Dear Members,

The Associate Membership level has been reactivated.  Associate membership is for people who are no longer students, but who do not yet qualify for voting membership; anyone who works in the legal field but who do not qualify for voting membership; a person who has retired from a paralegal or equivalent position.   

If your status has changed and this level of membership is what you should be classified as, please choose this option when you renew your membership.  If you have colleagues that you would like to join SFPA, please let them know this new membership level is available.  If you have any questions, please send an email to info@sfpa.com.  

See below for differences in voting and associate levels of membership.

Voting Membership - $85.00 (USD)

 A practicing paralegal meeting the definition in California Business and Professions Code § 6450. Voting members shall have the right to vote at all general membership meetings and the right to hold an office within this Association.

Associate Membership - $75.00 (USD) (Non-Voting) 

Open to any person who has recently graduated from a formal course of study, upon the completion of which such person is qualified to be employed as a paralegal; any person whose primary responsibilities and job classification are not paralegal but does perform paralegal duties on a limited basis (full time paralegals do not qualify as Associate Members and must apply as Voting Members); any person previously employed as a paralegal or equivalent position.

Kibibi (Bibi) Shaw, MSOD is a Paralegal fully compliant with California Business & Professions Code Section 6450.

Ms. Shaw is employed by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. as an Executive Assistant supporting a firm Partner, Corporate Counsel and team of Associates in its “clean energy” corporate law practice group who specialize in private equity, venture capital, initial public offerings, and mergers & acquisitions. The practice group is a nationally-recognized leader in support of emerging companies in the energy and resource, innovation, and sustainability sectors, as well as impact investors that finance them.

Before her position at Wilson Sonsini, Ms. Shaw was a Litigation Paralegal at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP working in their San Francisco headquarter office with Mr. Gordon and a large team of firm Partners, Special Counsel and Associates who specialized in Product Liability defense, Drug & Medical Device litigation, and multi-party/complex claims in Commercial litigation.

Ms. Shaw has over twenty years of extensive law firm experience including managing law offices while handling various types of heavy litigation and corporate matters. Specifically, Ms. Shaw has myriad involvement with litigation matters in California state and U.S. district courts, U.S. bankruptcy courts, Appellate court, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Education

Ms. Shaw obtained her Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior & Leadership from the University of San Francisco and her Master of Science in Organization Development (MSOD) from the University of San Francisco’s Masagung Graduate School of Management.

Professional Activities/Volunteer Work

San Francisco Paralegal Association – Voting Member & Board Member (2018 – current)

IDAC Trial Academy (at Stanford Law School) – Volunteer

Los Angeles Paralegal Association – Member

Glendale Young Professionals (GYP), a Chamber of Commerce program – Member

National Notary Association – California Notary

University of San Francisco – Service-Learning Alumni Volunteer

University of San Francisco – Alumni Regional Council (LA)

Human Rights Campaign – Member/Volunteer

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – Volunteer

Save The Bay – Volunteer

John G. Roberts, Jr.

Chief Justice of the United States

December 31, 2019 

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., has issued his 2019 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (pdf).

This is the 15th report Chief Justice Roberts has issued since he was appointed chief justice in 2005.

California Courts Newsroom

December 20, 2019

https://newsroom.courts.ca.gov/news/2019-year-in-review

Public Policy Institute of California

2019 Speaker Series on California's Future

California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye at the Public Policy Institute of California's year-end luncheon series covers the challenges and opportunities facing the courts.

Watch on the PPIC's YouTube channel

California Lawyers Association

Monday, December 9th, 2019

San Francisco War Memorial Veterans Building, Room 206 & 210
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102

Join Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ming W. Chin, and Senator Thomas J. Umberg as the keynote luncheon speakers at the Litigation Section’s Military and Veterans Summit. This conference includes 3 hours of MCLE credit on issues relating to Military and Veterans Personnel plus 1 hour of Elimination of Bias credit.

https://www.ieventreg.com/event/long.php?event_id=d2ecbc8dd65095e9d2f007cd6214a36e

California Lawyers Association

December 4, 2019
12:00 PM - 1:29 PM (Pacific)

Several cases over the past few years have determined that improperly prepared environmental due diligence will not serve as a shield to environmental liability.  This program will review the environmental laws’ liability scheme, programs such as the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act (CLRRA) and Prospective Purchasers Agreements that can help shield purchasers from environmental liabilities, the necessary components of  a properly prepared Phase I and its shortfalls, and also discuss considerations for sellers of contaminated properties.

https://cla.inreachce.com/Details/Information/ae66e380-8483-4fa2-a55a-4dba4bdeb7c7?_ga=2.39308835.1402149289.1575379637-1096278632.1566233242

Law Sites

December 2, 2019

"When it rains it pours. Earlier today, I wrote about adoption of the duty of technology competence by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. Now comes word of another U.S. state adopting the duty, bringing the total number of states to 38.

The latest is South Carolina, where on the day before Thanksgiving, the Supreme Court of South Carolina approved a package of amendments to the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct, all based on the 2012 amendments to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which included a duty of technology competence as embodied in ABA Model Rule 1.1, Comment 8."

https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2019/12/and-now-another-state-adopts-duty-of-tech-competence-bringing-total-to-38.html

ABA Journal

November 27, 2019

“The vast majority of people in Arizona just can’t afford an attorney, no matter how great of a system we have,” said council member David K. Byers, who spoke on the panel. Byers is the administrative director of Arizona courts and a member of a state task force on legal services delivery. The task force was created by an administrative order from Scott Bales, the state’s former chief justice, who is also a council member.

http://www.abajournal.com/web/article/what-will-it-mean-for-law-schools-if-states-ease-upl-restrictions/P1

Bar Association of San Francisco

December 4, 2019: 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

Foreign nationals often face challenges in California Probate Court proceedings that many local practitioners are not aware of. Some of these challenges, which can be quite onerous, are best addressed prior to the death of a foreign national client, to the extent possible

Topics
• Whether a foreign national can serve as a personal representative (including issues with bond)
• Obtaining original will
• Obtaining an EIN when personal representative is not a US resident
• Exclusion from reassessment for transfers between parent and child when decedent does not have a social security number
• Choice of law when will executed outside of the Untied States and decedent died in a third country
• Estate tax

http://www.sfbar.org/calendar/eventdetail.aspx?id=G190511/G190511