For the second year in a row, the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association will donate the proceeds from its Charity Golf Tournament to the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center (formerly the East San José Community Law Center). The tournament will be held on Friday, July 23rd at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Course,
23600 McKean Road, San José.
The Alexander Community Law Center has an annual budget of over $1 million. Gifts, grants and law school contributions support the Center. Recently, Katharine and George Alexander (who served as dean for 15 years and has been a professor at the law school for 35 years) established an endowment of $800,000 for the Law Center. In appreciation the Center was renamed in their honor. The endowment income, which will be in the $40,000 range beginning in fiscal year 2005, will be used for general operating expenses. Additional endowment contributions are being sought to help establish a firm financial base for the Center.
The golf tournament offers opportunities for individuals to be sponsors, donate raffle items, and golf. Professor Cynthia Mertens, the Director of the Alexander Law Center, is actively seeking support for the tournament, as she must raise over half a million dollars to meet the budget for the fiscal year that starts this July. The golf tournament is an excellent way to make attorneys in the community aware of the Law Center and the work that it does.
For the past ten years, the Law Center has provided pro bono advice and representation in several areas including workers’ rights, workers’ compensation, consumer rights, immigration rights and legal orientation for small businesses. Poverty-stricken residents and immigrants make up the vast majority of clients of the Law Center, which is the civil clinical component of the Santa Clara University School of Law. It harnesses the energy of law students working under attorney supervision to provide free legal services. The students receive academic credit in exchange for their valuable work and gain useful experience that prepares them for their future careers.
The Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association is dedicated to the advocacy of issues relating to the preservation of the right to trial by jury, the administration of justice, and various issues relating to the legal system and the practice of law. The association provides members valuable services including continuing legal education programs, networking, forums with judges and legislative updates.
For more information about the golf tournament, contact
Cynthia Mertens at cmertens@scu.edu , 408-288-7030 x 236; or :
Lawrence P. Ramirez or Vicki Moitoso
Phone: 408/971-1119
Fax: 408/971-1129
E-Mail: SCCTLA_LawyersCup@yahoo.com.
Article provided by the Community Law Center
