Message from the NLD Community Outreach Co-Chair
Happy April NLD Members,
As the New Lawyer Division’s Community Outreach Co-Chair, I could not be any more excited to be writing this month’s message from the board during April which is celebrated all over the world as Global Volunteer Month. As lawyers we are dedicated to serving our clients and to advancing the interests of our community. This April, the New Lawyer Division (NLD) would like to celebrate the power of each of our NLD members and our San Diego public service organizations who continue to tackle society’s greatest challenges to build stronger communities through acts of pro-bono service and volunteerism.
For those who do not know me, I have dedicated my life to public service since the start of my ever-evolving career. I am a first-generation Latina attorney originally from Fresno, California. Before becoming an attorney, I was a 911 Dispatcher, a District Representative for a California State Senator, and volunteered at the Public Defender’s Office. Now as a staff attorney at the California Innocence Project in San Diego, I am dedicated to freeing the innocent from prison, training law students, and changing laws and policies in the state of California.
My co-chair, Dani Glazer Signaigo, introduced this event last month, but I want to personally invite you to participate and/or donate for our Bags & Brunch event on April 29, 2023. The NLD is partnering with the San Diego Urban League Young Professionals to hand out bags of hygiene supplies to people experiencing homelessness in San Diego. We are in dire need for lawyers and their families to donate hygiene supplies in advance via this Amazon wish list and/or volunteer their time to help bag and distribute the products on the day of the event, between 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. All volunteers will meet up afterward for a non-hosted social brunch. Hope to see you there!
Some other community service based San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) events we invite you to attend are the San Diego Surfrider Foundation’s OB Beach Clean-Up on May 6, 2023 or the SDCBA Annual Awards Ceremony & Celebration of Community Service event on May 18, 2023. In addition, if you know of someone in North County who may be in need of some basic legal assistance or help completing court forms, do not hesitate to refer them to this year’s Law Day Free Legal Clinic on Mary 2, 2023. In the next few weeks, be on the lookout for information regarding a Juneteenth event, the Annual Summer Social, and our signature Speed Networking event. Lastly, do not forget to take some time on Memorial Day to honor those who lost their lives while defending their country.
In addition to serving the community, I am also dedicated to serving each of you NLD members. Therefore, if you feel called to develop a community service event around one of your passions, please feel free to reach out to me directly at csalinas@cwsl.edu and we can start brainstorming ways to get it going. On the other hand, if you have attended a community service event that is deserving of recognition, take lots of pictures and reach out to Co-Editors in Chief, Matthew Spolsky and Linda Nelte, at Mspolsky@fwhb.com and linda.nelte@mmpph.com to highlight the act of service in our For The Record publication.
Again, this month I want to personally thank each of our NLD members for the zealous advocacy you do on behalf of your clients every single day and I also challenge you to go out of your way to volunteer a little extra this month in spirit of Global Volunteer Month. If you do not want to go alone, send me a message via LinkedIn and I will happily join you!
Respectfully,
Claudia Salinas