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Greetings!
Thank you for visiting the Arizona Black Bar website. Although the
organization is in its inaugural phase, we have been very busy and there
is still much more to be accomplished. Among other things, we
participated in the 2008 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice
Advocacy Competition and our finalist, Lidia Ceniceros, a senior at
Cesar Chavez High School, won the Region IX competition in Emeryville,
CA and is on her way to the National Competition in Houston, Texas.
We also hosted quarterly membership dinner meetings, happy hours,
law student mixers, as well as a reception and cocktail bar in honor of
Arizona’s minority judges at the annual State Bar convention.
In the upcoming months, we will be hosting our annual scholarship
banquet, named in honor of the late Honorable Hayzel B. Daniels, who
was the first African-American admitted to the practice of law in
Arizona and the first African-American judge in the state. As a
lawyer and community activist, he fought for the civil rights of
minorities and was instrumental in the battle to desegregate Phoenix
public schools long before the United States Supreme Court struck
down the “separate but equal” mandate in the landmark decision of
Brown v. Board of Education. Judge Daniels was a visionary and a
trailblazer, paving the way for many of us.
We invite you to join us in “Celebrating the Vision.” The Hayzel
B. Daniels Scholarship Banquet will be held on October 9, 2008 at the
Phoenix Art Museum, beginning at 6:00 pm. Our keynote speaker will
be Ms. Vanita Banks, President of the National Bar Association and
Corporate Counsel of the Allstate Insurance Company, in Northbrook,
Illinois. Ms. Banks has a long standing record of tireless dedication
to increasing diversity in the legal profession. She is a founding
member of the Allstate Law & Regulation Department Diversity
Committee and her accomplishments include a summer internship
program that provides learning and employment opportunities for
minority law students, and a collaborative effort with Allstate’s premier
law firms.
The banquet promises to be a memorable event, complete with great
food, quality entertainment and exceptional fellowship and networking
opportunities. The proceeds will be used to assist third-year law
students who intend on practicing in Arizona with bar examination
preparation. We hope to see you on October 9, 2008.
Before closing, we realize that many still question whether the
organization is distinct from the former Hayzel B. Daniels Bar
Association. The Arizona Black Bar is the successor organization of the
Hayzel B. Daniels Bar Association. The membership voted to adopt the
name change in 2007 and the organization was incorporated on July 26,
2007. The reasoning behind the name change was to allow attorneys
who were new to the state to readily identify and locate the organization.
We are committed to the same goals and our mission remains the
same – to further the cause of justice in Arizona. We may have a new
name, but we are led by the same vision. We invite you to join us in
effecting change.
Respectfully,
Kesha A. Hodge
President, 2007-08
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