Free event! No MCLE. Presented by the CLA Racial Justice Working Group.

Speakers

Basil Williams

Basil is a Deputy Attorney General in the Appeals, Writs, and Trials section of the California Department of Justice and Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law. At the state DOJ, Basil briefs and argues felony criminal appeals and related writs in the California Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. He also responds to habeas petitions and related appeals in federal district court and the Ninth Circuit. Basil serves as a law clerk supervisor and is a member of the Attorney General’s Black Employees Advisory Committee, which advises the Attorney General on issues affecting black employees, including recruitment and retention efforts. In addition to his state DOJ responsibilities, Basil dedicates substantial time to teaching legal research, writing, and advocacy skills to law students at UC Berkeley. Before joining the California Department of Justice and UC Berkeley, Basil worked at the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District. He has also taught Legal Research and Writing at UC Hastings College of the Law, where he obtained his LL.M degree. Prior to attending UC Hastings, Basil worked for the Attorney General’s Office in his native Kingston, Jamaica.

Basil currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the nation’s oldest LGBT bar association. He is also a member of the Legislative Subcommittee of the CLA’s Racial Justice Working Group.

Judge Victoria Kolakowski

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski became the first transgender judge in the nation in 2010. An activist for the LGBT community since 1989, Kolakowski is widely honored for her work on issues of inclusion. Prior to becoming a judge, Kolakowski was a private attorney who co-authored Berkeley’s public domestic partnership ordinance and co-chaired the board of directors at the Transgender Law Center. She has served on the Judicial Council of California’s Advisory Committee on Providing Access and Fairness and as president of the International Association of LGBT Judges.

Anjali Rimi(Koka)

Anjali Rimi(Koka) (Pronouns: She/They) thrives in the community showing up as a leader driving accountability for Trans Justice. Keeping connected to her Indian Asian roots, she co-founded and serves as the President for Parivar Bay Area, the first South Asian TGNCI Queer Trans Organization.

Rimi serves on the board for San Francisco Pride along serving as development manager for Aravani Art Project(based in India). Anjali Rimi holds an MBA and has been in Corporate America for over 20 years in various supply chain, operations, and financial planning leadership roles. She is an effective facilitator and a consultant with DiversityJourneys holding workshops across many inclusion topics.

Michael Rhoads

Michael (he/him) works for the California Supreme Court as a staff attorney for Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, and he is the chair of the Court’s Equity and Inclusion Committee.  He was recently appointed to the State Bar’s Council on Access and Fairness, and has been a board member of SacLegal (Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association) since 2018.  He previously worked as a Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., as a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the California Attorney General’s Office, and as a Graduate Law Clerk for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. He is a moot court coach at UC Hastings, and has been an adjunct professor at UC Hastings, the University of San Diego Law School, and McGeorge School of Law.