Access to Justice Gala 2021

Our Access to Justice Gala is held every year in honor of those in our community who go above and beyond to provide justice and hope for those who are less fortunate. Stay tuned for details on our 2022 Gala!

Honoring Julie A. Su

United States Deputy
Secretary of Labor
Access to Justice Award

Julie Su was appointed by President Biden to serve as the deputy secretary of labor and confirmed by the Senate on July 13, 2021. The deputy secretary serves as the de-facto chief operating officer for the department, overseeing its workforce, managing its budget and executing the priorities of the secretary of labor.

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Labor, Deputy Secretary Su served as the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The LWDA enforces workplace laws, combats wage theft, ensures health and safety on the job, connects Californians to quality jobs and career pathways, and administers unemployment insurance, workers compensation and paid family leave.

Honoring Seth Aronson

Partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Maynard Toll Award for Distinguished Public Service

Seth Aronson is a partner in O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s Los Angeles office. Seth served as O’Melveny’s firm-wide chair of the Securities Litigation Practice Group, managing partner of O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office, and Chair of the firm’s Legal Services Committee.

Seth is a longtime supporter of LAFLA, serving as President (1998-99) and board member (1993-99). He was instrumental in raising funds for the creation of LAFLA’s Ron Olson Justice Center. Seth is actively involved in various pro bono cases, including a successful Eighth Circuit appeal on behalf of a plaintiff’s civil rights attorney in the Kansas City School desegregation cases. He is currently representing an individual in an immigration appeal in the Ninth Circuit.

EVENT EMCEE

LANCE REDDICK
Actor, HBO's The Wire and Amazon Prime's Bosch

REMARKS FROM

REGINA KING
Academy Award-Winning Actress

MUSIC BY

ABIGAIL FIERCE
Singer, Songwriter, Actress

PERFORMANCES BY

GET LIT
Mission: Using poetry to increase literacy, empower youth, and inspire communities.

LET THE BIDDING BEGIN

Our online auction is now closed.

Thank You to Our 2021 Sponsors:

— ANGEL —

— GUARDIAN ANGEL —

— GUARDIAN—

— GUARDIAN ADVOCATE —

— ADVOCATE —

— PATRON —

Debra Fischer & Sherwin Frey

Seth & Valerie Aronson

— PARTNER —

Matthew & Tristan Close

Rita Tuzon & Rick Stone

Jim Hornstein & Victoria Diamantidis

Martin & Karen Tachiki

Jim & Elizabeth Burgess

Look Back at Past Events

2020 Access to Justice Virtual Event

2019 Access to Justice Dinner

2018 Access to Justice Video

2018 Access to Justice Dinner

2017 Access to Justice Dinner

2016 Access to Justice Dinner

2015 Access to Justice Dinner

Locations

Ron Olson Justice Center
1550 W. 8th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017

East Los Angeles Office
5301 Whittier Blvd., 4^th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90022
(temporary location)

South Los Angeles Office
7000 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90003

Long Beach Office
601 Pacific Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90802

Santa Monica Office
1149 3rd St. #300
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(as of September 2024)

Mission

Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles seeks to achieve equal justice for people living in poverty across Greater Los Angeles. We change lives through direct representation, systems change, and community education.

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Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights who has dedicated her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities and is a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

As California labor commissioner from 2011 through 2018, Su enforced the state’s labor laws to ensure a fair and just workplace for both employees and employers. A report on her tenure released in May 2013 found that her leadership resulted in a renaissance in enforcement activity and record-setting results. In 2014, she launched the first “Wage Theft Is a Crime” multimedia, multilingual statewide campaign to reach out to low-wage workers and their employers to help them understand their rights and feel safe speaking up about labor law abuses.

Prior to her appointment as California labor commissioner, Deputy Secretary Su was the litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, the nation’s largest non-profit civil rights organization devoted to issues affecting the Asian American community. Su is known for pioneering a multi-strategy approach that combines successful impact litigation with multiracial organizing, community education, policy reform, coalition building and media work.

Frequently named to top-lawyer lists such as the Daily Journal’s “Top 75 Women Litigators” in California and California Lawyer’s “Super Lawyers,” she was the first labor commissioner to be included among the Daily Journal’s “Top 75 Labor and Employment Lawyers.” She has also been named one of the 50 most noteworthy women alumni of Harvard Law School and one of the 100 most influential people in Los Angeles in Los Angeles Magazine.

Su has taught at UCLA Law School and Northeastern Law School. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School and began her career with a Skadden Fellowship. Su speaks Mandarin and Spanish.

Seth Aronson, is a partner in O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s Los Angeles office. Seth served as O’Melveny’s firm-wide chair of the Securities Litigation Practice Group, managing partner of O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office, and Chair of the firm’s Legal Services Committee.

Seth’s contributions to the legal and business communities include serving on the boards of Loyola Law School, UCLA School of Public Affairs, Ninth Circuit Historical Society, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and Association of Business Trial Lawyers (including serving as President).

From the trial court to the court of appeals to the US Supreme Court, many of the world’s leading companies in a variety of industries call on Seth to handle their most complex litigation. Seth’s litigation practice includes defending corporations and their directors and officers in securities class actions, shareholder derivative actions, SEC enforcement proceedings, RICO litigation, and mergers and acquisitions litigation. In 2018 Seth argued and won a US Supreme Court victory in a much-watched securities litigation case, obtaining a unanimous Court decision that significantly narrows the tolling provisions established decades ago in the Court’s landmark American Pipe decision. This victory will have a wide-ranging impact on securities litigation and on class actions generally, and Benchmark Litigation recently named it a National Impact Case. China Agritech v. Resh, 2018 WL 2767565 (decided June 11, 2018).

Seth is nationally recognized in his field and was named California Securities Litigation Attorney of the Year by Benchmark Litigation California in two consecutive years (2019, 2020) and a “Top 100 Lawyer” by Daily Journal. He has the singular distinction of being named the Los Angeles “Lawyer of the Year” in 2013 and 2018 in the category of Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy). Seth has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in four categories: Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy). He has been ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA in every edition since it was first published.

Seth is a graduate of Ohio University (1978) and Loyola Law School (1981).