I am excited to serve as president of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association for the 2007 term. I have had the privilege of working on the board for four years in the company of gifted, compassionate and hard working board members. I can only hope to live up to their example.

We have some great events planned for 2007. I'm especially excited that we will have two "Law Days" this year in which we will be providing free legal advice to members of our community. The first "Law Day" will take place on March 18, 2007 in North County. The second "Law Day" will take place on April 29, 2007 in South County. We are recruiting Raza members to help provide free legal information to our community members. This will be different from the Law Week project put forth by the County Bar Association in that our members will be free to pass out business cards and generate referrals. Furthermore, it is geared mostly to the Spanish speaking members of our community that have limited access to legal advice and/or who may feel intimidated by the legal process.

In addition to our "Law Days," we are also planning a family friendly picnic in July. Many of you are unable to make our evening meetings because of family obligations. We hope that you will be able to come with your family and join us for some fun in the sun.

We are attempting to obtain our status as MCLE provider in order to offer our members the opportunity to obtain MCLE credits. It is our hope to be able to provide at least a couple events this year that will earn you credits.

One of the most exciting changes for 2007, is the creation of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Scholarship Fund. This is the brain-child of Alex Balvaneda and has been a continuing project for several years. Thanks to the hard work of several individuals, especially Juan Zuniga. Lilia Garcia, and Alex Balvaneda, that dream has become a reality.

I hope you will join me and the 2007 La Raza Lawyers Association board in seeking ways to provide service to our community, supporting and encouraging our members to seek judicial appointments, mentoring our Latino law students and young attorneys, and making our presence known and felt in San Diego. Please volunteer for one of our many standing committees or volunteer your time to one of our projects or Legal Aid on behalf of La Raza Lawyers.

I strongly believe that together, we can make a difference. Si se puede!

Virginia Y. Calderón
President