade regulations and customs law, regulatory law and transportation law. Currently, Richard is counseling importers on how to manage during the current trade war with China. He has represented clients before US Customs and Border Protection on a variety of issues including the classification and valuation of imported merchandise, focused assessments and averting penalties. He also regularly appears before other government agencies with responsibilities over import and export transactions. Richard helps companies implement duty savings strategies and internal compliance programs. Richard has lectured extensively on issues pertaining to import and export law on behalf of various organizations. He has also taught import and export trade law to both industry and Customs brokerage associations. Richard is counsel to the Northern Border Customs Brokers Association and has had the privilege of Chairing LACBA’s Customs Section (now part of the International Law Section).

Beyond the practice of law, Richard has sat on the board of many organizations including the New Israel Fund, Temple Beth Am, Congregation Kol Ami as well as the Board of Overseers of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Richard also sat on the board of the Jewish Community Center in New York City. Richard most recently was awarded the Shomer Tzedek – Guardian of Justice Award by Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood.

Vincent M. Imhoff, founder and managing director of nationwide criminal defense firm Imhoff & Associates PC, is admitted to practice law in Illinois, Pennsylvania and California. He earned his Bachelor degree in Political Science from Lewis University and his Juris Doctor degree from Kent College of Law in 1989. From 1990 to 1997, he served as Cook County (Chicago) Public Defender, late in 1997 entering private practice as a solo practicing criminal defense attorney. From 2000 through 2002, Vince Imhoff also served as assistant coach for the trial team at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

In 2003, Vince founded Imhoff & Associates, PC and began growing the firm which soon attracted the interest of Johnny Cochran, nationally recognized civil rights crusader and famous attorney for the O.J. Simpson trial defense team. Imhoff subsequently joined the Cochran law firm as Managing Director of the Criminal Defense section in 2005. After Mr. Cochran passed away, Vince Imhoff left the firm to reestablish Imhoff & Associates, PC.

Imhoff & Associates, PC represents clients in criminal defense cases in 49 states through a network of more than 650 attorneys. The firm is founded in the belief that there is no typical offense because there is no typical offender. All people are different, and the particulars of the offenses they are accused of differ widely. The accused need legal representation that can get them the best possible outcome and a lawyer that fully understands what the accused and their families are going through.

Vince Imhoff is a crusader for reform of the criminal justice system to reduce recidivism and prevent young non-violent offenders from becoming lifelong criminals due to the stigma our society places on arrests and convictions.

Michael Brophy is a partner in the trust and estate litigation team at Withersworldwide, operating as Withers Bergman in the U.S., and is Managing Director of the Los Angeles Office. Michael has extensive experience representing individuals, families, charities, corporate trustees, private professional fiduciaries and creditors in litigation involving complex trusts and estates. Michael's diverse practice includes will and trust contests, accounting disputes, breach of duty actions, elder abuse and conservatorship disputes, document interpretation matters, and other contested probate and fiduciary-related matters. Michael also has experience in business and commercial litigation, including contract, real estate, copyright, Lanham Act, trade secret, and unfair competition matters. In addition to litigation and trial work, his practice includes risk assessment and counseling, alternative dispute resolution and administrative proceedings.

A leader in the legal community, Michael frequently writes and speaks on trust and estate litigation topics and serves in leadership roles to further diversity initiatives. Michael is a member of LACBA’s Diversity in the Profession Committee and is co-chair of its Diversity in the Judiciary Subcommittee. He is also a member of the LGBT Bar of Los Angeles Board of Governors and serves on Withersworldwide’s Diversity Committee. Michael's other key roles include work on behalf of the LACBA’s Court Funding Initiative and membership on the Los Angeles Superior Court Civil Bench Bar Liaison Committee. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA, magna cum laude, from American University.

Laurence Zakson is an experienced labor, employee benefits and campaign finance attorney, having practiced in these areas exclusively since 1985. Mr. Zakson represents local unions in the entertainment, bakery, transportation and construction industries, public employee locals, union-affiliated political committees, as well as SEIU- and Teamsters-affiliated multi-employer employee benefit funds and local union-sponsored charities. In recent years, Mr. Zakson’s practice has expanded to include mediation of employment and ERISA disputes and he serves on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s mediation panel. In addition to his years of service on the Labor and Employment Law Section’s Executive Committee, Mr. Zakson is active in LGBT rights efforts, including his service as Secretary of the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Caucus.

Prior to joining Reich Adell & Cvitan, Mr. Zakson was a Senior Litigation Attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, Appellate and Supreme Court Branches. He was a judicial law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and for a U.S. Magistrate in the Northern District of California.

Phil Lam has a long, distinguished history with LACBA, having served as a Trustee (2002-2004, 2007-2008) as well as Senior Vice-President and Vice-President (2016-2021). He was appointed to a newly created position, Vice-President of Diversity/Affiliate Outreach, leading an executive team to help re-structure LACBA to pivot to the changing demographics of attorneys in California. Further, Phil is passionate about nurturing new leaders and lawyers, and advancing social justice through public-interest law groups, particularly Counsel for Justice, the 501(c)(3) arm of LACBA, that provides crucial legal services to domestic violence victims, veterans, and immigrants.

In addition to LACBA services, Mr. Lam was elected to Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (President, 2003) and LGBT Bar of Los Angeles (Co-President 2012). Through local and national bar, civic and political organizations, Phil has personally worked on pro bono immigration cases, drafted consumer protection bills, directed legislative advocacy, and championed and raised funds for LGBT causes or against discriminatory ballot initiative.

Professionally, Mr. Lam serves under the Chief of Staff to Los Angeles City Attorney Mike N. Feuer. Phil is the first Intellectual Property Counsel for the City of Los Angeles. In founding the first governmental intellectual property (“IP”) law practice in North America, he developed the City’s IP Asset Management program and IP licensing practice. Among other duties, he is primarily responsible for policy advice and legal services related to intellectual property, entertainment, cybersecurity, data privacy, and Internet laws; as well as major-asset acquisitions and incubator parks. Phil also specializes in civil recovery from antitrust class action and unfair competition litigation, having settled in tens of millions of dollars with international corporations including Microsoft, Infineon, Samsung and Mitsubishi.

Navid Dayzad is an immigration attorney and the founder of Dayzad Law Offices, P.C. He creates immigration strategies that help businesses hire valuable foreign-national employees, and help families realize their dreams in the United States. He is dedicated to providing personal service to his clientele, who inspire him and remind him that he is an immigrant too. He strives to educate the public and have served as an immigration expert for news media, including CNN, CBS, ABC, PBS, and Voice of America. Multiple times, he has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” in immigration law – among the top 5% of expert attorneys in Southern California.

Navid has been at the forefront of lesbian/gay/transgender immigration issues throughout his legal career. He spoke on CBS News as an expert on marriage equality for LGBTQ immigrants and was featured in a Law & Politics Super Lawyers article describing his legal career and advocacy for gay and lesbian immigrants. Navid served as the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Chair for a national committee of LGBT attorneys. Prior to immersing himself in immigration law in 2001, Navid practiced employment law at the international firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. He earned his J.D. from Berkeley Law and graduated summa cum laude from UCLA.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland practiced criminal law and served as a deputy district attorney for the County of Los Angeles before joining what was then Screen Actors Guild as a deputy national executive director and general counsel. Today, Crabtree-Ireland is the chief operating officer and general counsel for SAG-AFTRA where he oversees the union’s legal affairs and strategy, while providing oversight of the organization’s legal, government affairs and public policy, international, governance, professional representatives, EEO/diversity, human resources and administration, and foreign royalties departments. As part of his role with SAG-AFTRA, Crabtree-Ireland serves as a delegate to the International Federation of Actors (FIA) where he strives to support and foster a regime of global legal protections for performers.

Crabtree-Ireland received his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of Barristers. He earned his Bachelor of Science in foreign service with a concentration in international relations, law, and organization from Georgetown University. Crabtree-Ireland has extensive board experience. He currently serves as co-chair of the board of trustees of the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, the chair of the board of the SAG-AFTRA & Industry Sound Recordings Distribution Fund, and as a board member of SoundExchange.

In addition, he serves as an officer of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and a trustee of the SAG-Producers Pension Plan. Crabtree-Ireland also makes time to serve the broader legal community in southern California. He is a past treasurer of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, a past Co-President of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles, and serves by appointment as a judge pro tem of the Los Angeles Superior Court. To help develop the next generation of legal professionals, Crabtree-Ireland lectures at USC’s Gould School of Law, where he focuses on international law and legal issues.

Marc Andre Bertet is an outspoken activist in the LGBTQ community in Los Angeles and a leader in Family Law on the topic of same sex marriage, registered domestic partnerships and dissolutions. He is recognized for his work on behalf of same sex couples in preparation and negotiation of premarital/post nuptial/marital settlement agreements and pursuit/defense of parentage actions (child custody), property rights, partner/spousal support, and taxation issues specific to same sex couples. Marc served as both key architect and panel expert at the Los Angeles County Bar Association's 48th Annual Family Law Symposium, in May 2016, where he lectured on the US Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) (legalizing same sex marriage in the United States) and how the landmark decision effects same sex couples in dissolution proceedings. In 2018, the esteemed Los Angeles Business Journal named Marc among LA's Most Influential Minority Attorneys, for his work championing the LGBTQ community. In 2017 Marc was a finalist for the Annual Corporate Citizenship Award by the LA Business Journal, for his philanthropic work and contributions to the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and for his volunteer work for the annual AIDS/Life Cycle charity ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Apart from his longstanding work on behalf of the LGBTQ community, Marc also brings a strong academic discipline in the legal field. He has contributed to the CEB publication Dividing Pensions and Other Employee Benefits in California Divorces, Chapter 2, Initial Procedures and Pretrial Orders. He also co-authored a chapter on Fiduciary Duty Between Spouses for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Family Law Symposium Reference Book.

Brian Brookey specializes in intellectual property litigation, with expertise in patent, trademark, and copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition. Brian actively litigates intellectual property matters in District Courts throughout the country, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and the International Trade Commission. He also has significant experience handling contested trademark matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He represents a broad range of companies across numerous industries and technologies, including telecommunications, computer software, lasers, construction, lighting, medical devices, automotive, and electronic components.

Brian has chaired several fundraisers for the Trevor Project, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to at-risk LGBTQ youth; spent several years on the board of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles; serves on his firm’s Equity and Inclusion Committee, and is a charter member of UCLA’s Williams Institute Alumni Network Leadership Team. He also represented an LGBTQ student group, pro bono, when it was accused of trademark infringement by the students’ Evangelical Christian university.

Nathan W. Gabbard became certified as a family law specialist by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization in 2016. Nathan graduated from Southwestern Law School in May 2009 and was licensed as an attorney in December 2009. He is also a member of Los Angeles County Bar Association, Beverly Hills Bar Association, and Santa Monica Bar Association. Nathan serves on the Leadership Council of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ), a non-profit organization providing legal services to survivors of domestic violence and abuse. He participates in the Regional Legislative Committee, where he reviews and comments on proposed changes in legislation. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Beverly Hills Bar Association - Family Law section and has been a member of the Executive Committee on the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles, where he served as the Secretary of the Board of Governors and the Chair of the Membership Committee.

In his spare time, Nathan enjoys researching and writing. Nathan is currently the Assistant Editor for the Family Law News publication of the California Lawyers Association. Several of his articles are published in the Family Law News, including topics such as issues affecting transgender youth, presumed parent status, and standing in state court to enforce a contract claim for spousal support arising from an immigration related federal form.

Eric Webber is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Irell & Manella LLP, where he is a member of the transactions practice group. Mr. Webber has served in the firm's General Counsel's office and as a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Mr. Webber's practice covers a wide range of business transactions, including private and public M&A, joint ventures, business organizations and restructurings, public and private debt offering, commercial lending, workouts and recapitalizations, and public and private equity offerings.

Mr. Webber served as LACBA’s President during the 2011 bar year, the first openly-gay person to hold that office. He was also Chair of LACBA’s Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section (for the 2001 bar year); Co-President of LACBA’s affiliate, the LGBT Bar of Los Angeles (in 1992); a founding member and later Chair of LACBA’s (now former) Committee on Sexual Orientation Bias (from 1992-2001); the principal draftsperson for LACBA’s 1994 Report on Sexual Orientation Bias in the Los Angeles Legal Profession; and a founding member and first Chair of the State Bar of California’s (now former) Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination (from 1993-96).

Madison Fairchild, Esq. is dedicated to LGBTQIA+ advocacy and intersectionality. She provides moderate- and low-income clients in Los Angeles with access to low bono legal services in employment and immigration matters. Her current focus is on obtaining asylum relief for transgender people from Latin America. As a board member of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles, Ms. Fairchild works to improve inclusion and visibility for Transgender people in the legal profession. She was recently appointed to the Transgender Advisory Board for the City of West Hollywood by council member John Heilman.

Ms. Fairchild completed the two-year accelerated juris doctor program at Southwestern Law School with a full-tuition Wildman/Schumacher scholarship. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Business and in the top 10% of her class. As a Transgender woman of color, Ms. Fairchild has overcome a myriad of obstacles, including being brought to the United States from Mexico as a child, as an undocumented immigrant, and never completing high school as a result of LGBTQIA+ based discrimination/harassment. These experiences have broadened her perspective and strengthened her independent, entrepreneurial drive as a business owner before law school and as a solo law practitioner with the Los Angeles Incubator Consortium (LAIC).

Sean C. Sobottka, of the Law Office of Sean C. Sobottka, handles all aspects of family law litigation, including dissolution of marriage, annulments, dissolution of domestic partnerships, child custody, child support, spousal support, attorney’s fees, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, dependency, adoption proceedings, and assisted reproduction. Through counsel and advocacy, Sean strives to make an unfamiliar process familiar so that clients navigate the legal system successfully and can start the next chapter of their lives. As a former teacher, Sean has unique insight into the educational effects that child custody can have on children. With this knowledge and an understanding of California's custody and visitation laws, he helps parents to ensure that their children's best interests really are put first and that custody issues have as minimal an impact as possible on their children. Sean has extensive experience in the area of assisted reproduction, helping California families to grow through surrogacy and egg and sperm donation. As a member of the LGBT community, Sean has counseled many gay and lesbian clients providing additional insight into the unique legal challenges facing our community, as partners, husbands, wives, and parents.

Sean has been volunteering with the DVP since 2013, giving over 200 hours of pro bono time to work with the thousands of victims the Domestic Violence Legal Services Project sees each year. “Sean demonstrates an excellent commitment to our cause and is always willing to help out. He is kind and compassionate with the victims he assists and shares his vast knowledge of the law in order to help them understand the difficult court process. He is the perfect volunteer to assist this vulnerable population in taking the first step in escaping the abuse,” says Sara Rondon, Director of the Domestic Violence Legal Services Project.

Lexi Peacock is a corporate associate in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Ms. Peacock currently serves on the board of governors of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles. She earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as a notes editor of the Michigan Law Review, social chair of the Michigan Law Outlaws and President of Phi Delta Phi, the Michigan Law co-ed fraternity. She graduated with a B.A. in history and Spanish from Yale University.

Candace L. Matson is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, where she co-chairs the firm’s Construction Practice Group. Ms. Matson furnishes both transactional and dispute resolution services to owners, developers, contractors, design professionals, lenders and investment entities in a wide range of private and public contexts relating to design and construction, and is frequently ranked/recognized for such work by both Chambers and the Legal 500.

She also serves as an arbitrator/mediator of design and construction disputes, and is a prolific speaker and publisher on such issues. Ms. Matson co-founded Sheppard Mullin’s LGBTQ affinity group “Out at Sheppard” ten years ago and co-chairs it to this day, and is also a member of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Counsel. In recognition of her leadership on diversity issues within the firm, she was the 2015 recipient of Sheppard Mullin’s Annual Diversity & Inclusion Award. Ms. Matson was Co-President of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles last year, and continues to serve on its Board of Governors where she now co-chairs the Women’s Committee. She also chairs the Legal Council of The Williams Institute, a “think tank” at UCLA Law School conducting research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.

Brittany Ellenberg is an associate in the Labor and Employment Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. She counsels clients on a broad range of employment matters, including employment-related issues arising out of U.S. and multinational corporate transactions, executive employment agreements and separation agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, reductions-in-force, discrimination charges and lawsuits, collective bargaining agreements and internal investigations. Ms. Ellenberg is on the Board of Governors of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles and a member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. In 2016, she was selected as one of the Windy City Times 30 Under 30. Ms. Ellenberg was a key member of the team that filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit, Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of several LGBT organizations in opposition to the Trump administration's "travel ban." The brief discusses many ways in which LGBTQ people in the affected countries experience persecution and violence, and asserts that U.S. law favors accepting these persecuted refugees.

Cameron Faber is currently General Counsel at the Los Angeles LGBT Center and has held that position since 2011. Cameron is a member of the Board of Governors of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles and Board President of Celebration Productions, the longest running theatre company in Los Angeles devoted solely to producing LGBTQ themed productions. Cameron has been practicing law for over thirty years handling litigation and transactional work, both in-house and in law firms.

Mark Lemke is a full-time mediator with Lemke Mediation. He draws upon a career as plaintiffs' counsel, defense counsel, and insurance coverage counsel. He's mediated over 1,000 cases to date, primarily in the fields of employment, personal injury, catastrophic personal injury, and wrongful death. Being openly-gay and first-generation Mexican American is particularly helpful in his employment and housing cases, ensuring a respectful and accepting tone.

Mark Lemke serves on the adjunct faculty for the preeminent Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. He's been admitted to mediation panels for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United States District Court, California Court of Appeal, Los Angeles County Bar Association, and Beverly Hills Bar Association. He also serves as a Temporary Judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He is a frequent speaker and writer on the topics of mediating with insurance carriers, and tools for breaking impasse. Among his considerable pro bono and community work, Mark Lemke has volunteered for Bet Tzedek's Name and Gender Change Clinic assisting transgender persons secure legal recognition, the Disabled Veterans Scuba Project, and the Trevor Project's online suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth.

Jordan Aiken works at Bet Tzedek Legal Services as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Through her Fellowship, she launched the Transgender Medical-Legal Partnership with the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Transgender Health Program. The Transgender MLP provides legal services to transgender individuals in Southern California with the goal of improving health outcomes through legal intervention. Ms. Aiken graduated from UC Irvine School of Law in 2016, where she helped run UCI Law’s Legal Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic. Her article, Promoting an Integrated Approach to Ensuring Access to Gender Incongruent Health Care, was published in the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice (2016), and she presented this research at the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference in 2015. Ms. Aiken loves serving as a member of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles Board of Governors and enjoys painting, calligraphy, and creating ketubot.

Partner Renee Mochkatel has worked at Allred, Maroko & Goldberg for over 3 decades. Ms. Mochkatel graduated from Cal Poly, Pomona, in 1979 where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude. She then attended Pepperdine University from which she received her Juris Doctorate in 1982. Ms. Mochkatel represents clients in a variety of employment-related matters such as sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination. As a trial attorney for Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, Ms. Mochkatel has on several occasions been part of the victorious trial team in cases involving unusual sexual harassment in the workplace, her clients received jury verdicts in excess of $1,000,000. Ms. Mochkatel has successfully represented many young women in Title IX claims against educational institutions.

Ms. Mochkatel is a member of and sits on the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment section of the L.A. County Bar Association, where she has Co-Chaired the Labor and Employment Retreat. In addition she has co-authored, with Gloria Allred, several articles on employment law for the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

Ally Bolour, the Managing Attorney at the Law Offices of Ally Bolour, has been a tireless advocate for immigrant and queer rights for over two decades. His eureka moment came in the late 1980s, when he volunteered at a hospice during the darkest days of the AIDS crisis. He realized then that the LGBTQ community needed to fight for change rather than just hope for its arrival. Today he's known throughout the country as a voice for change, an activist by nature, a lobbyist and a lawyer.

Abigail (Abbi) Coursolle is a senior attorney in the Los Angeles office of the National Health Law Program. She provides technical assistance, advocate training, and litigation support on a range of issues, with a special focus on access to care Medicaid managed care, prescription drug access, behavioral health access, LGBTQ health equity, and children's health issues. In April 2018, Abbi and colleagues filed a federal lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's exclusion of gender-affirming care for transgender Medicaid beneficiaries. Before joining NHeLP, Abbi was the Greenberg Traurig Equal Justice Works staff attorney at the Western Center on Law & Poverty.

Mark Kressel is a partner at the firm Horvitz & Levy and has handled appellate matters in a wide range of areas, including patent, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the anti-SLAPP statute, the First Amendment, punitive damages, general business litigation, and premises liability, for private companies, government entities, and individuals. Mr. Kressel was a 2015 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The LCLD is an organization of more than 200 members, who serve as either general counsel of major corporations or managing partners of leading law firms. LCLD develops action programs designed to help a new and more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership. In 2013-2014, Mr. Kressel served as the President for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Barristers Section, the new and young lawyers section. In that position, he also served on the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Executive Committee and Board of Trustees.

Jim Holmes is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Clyde & Co. He is an experienced trial attorney and litigator, representing major media and entertainment entities, as well as major insurance carriers insuring media and entertainment entities. Jim defends clients in a variety of intellectual property matters, including trademark, trade dress, trade secrets and copyright infringement, misrepresentation of likeness, unfair competition and breach of contract actions.

Jim has received numerous recognitions for his service in the legal community, including the 2016 Benjamin Aranda Outstanding Public Service Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He was also awarded the Access Award for pro bono service from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles County Commission on Disabilities, and he received commendation for his work as a temporary judge for Los Angeles Superior Court. In addition to legal honors, Jim has received awards for his exceptional commitment to community and public service work. He uses his considerable talents and skills to benefit individuals from all walks of life through his pro bono activities. He is a long-time and fearless advocate for diversity and LGBT rights and has served in numerous prominent bar and civic leadership roles.