Sections
Barristers
Upcoming Programs and Events
Wellness for New Lawyers: How to Avoid Burnout, Manage Stress, and Foster a Healthy Mindset
ACBA 16th Annual Barristers Golf Classic
Battle of the Bay A’s vs Giants
ACBA Criminal, Immigration, Wellness, & Barristers Section Social at Nido’s
New events are added regularly. Visit the ACBA calendar for more upcoming ACBA events. To view past programming on demand, please visit acbanet.prolearn.io/home.
Executive Committee Meetings
The ACBA Barristers Executive Committee shapes the educational and social programming for the section. They meet every second Wednesday at 5:30pm. Please contact Barristers Chair Dustin Cameron for information on how to join these meetings.
Annual Barristers Golf Classic
Whether you’re a new golfer wanting to spend an afternoon networking with other attorneys and judges or an experienced golfer looking for a chance to get your name engraved on the President’s Cup, you’re welcome at the annual ACBA Barristers Golf Classic, typically held in early August! Check out the photos from our 2019 event here. We hope to hold another tournament in August 2024.
Section Listserv
Did you know you can create and send posts to your section community directly from your email inbox? With our Groupvine platform, you can communicate with your section about new updates in your practice area, questions about your practice, changes in laws, discussion about past MCLE programs, and more! Learn more
Barristers Mentorship Program
The Barristers Mentorship Program was created to link new attorneys (mentees) with seasoned attorneys (mentors) in Alameda County so that mentees may gain support and guidance as they embark on their professional legal careers. For mentors, participation in the program is an opportunity to give back and support the profession of law, and help shape its future by coaching the mentees and sharing their experiences and life lessons. Please check out the program guidelines for more information. Submit a mentor application or a mentee application at any time!
Dustin Cameron
Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP
d_cameron2@u.pacific.edu
Dustin currently works at Cogent Legal as an Attorney Consultant. Prior to joining the Cogent team, Dustin was a practicing litigator handling: business disputes, product defect, and high value personal injury cases. Dustin tailored his career to trial work with an emphasis on case presentation and persuasion. Dustin now assists attorneys as a consultant, and is heavily involved with case strategy throughout each phase of litigation.
Sophia Ahmad
Sophia Ahmad Law, APC
39055 Hastings Street, Ste 211
Fremont, CA 94538
sophia@sophiaahmadlaw.com
510-421-6188
Sophia Ahmad was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management. After being intern to the executive team for the grand opening of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Sophia attended Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. She was a Student Attorney and Clinic Chief at the SMU Federal Taxpayers Clinic and with the Small Business/Self-Employed Division of the IRS. She worked for her family’s CPA firm before opening her own practice. Sophia Ahmad Law, A.P.C. focuses in tax, corporate, and immigration law. Sophia is a huge foodie, loves to travel, and is currently learning to box!
Anna Bernstein
Donahue Fitzgerald LLP
ABernstein@donahue.com
Anna Bernstein is an associate with a focus on real estate, construction, and employment. As a member of the Real Estate and Construction Practice group, Anna assists clients in both litigation and transactional matters. While she assists in all stages of residential and commercial real estate litigation, she also drafts and reviews commercial contracts, transactions and leases.
While attending law school, Anna was on the executive board of the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco’s Business Law Journal and the Women’s Law Society. While on the board, she matched hundreds of current law students with University of California College of the Law, San Francisco’s alumni for the alumni mentorship program, and assisted in planning several networking events throughout the year. She also worked at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office handling domestic violence cases and research.
Evan Ettinghoff
Minnis & Smallets
evan@minnisandsmallets.com
Evan Ettinghoff, an associate at Minnis & Smallets, represents employees in all aspects of employment cases. He has litigated numerous employment cases involving claims of harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
Along with Sonya Smallets, Evan recently represented an employee in a federal jury trial in the Northern District of California and obtained a jury verdict that was one of the highest emotional distress awards in an employment case in the Northern District of California in recent years. Evan won the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in 2021 for the verdict in this case.
Evan is an active member of the legal community. He currently serves as a Director on the Board of Directors for the Barristers Club of the San Francisco Bar Association. He is also serves as a member of the Executive Committee for the Barristers Labor and Employment Law Section.
Evan earned a B.A. in Legal Studies at UC Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where he served as a published author for the law review. Evan then clerked in the Central District of California for Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar, Magistrate Judge Carla Woehrle, and District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall.
Evan was recently selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2022 & 2023.
WookSun (Phil) Hong
Law Offices of WookSun Hong
125 12th Street, Ste. 100-BALI,
Oakland, CA 94607
modulegal@gmail.com
(510) 368-8538
WookSun is part of the Bay Area Legal Incubator, a group of attorneys that provide legal services for mid to low income communities. Their practice areas cover employment, immigration, estate planning, real estate, business/corporate law, prisoners’ rights and more. WookSun personally handles real estate, landlord-tenant, business law and estate planning. WookSun graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. He pursued a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry before switching to law. He is the recipient of the ACBA’s 2019 Distinguished Service Award for Barrister. He is a 2019 and 2020 extraordinary VLSC volunteer and a member of ACBA LRS Governing Committee. He was also selected to 2020 Rising Starts by Super Lawyers. He enjoys cycling and wants to travel to as many countries as possible in the future.
Hayley Lenahan
Donahue Fitzgerald LLP
HLenahan@donahue.com
Hayley M. Lenahan is an associate with a focus on litigation. She has experience litigating corporate and complex commercial disputes, as well as trust and estates matters. As a member of the Litigation Practice Group, she assists clients in all aspects of litigation, including pre-litigation investigation and resolution, discovery, motion practice, mediation, and trial preparation.
Prior to joining the firm, Hayley was an attorney at a litigation boutique in Delaware where she regularly appeared in Delaware’s state and federal courts, including the prestigious Court of Chancery. Her work there included stockholder derivative actions, M&A litigation, books and records proceedings, corporate control disputes, and various other commercial tort and contract issues. Hayley began her career as a clerk for the Honorable Eric M. Davis of the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, where she worked on sophisticated disputes in the Complex Commercial Litigation Division.
Hayley was awarded the Herman Mitchell Schwartz Award, for contributing to the achievement of equality of opportunity and treatment for women, and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Eric D. Turner Award for exemplifying the attributes of a family lawyer, upon graduation from law school. While she was in law school, she served as a managing editor of the Villanova Law Review.
She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. Hayley is admitted to practice law in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware (inactive).