Jun. 22, 2013

'Volunteer for Justice' dinner draws crowd in OC

Delivering the keynote address at the Public Law Center's annual Volunteers for Justice Dinner on Monday, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris praised the Orange County legal aid organization for, along with her own office, giving "a voice to the voiceless." In particular, Harris spoke of work both she and the center are doing on behalf of human trafficking victims and homeowners needing foreclosure assistance. "Each of us is dependent on the other's success," she said. "A lot of the work we do will benefit people you may never meet and who will never know your name," the attorney general added. About 930 lawyers, judges and guests attended the center's annual awards dinner, raising a record $700,000, according to Executive Director Kenneth W. Babcock. During the event, the Public Law Center honored Julie M. McCoy of Irvine as its attorney of the year, Irell & Manella LLP as law firm of the year and the Southern California chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel as its corporate partner of the year. PLC also dedicated its new Operation Veterans Re-Entry project to the memory of Marine Captain Mathew P. Manoukian, killed in Afghanistan last August during his fourth tour of duty. The captain was the son of Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Socrates Peter Manoukian and 6th District Court of Appeal Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian, who was an Orange County Municipal Court judge in the mid-1980s. — Don J. DeBenedictis