The National LGBT Bar Association has announced its Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Class of 2012. The award is presented annually to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality.
"We are thrilled to honor the next generation of LGBT legal professionals," said D'Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association. "Every individual recognized has made unique contributions to the fight for equality."
The National LGBT Bar Association's congratulations go out to all of this year's winners:
Ara Babaian
Owner/Partner
Encore Law Group
Brian Basinger
Associate
King & Spalding
Flor Bermudez
Youth in Out-of-Home Care Staff Attorney
Lambda Legal
Richard Bettan
Associate
Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
Joshua Block
Staff Attorney
ACLU LGBT and AIDS Project
Alex Calero
Senior Corporate Counsel
California Department of Corrections
Chris Carolan
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw
Lee Carpenter
Assistant Professor
Temple University School of Law
Justin Carroll
Associate
Jones Day
Dalton Courson
Member
Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC
Anneke Diem
Associate
Quarles & Brady LLP
Iván Espinoza-Madrigal
Staff Attorney
Lambda Legal
Michael Gottlieb
Managing Associate
Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLC
Lindsay Harrison
Partner
Jenner & Block
Elizabeth Hodges-Williams
Attorney/Owner
Hodges-Williams LLC
Melissa Houghtaling
Shareholder/Attorney
Heltzer & Houghtaling
Jane Holzer
Supervising Attorney
Housing Preservation Project
Michael Jarecki
Principal
Law Office of Michael Jarecki
Andrea Khoury
Program Administrator and Assistant Staff Director
American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
John Koss
Attorney
Mintz Levin
Harper Jean Tobin
Policy Counsel
National Center for Transgender Equality
Joseph Landau
Board Chair
Immigration Equality
Alyssa Lareau
Trial Attorney
Department of Justice
Paul Lee
Pro Bono Administrator
Dechert
Givonna Long
Associate
Ulmer and Berne
Joseph Manicki
Partner
Sidley Austin
Nathan Pearman
Associate
Bickel and Brewer
Luke Platzer
Partner
Jenner & Block
Jeremy Protas
Associate
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Lori Rifkin
Trial Attorney
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Manuel RÃ"denas
Lawyer/Coordinator
Psychological and Social Program for Madrid LGBT Community
Cathy Sakimura
Staff Attorney and Family Protection Project Coordinator
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Amy Slusser
Attorney
Robins Kaplan Miller and Ciresi
Dee Spagnuolo
Litigation Associate
Ballard Spahr
Ryan Steinman
Associate
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Christopher Stearns
Assistant General Counsel
ARAMARK Corporation
Virginia Tent
Associate
Latham & Watkins
Alex Wagner
Special Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary
Department of Defense
Joseph Wardenski
Trial Attorney
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Robert Wiley
Attorney, Chair of Sexual Orientation and Law Practice Group
National Employment Lawyers Association
Below is the National Center for Lesbian Rights release on their attorney being named to the list:
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is proud to announce that Cathy Sakimura, NCLR's Family Protection Project Director, was named one of this year's Best Lawyers under 40 by the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Bar Association.
Since joining NCLR in 2006, Sakimura has worked to improve access to family law services for low-income LGBT parents and their children, with a focus on increasing comprehensive and culturally competent services to families of color. Sakimura's recent victories include winning adoption rights for a lesbian mother whose petition to adopt was previously rejected by a Family Court in Hawaii, and co-counseling one of the first successful custody cases on behalf of the parent of a transgender child.
Sakimura's recent precedent-setting court decisions include Chatterjee v. King, in which the New Mexico Supreme Court established crucial new protections for non-biological mothers raising children with a same-sex partner, and E.C. v. J.V., in which California's 3rd District Court of Appeal affirmed that legal recognition of parentage is dependent upon the relationship between parent and child and not upon sexual orientation, gender, or marital status.
The LGBT Bar Association established the annual Best LGBT Lawyers under 40 award to recognize outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legal professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality.
