May 14 2024: 32nd Annual Gala - Celebrating Our Legacy
We gathered at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco for gorgeous views, food, fun, and gratitude as we thanked Jocelyn for her 24 years of service, including 14 as Executive Director, and were inspired by keynote speaker and EEOC Commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal.
2023: Our 31st Anniversary Gala - The Path Forward took place Tuesday May 16 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.
We were dazzled by Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley, our special guest and keynote. Our grantee honorees, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services and Aaron Halegua, PLLC inspired us with the stories of victory over oppression.
2022: 30th Anniversary Gala - Reconnect | Tuesday, May 10, Westin St. Francis, San Francisco: 5:30pm - 8pm
Zachary Norris, Meredith Stevenson (Center For Food Safety), and Eric Havian (on behalf of Lawyers for Civil Rights)
We reconnected at our first in person gathering in three years.
Our special guest and keynote speaker was Zachary Norris, Soros Equality Fellow and author of Defund Fear.
We also honored two of our grantees for their recent successes in court: Center for Food Safety and Lawyers for Civil Rights. Read more here.
2020: 27th Virtual Anniversary Gala - Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 7pm - 8pm, Via Zoom.
Special Guest - Jill Wine-Banks | Honorees - Children’s Rights, OUR CHILDREn’s TRUST, and TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID
This year’s honorees!
We’re delighted to announce that Jill Wine-Banks, author of the book, The Watergate Girl, will be our special guest and keynote speaker.
“I was raised to believe that I had an obligation to do what I could to make this a better world.” - Jill Wine-Banks
Impact Fund Executive Director, Jocelyn Larkin, said: “Jill Wine-Banks is a brilliant legal commentator and the voice of studied experience, bringing perspective and expert commentary to the nation. We’re looking forward to hearing what she has to say in the midst of these turbulent times and thrilled that she will be joining us as we recommit to our core values.”
Jill is currently an MSNBC Legal Analyst, appearing regularly on primetime and daytime shows. She cares deeply about the social justice challenges the Impact Fund addresses, and says:
“I was raised to believe that I had an obligation to do what I could to make this a better world and have spent much of my life in public service and on issues of civil rights, gender and racial equality, and educational and economic opportunity for all. The Impact Fund's work through public interest litigation inspires me, especially in the current political environment where that work is more necessary than ever in our history.”
Joining Jill, we’re grateful to acknowledge not one, but three organizations: Children’s Rights, Our Children’s Trust, and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid who pushed the envelope for social and environmental justice this past year.
“While COVID-19 prevents us from meeting in person, we cannot press the pause button when it comes to social justice,” says Impact Fund Executive Director, Jocelyn D. Larkin, continuing: “recent history has shown how vital our courts are in protecting the lives of communities, particularly communities of color, and we are honored to recognize three of our grantees for holding the powerful to account.”
2019: 26th Anniversary Gala - Tuesday, May 7, Westin St. Francis, San Francisco: 5:30pm - 8pm
Special Guest - Joyce Vance | Honorees - UC Irvine School of Law & Puente Arizona
We enjoyed an evening of celebration, community, and connection as we marked 26 years, hundreds of successful cases, and over $7M in grants made in solidarity with marginalized communities in bending the moral arc of the universe towards justice.
To the backdrop of stunning sunset views of the entire SF Bay Area from the elegant rooftop salon of the Westin St. Francis, we sipped the libations from the complimentary bar, noshed at sumptuous food stations, grazed the passed hors d'oeuvres, toe-tapped to the live jazz, and raised more than $100K to fight for justice!
Special Guest: Joyce White Vance
Special Guest: Joyce White Vance. Vance is a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Alabama’s Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. School of Law. She served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017. President Barack Obama nominated Vance for the position in May 2009 and the Senate unanimously confirmed her in August 2009.
She is a frequent legal commentator on MSNBC and other news outlets. She cares deeply about the social justice challenges the Impact Fund addresses and says: “It’s an honor to get to speak at this year’s Impact Fund gala. It’s more important now than ever to ensure access to the courts.”
Honorees - UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic and Puente Arizona
This year we are gladdened to honor our grantee, UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic for their success with the Puente Human Rights Movement (a grassroots migrant justice organization based in Phoenix, Arizona) in successfully challenging the workplace immigration raids of infamous Sheriff Joe (Arpaio) of Maricopa County.
Neomi was brave enough to tell her story.
The workplace raids tore apart countless families in Maricopa County. Noemi was one of those who was ripped from her family and in her blog says, “I spent two months in a jail run by notorious Sheriff Joe, where I faced humiliation after humiliation. I slept in a room with more than a hundred other women and was taught to respond to “54” as if it were my name. The first night I didn’t sleep at all, I just sat on my tiny, hard bed and cried, worried that I would go crazy in there.”
Carlos Garcia, executive director of Puente said, “We are grateful to the lawyers and law students who embraced our organizing, defended our members, and worked for years without any guarantee of compensation. Maricopa County officials have now been permanently stripped of tools they used to illegally terrorize immigrant workers and families. But the fight continues. Arpaio’s tools are now being deployed at the national level. And his legacy will live on here in Maricopa County so long as ICE is still allowed in the jails.”
Carlos Garcia: “The fight continues.”
In 2007 and 2008, Arizona legislators, led by then Rep. Russell Pearce, re-fashioned the state’s identity theft laws to brand undocumented immigrants as felons for working with a false name or identity. Relying on these laws, Sheriff Arpaio, supported by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, began conducting raids of local businesses. In total, the Sheriff’s Office conducted over 80 workplace operations, leading to the arrest of at least 806 employees.
The final settlement provides, among other things, that previous rulings by U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell, finding the practices of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) unconstitutional, will not be appealed.
Annie Lai: “We intend to use the funds to continue providing assistance to vulnerable communities in the fights to come.”
In October 2017, Judge Campbell awarded plaintiffs just over $1 million in attorneys’ fees in recognition of their partial success in the case. The County agreed to pay nearly all of that sum, in addition to amounts awarded for plaintiffs’ expenses and costs, as part of the settlement.
“We are heartened to know that organizations and firms that came together to litigate this case will be able to recoup some of their investment of time and resources,” said Annie Lai, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at UC Irvine School of Law, adding: “We intend to use the funds to continue providing assistance to vulnerable communities in the fights to come.”
Our annual event was made possible by the enthusiastic support of our sponsors and underwriters, who we heartily thank for their generosity…
2018: 25th Anniversary Gala - Tuesday, May 8, Westin St. Francis, San Francisco
We enjoyed an evening of celebration, community, and connection as we marked 25 years, hundreds of successful cases, and over $6M in grants made in solidarity with marginalized communities in bending the moral arc of the universe towards justice.
To the backdrop of stunning sunset views of the entire SF Bay Area from the elegant rooftop salon of the Westin St. Francis, we sipped the libations from the complimentary bar, nibbled and noshed at sumptuous food stations, grazed the passed hors d'oeuvres, toe tapped to the live jazz, and were inspired by the program honoring...
Grantee: Leadership Council For JUSTICE & ACCOUNTABILITY
We honored our grantee, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, for its recent success in the case City of Tulare v. Pratt Mutual Water Company and Matheny Tract Committee, bringing clean drinking water to the community of Matheny Tract in the San Joaquin Valley!
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Keynote - Gina McCarthy
After being confirmed by the Senate in 2013, Gina became the face of President Obama's global warming/climate change initiative. She served until Trump handed the agency over to Scott Pruitt.
Gina cares deeply about the social justice challenges your support of the Impact Fund addresses and said, "if I can get over what's happening in Washington D.C. now and have hope, then so can you. It's time to pull up your big girl, big boy or gender non-conforming pants and get to work."
We couldn't agree more!
Thank you to our generous sponsors for their support, which ensured that every cent we raised went 100% into new grantmaking...
2017 Gala
the 2017 Impact Fund Gala 2017: Litigation = Resistance, MAy 9, Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, 5:30pm - 8pm
Special Guest: Ambassador (RET.) Norman Eisen
Dubbed "Mr. No," Eisen served as the chief ethics lawyer for President Obama. As Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2011-14, he was active in working with Czech civil society on innovative anti-corruption initiatives.
Since December 2016, as Chair of CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington D.C.), he is helping to lead a bipartisan effort to ensure an ethical Washington in the face of a new administration. CREW is the plaintiff in the Emoluments Clause case that is being brought against President Trump.
Eisen is also widely credited as being the inspiration behind Deputy Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum) in Wes Anderson's blockbuster, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
We Also Honored Our Grantee Public Counsel
Jessy Cruz, inductee into the Impact Fund Class Action Hall of Fame
For its work in Cruz v. California, the team from Public Counsel together with lead plaintiff, Jessy Cruz, who stood up "to make schools better for everyone's little brother" received a standing ovation.
Thank you to everyone who joined us as we celebrated and funded the future of class action justice!
2017 Class Action Conference
THE 2017 Impact FUND Class ACTION CONFERENCE: FEBRUARY 23 & 24, SAN FRANCISCO
Each year, Impact Fund hosts this invitation-only event to bring together leading plaintiffs' class action practitioners to discuss important new developments, share knowledge and ideas, and develop strategies for the future. The conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for attendees to connect and forge relationships with like-minded advocates across the country. For more information click here.
2016 Training Institute
Our three-day course takes a group of twenty students through all the stages of a mock class action case, from initial client meeting to mediated settlement. MCLE credit available for California practitioner.
In 2016 we are pleased to present two Training Institutes:
Sep 14-16 - Oakland, CA
Sep 29 - Oct 1 - Los Angeles, CA
Click HERE for more information.
Annual Gala: MAKING A SPLASH - Tues May 10 - Special Guest: Joan Walsh
Become an event sponsor/purchase tickets by clicking the links below or by downloading the order form.
Annual Impact Fund Class Action Conference - Feb 18-19, 2016
The 14th Annual Impact Fund Class Action Conference will take place February 18-19, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Join 150+ plaintiff-side class action practitioners from private firms and non-profits, together with Academics and students, for a 1.5 day, MCLE accredited, symposium: a gathering of the top minds using the courts to hold big business and small-minded government accountable.
This is an invitation-only conference for the nation’s leading plaintiff-side class action community. If you are interested in attending the conference, please email us: rschug@impactfund.org
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
There are no upcoming speaking engagements at this time.
