ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION'S 20TH ANNUAL MEETING WITH GOVERNOR GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN
Several hundred legal heavyweights and dignitaries, along friends and family, celebrated the Armenian Bar Association's (ArmenBar) 20th Anniversary at a gala on May 9, 2009 at the Glendale, Hilton. The banquet culminated a spectacular weekend complete with legal seminars, a pro bono community workshop, a star studded luncheon, and receptions.
"This was a fabulous meeting," said Armen Hovannisian, past Chairman of ArmenBar, and the meeting organizer. "After 20 years, we reaffirmed our wide relevance, special community role, and dynamic vibrancy. Our report card shows that we continue to make a positive difference for Armenian communities throughout the world," said Hovannisian.
Governor George Deukmejian, one of an elite group of ArmenBar Honorary Members, was the keynote speaker at the gala dinner banquet . He wowed the crowd with the delivery of a true statesman and also with his comical anecdotes from the annuls of Nasreddin Hodja. Four hundred enthusiastic supporters were on-hand to witness the recognition and awarding of distinguished ArmenBar members.
Raffi K. Hovannisian received the highly coveted Hrant Dink Freedom Award for his principled stand on Genocide recognition throughout the world. He is the founder of ArmenBar, the First Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and the first Armenian from the to become a member of the Armenian Parliament.
Professor Ann Lousin, the only three term Chair of ArmenBar, and a professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her extensive service and mentoring to lawyers and law students. Vicken Simonian, the longest-serving Board member of ArmenBar, received a Public Service Award for years of pro bono service to the Armenian community and for his sustained volunteerism in the Los Angeles County court system as a judge pro tem, mediator, arbitrator and settlement officer.
California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin was the main luncheon speaker, and was introduced by fellow California Supreme Court Justice Marvin Baxter, a founding and Honorary Member of the Armenian Bar Association. After drawing parallels between his own family's immigrant past and the experiences of the Armenian community, Chin praised the outreach efforts of ArmenBar and encouraged the group to promote and help preserve impartiality in the judiciary.
A panel on human and civil rights in Armenia, and the role of the courts in protecting such rights , was an important part of the legal seminars. Renowned Armenian civil rights attorney and Member of Parliament Zaruhi Postanjyan was the guest speaker. She was joined by Raffi K. Hovannisian on the panel.
Nicholas Koumjian, a prosecutor in several international criminal tribunals and currently working at the Hague, was a special guest speaker in a panel focusing on the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Koumjian is the chief prosecutor in the highly publicized, current trial of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia. The trial is taking place in The Hague, and Taylor is the first former African head of state to appear before an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.
Phillip Lynch, an Assistant U.S. Attorney who was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to be the Rule of Law Coordinator in Baghdad, Iraq in 2007, joined Koumjian on the panel. Lynch has had the unique experience of helping to establish Iraq's legal system following the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, and shared some of those experiences. He discussed his first-hand involvement relating to the trial of Saddam Hussein, which resulted in a death sentence and execution. The panel was moderated by John Lulejian, an Assistant United States Attorney who prosecutes violent and organized crime, and is a Board Member of ArmenBar.
Garo Ghazarian, Dean of the People's College of Law, lead a panel discussion on "Crime and Justice in the Armenian Community." The panel included Steven Lubell a Commissioner in the City of Burbank, Thomas Lorenz and Tigran Topadzhikyan, both Seargents with the Glendale Police Department and Fred Mesropi, a Deputy District Attorney with the County of Los Angeles. The topics included the perception of Armenians within the local communities, helping the community with rulings from the bench and certain types of crimes including those related to traffic, alcohol, identity theft and health and welfare fraud.
During the celebratory weekend, ArmenBar held a pro bono workshop for the community at the St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale. The workshop featured a number of outstanding local attorneys giving practical, and where possible, one-on-one, advice to community members on issues of interest such as immigration, domestic violence, landlord/tenant disputes and criminal matters. The panelists included Alice Yardum Hunter, Lucy Avedissian, Hagop Tashjian, Betty Jamgotchian, Victor Hairapetian, Raymond Hovsepian, Raymond Zakari, Vicken Simonian, Varoujan Agemian, Sarkis Babachanian, Theresa Gibbons, Azniv Ksachikian, Nigol Manoukian, Garo Ghazarian and Dorine Martirossian.
The meeting was presided over by Armenbar Chair Sonya Nersessian from Boston, Massachusetts.
All of the Officers of the organization were installed to a second term, including Nersessian as Chair, Edvin Minassian from Glendale as Vice-Chair, Sara Bedirian from Beverly Hills as Treasurer and Christine Engustian from Providence, Rhode Island as Secretary.
"The strength and vitality of the Armenian Bar Association during this celebratory weekend is a springboard for the future growth and continued success of this organization," said Nersessian.
The group will next meet in Toronto in early October for its mid-year meeting. More information can be obtained by visiting the ArmenBar website atwww.armenianbar.org.
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