Happy December OCWLA Members!

As I write my last message as OCWLA President, I reflect on what has been a truly amazing year for this organization. It has been an honor to lead this inspiring group of professionals who continue to break barriers, advocate for justice, and support one another in our legal community. I am proud of all that we have accomplished together. From hosting impactful events and professional development opportunities, to creating a space where we can all lift each other up, we have truly made a difference. I am grateful for the camaraderie and the spirit of collaboration that define this organization, and for the ways we’ve shown resilience in facing challenges.

A big thanks to all who attended and supported our Installation Dinner & Holiday Celebration at the Fairmont Newport Beach on December 5. Special kudos go to Tracy Hughes, who planned this spectacular event, and Heidi Plummer, whose snow machines and invaluable contributions made for the perfect kickoff to the holiday season. Thanks also to the Honorable Sheila Hanson, the newly-elected Assistant Presiding Judge of the Orange County Superior Court, for her inspiring words and for swearing in the OCWLA Board and the Foundation Board. 

Wishing you all a joyful holiday season and a new year full of opportunities.

Welcoming the 2025 OCWLA Board:

Executive Officers

Tracy Hughes, President

Heidi Plummer, Vice President

Sayuri P. Espinosa, Treasurer

Antoinette Naddour, Secretary

Caroline Djang, Immediate Past President

Board of Directors

Mimi Ahn

Shirin Forootan

Betty Fracisco

Dana Heyde

Suzanne Leslie

Ashley Peniche Montenegro

Amber Poston

Janani S. Rana

Laurie Rowen

Heather Stangle-Smith

Also welcoming the 2025 OCWLA Foundation Board:

Executive Officers

Caroline Djang, President

Tracy Hughes, Vice President

Eemaan Jalili, Treasurer

Heidi Plummer, Secretary

Board of Directors

Cheryl L. Barrett

Maria Bashaw

Jeanne Behling

Jeannette Garcia

Lauren Johnson-Norris

Kristine Koo

Farnaz Salessi

Warmly,

Caroline Djang

2024 OCWLA President

Happy October

OCWLA Members!

I am excited to announce that our largest-ever 48th Annual Gala is already SOLD OUT!! The Gala will be held on Thursday, October 17th at the spectacular VEA Hotel in Newport Beach where we will honor our award recipients: the Honorable Desirae Hutchison for Judge of the Year, Mei Tsang for Attorney of the Year, and Cox, Castle & Nicholson for our Advancement of Women Award. 

We will also hold our silent auction with over 40 items including wine baskets, jewelry, restaurant and shopping gift cards, Angels and Ducks tickets and much more. Please look out for an email where you can pre-register for the silent auction and bid on items prior to and during the event. For our live auction, we will be auctioning off a Luxury 4-Night All-Inclusive Cancun Getaway and a 2-Night Stay including dinner at the Ranch in Laguna Beach. New this year, we will be raffling off a luxury handbag, one-carat diamond earring studs, and an overnight stay in a suite, including breakfast, at the Renaissance Newport Beach. It’s going to be an unforgettable evening and I hope to see you there! 

Warmly,

Caroline Djang

2024 OCWLA President

NEWS

Happy September

OCWLA Members!

I hope you are all enjoying your last few weeks of summer. Thank you to everyone who attended our amazing Women Judges Reception on August 29, where we celebrated the Honorable Elizabeth G. Macias as the recipient of the 2024 California Women Lawyers Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award. We were honored to have 33 judges in attendance, an OCWLA record! One of the missions of the OCWLA is the advancement of women on the bench. Women still only make up 35% of the superior court bench in Orange County. The California statewide percentage of women judges on the superior court bench is 41.2%. The 4th District Court of Appeal has 31.8% women justices and the statewide percentage of women justices on the Courts of Appeal is 43.3%. The California Supreme Court is 57.1% women. While women have made substantial progress on the bench here in California and in Orange County, there is still much progress to be made. The OCWLA thanks the women judges who have helped advance women on the bench and within the legal profession, and thanks the many people who have supported them along the way. 

Believe it or not, our Annual Gala at the VEA Newport Beach is just five weeks away! I am pleased to announce that we have already sold 219 out of 300 tickets to this event and will sell out soon. Sponsorships are still available. If you haven’t purchased your tickets and/or sponsorship, pleaseregister online or contact info@ocwla.org. This will be our best Gala yet with some exciting new entertainment and a beautiful Parisian theme. Hope to see you at the Gala!

Warmly,

Caroline Djang

2024 OCWLA President

Happy July OCWLA Members!

I hope everyone had a festive July 4th! It was great starting the month with a day off and warm summer weather. Thank you to the more than 100 people who attended our Summer Membership Mixer at Zov’s on June 18. We raised over $1,000 for the OCWLA Foundation from our raffle, and our winners, Hillary Willett and Michael Balmages very generously donated their prizes back to the Foundation for our Gala silent auction.

We have some wonderful events coming up this summer. On Saturday, July 27, we will be hosting our Past Presidents’ Tea for members only at the beautiful Morning Lavender Café in Tustin. All members are welcome (not just past presidents), and limited spaces are still available. Please join us for delicious tea, scones, sandwiches and desserts as we celebrate our OCWLA past presidents.

Book Club will be on July 29 at Mimi’s Café in Tustin. The book is Passion in Black by Tim Buckley, Retired Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Fifth District, who will be speaking at our Book Club!

Our Women Judges Reception will be held on August 29, at the Boardwalk Courtyard in Irvine. We will be celebrating the Honorable Elizabeth G. Macias as the recipient of CWL’s 2024 Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award. Congratulations, Judge Macias!

Last, but not least, our Annual Gala will be held at the spectacular VEA Newport Beach on Thursday, October 17th. Please join us in honoring our OCWLA Award winners: Judge of the Year, the Honorable Desirae Hutchison, Attorney of the Year, Mei Tsang, Umberg Zipser and Advancement of Women Award Winner, Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP! Sponsorship opportunities are available, and we are still seeking silent auction donations. Please contact us for more information.

Warmly,

Caroline Djang

2024 OCWLA President

Happy June, OCWLA Members!

Here’s hoping that the June Gloom gives way to some sunny summer days! As always, the OCWLA has some great events in store. Our annual Summer Membership Mixer, co-hosted with the OCWLA Foundation will be on Tuesday, June 18 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at Zov’s in Tustin. We will be introducing our Foundation Board members and announcing our Gala Award Winners (which, spoiler alert, will also be announced at the end of this message!).  

OCWLA is participating in the Food from the Bar virtual food drive from June 1-30. Your support helps provide nutritious food for children, families and seniors experiencing food-insecurity in Orange County. Please visit yourfooddrive.org between June 1-30 to donate. Remember to select “OCWLA” when making your donation!

OCWLA Book Club will be June 24 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Mimi’s Café in Tustin. OCWLA Member Maria Bashaw will be leading us, and the book of the month is The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea.

Please save the date for our beautiful Past Presidents’ Tea (all members are welcome) on July 27 at 10 a.m. at Morning Lavender Café in Tustin

Last, but not least…drumroll, please…I’m so excited to announce this year’s OCWLA Award winners:

Judge of the Year, the Honorable Desirae Hutchison, Attorney of the Year, Mei Tsang, Umberg Zipser and Advancement of Women Award Winner, Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP! Congratulations to all of our wonderful and accomplished awardees!

Our honorees will be recognized at our spectacular Annual Gala at the VEA Newport Beach on October 17. Please see below for a flyer and link to sponsorship opportunities and silent auction donation information.

Happy Pride Month!

Warmly,

Caroline Djang

Happy April OCWLA Members!

I cannot believe it is already April! March flew by, but was very fun and eventful for the OCWLA. On March 22, we hosted an inspiring and informative MCLE, Breaking the Glass Ceiling, with two trailblazing speakers, the Honorable Kimberly Menninger and OC Supervisor Katrina Foley. On March 26, we held our Annual Wine Tasting event at an elegant new venue, the Park Club. This event sold out…twice! We had an amazing presentation by the wonderful Alexa Zabat-Fran, a wine expert, and networked over delicious food and wine. Last, but not least, several OCWLA members attended Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley’s Third Annual Women Making A Difference Awards on March 30, where the OCWLA was honored as the Organization of the Year! Board Member Jessica Munk was honored as Criminal Attorney of the Year and Board Member Amber Poston was honored as Public Defender of the Year! Bravo, ladies!

On April 26, the OCWLA will present our Annual Equal Pay Day: Equal Pay & Closing The Dream Gap (specialty MCLE credit offered). While Equal Pay Day for all women on average this year was March 12, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is July 9, Latina Equal Pay Day is October 3, and Native and Indigenous Women’s Equal Pay Day is November 21 (source: https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/equal-pay-day-calendar/). We are so excited to hear from our esteemed panel, the Honorable Tania R. Vallejo, the Honorable Juliet Macaulay, and Professor Andrew Penner for an impactful look on closing the gap, for all women, in all places. We will also be partnering with the Chapman Women Lawyers Association for a Clothing Drive benefitting Laura’s House. For more information, please see the flyer below. Please bring your donations!   

Our April Book Club will be held on April 29 at Mimi’s Café in Tustin. Board Member Dana Heyde will be leading the discussion on Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. This will be a good one!

Please save the date for our free May Day coffee meetup, co-hosted with the OC Hispanic Bar Association on May 1 from 8:15-10:00 a.m. at the Corner Bakery in the Marketplace (Irvine side). Wear flowers or Spring attire and enjoy coffee and breakfast with colleagues and friends!

Finally, please save the date of October 17, 2024, for the OCWLA’s 48th Annual Gala at the beautiful VEA Newport Beach! We have Annual Sponsorship opportunities available that include sponsoring our Annual Gala. Please take a look at our sponsorship packet here.

Warmly,

Caroline

Announcements:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Elimination of Bias MCLE: Equal Pay & Closing The Dream Gap

Join OCWLA Friday April 26th for an MCLE about the challenges faced, as a woman, both on the bench and on the path to the bench, and how the United States stacks up in terms of pay equity for women.

Featuring Speakers:

Hon. Tania Vallejo

Orange County Superior Court 

Hon. Juliet Macaulay

Orange County Superior Court 

Professor Andrew Penner

Director of The Center for Administrative Data Analysis at UCI

Register by Tuesday, April 23rd on the OCWLA website here:

April Book Club

An OCWLA Members-Only Club.

Dana Heyde will lead the discussion on Prince Harry Duke of Sussex's Spare on April 29 at 5:30 p.m. at Mimi’s Café in Tustin.

Join us for no-host dinner and drinks!

Celebrating Women's History Month!

March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the remarkable achievements, contributions, and resilience of women throughout history, including those within the legal profession. In recognition of Women’s History Month, we are planning some wonderful events to honor the significant role women have played in shaping the legal landscape and to empower and inspire our fellow women lawyers. We invite you to join us in commemorating this special month!  

We hope you will join us for the following events:

March 22: MCLE luncheon: Breaking the Glass Ceiling with distinguished speakers and OCWLA supporters, the Honorable Kimberly Menninger and Supervisor Katrina Foley at the Avenue of the Arts Hotel (11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m.). Details and registration are below.

March 25: Book Club led by Lori Cheyne of Aptus Court Reporting: The Daughter of Auschwitz by Malcolm Brabant and Tova Friedman at Mimi’s Café in Tustin (5:30-6:30 p.m.). Register at the link below.

March 26: We are so excited to host our signature Annual Wine Event at an elegant new venue, the Park Club in Costa Mesa from 5:00-7:00 p.m. We are also thrilled to partner with the amazing Alexa Zabat-Fran, Wine Scholar, who will guide us through our tasting of four exquisite wines! We will have an opportunity drawing and gifts for the first 30 guests to arrive. The member price is just $55, which includes all tastings and delicious heavy hors d’oeuvres. Join the OCWLA and save $35 off the non-member price. Space is limited, so please sign up below today!

Announcements:

Did you know you can post job opportunities for free? Please contact info@ocwla.org for more information. Looking for a new opportunity? Check out our website, where we regularly post local job opportunities. 

We are asking members to update their practice area for our membership directory: We want you to be searchable through our online directory. Members refer members! Join our referral network!

We are currently redesigning our website. Stay tuned for exciting updates!

Warmly,

Caroline