A Record-Breaking 2006 Unity Dinner

By Patricia Tsubokawa Reeves • Photos by Ken Rabiroff

This year's Unity Dinner 2006 fulfilled its annual promise to promote and acknowledge the diversity of our legal community with record-breaking numbers, an historic first, and heartfelt recognitions. On October 26, 2006, more than 300 lawyers, judges and justices, law school deans, scholarship winning law students, community service volunteers, and our friends and guests gathered at the Hilton Hotel Arden - the largest number of participants in the history of this unique dinner.

The Unity Bar Association of Sacramento is unique to our legal community. It is a joint project of the minority bar associations and affiliates of the Sacramento County Bar Association. The groups which comprise the Unity Bar Association of Sacramento are the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento (ABAS), La Raza Lawyers Association (La Raza), Sacramento Lawyers for the Equality of Gays and Lesbians (Sac LEGAL), Wiley Manuel Bar Association (WMBA) and the Women Lawyers of Sacramento (WLS). Most legal communities have several minority bar associations that hold special events and functions for their members. In Sacramento, our minority bars and specialty sections hold similar special events for their members, but once a year we work together to put on the Unity Dinner. This event requires all of us to work together to achieve a common goal to bring our legal community together for one night of mutual appreciation.

This year was an historic first because WLS and Sac LEGAL co-chaired the Dinner. Previously ABAS, La Raza and WMBA rotated the lead each year. WLS and SacLEGAL joined the Unity Bar a few years ago and provide valuable support and assistance. This year they agreed to take the lead and co-chair the Dinner together. WLS and Sac LEGAL exercised cooperation, patience and tolerance to achieve consensus and bipartisan compromise. This genuine effort made the Dinner a great success. In the spirit of practicing what we preach, WLS and SacLEGAL put on a great Dinner this year!

This year's Mistress of Ceremonies, the Honorable Judge Emily Vasquez, was the first Unity Bar Association of Sacramento Community Service Award recipient 19 years ago in 1987. She is still with us working hard to keep the founders' vision alive. She did a wonderful job as M.C. and completed the program on time by 9:00 p.m. This special record breaking evening ended with special recognition for the original founders of the Unity Bar Association of Sacramento. The founders, Jerry Chong, Luis Cespedes, and Judge Renard Shepard had a vision that if they worked together their minority voices would be better received. This vision evolved into an annual exercise and opportunity to demonstrate that diverse interests can work together towards a common goal.

The Unity Dinner 2006 committee members were Rebecca Westmore (ABAS), Michael Terhorst (La Raza), Stacy Gillespie (Sac LEGAL), Arnold Samuel (WMBA), Theresa LaVoie (WLS) and Patricia Tsubokawa Reeves (Unity Bar Association of Sacramento). We would like to extend a special thank you to all of the Silent Auction donors. The Unity Dinner is a wonderfully energizing and uplifting event. In the complex and often adversarial world of the law, everyone benefits from a night off. We hope this year's attendance record is broken next year as more and more people experience the repose and respite provided by this very special and unique event.