Thursday, April 21, 2011
2nd Annual CLEO Law School Graduates Reception
6:00-8:00pm
The Park at Fourteenth - 920 14th St., NW, 4th FL., Washington, DC 20005
RSVP to cleoeventrsvp@americanbar.org with "4/21 Reception" in the Subject line

Thursday, April 21, 2011
1st Annual Midwest CLEO Law School Graduates Reception
6:00-8:00pm
To RSVP and obtain event location and logistics, please contact Chipo Nyambuya at chipo@cleoscholars.org

Saturday, April 23, 2011
1st Annual "CLEO Cook-Out"
1:00-4:00pm
Hains Point (East Potomac Park) - Washington, DC
RSVP to cleoeventrsvp@americanbar.org with "4/23 Cook-Out" in the Subject line

Friday, June 10 - Monday, June 13, 2011
Mid-Summer Professional Development Seminar & Career Fair
Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel - Chicago, IL

Sunday, June 5 - Friday, July 15, 2011
Six-Week Summer Institute
Drake University Law School
Des Moines, IA

Sunday, June 12 - Friday, July 22, 2011
Six-Week Summer Institute
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
San Diego, CA

Featured Partner Event: NALP Annual Education Conference

NALP will be hosting its Annual Education Conference (AEC) in sunny Palm Springs, CA from Wednesday, April 27 thru Saturday, April 30, 2011 at the beautiful Desert Springs J.W. Marriott. This year's conference theme, Driving Innovation & Change, is rooted in the need for those persons and organizations committed to the cause of diversity to get ready to take things to the "next level." The NALP AEC provides an excellent opportunity to network with fellow professionals from a broad spectrum of the legal community. For more information about the conference and/or to register to attend, you can visit: www.nalp.org and click on the "Events" tab.

If you are an alum and your contact information has changed or you recently switched employers, please visit www.cleoadmin.com/update.cfm and provide us with the correct information. Also don't forget to friend us on Facebook (Facebook.com/cleoscholars), follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/cleonetwork & twitter.com/cleoscholars) and join our Linkedin network(linkedin.com/in/cleo1968)!

In response to requests from many of our students, alumni and legal community friends who signed up to participate in the CLEO Mentoring Network (CMN) as either a protégé or mentor, we've made some recent technological improvements to the system to try and make things a bit more "streamlined and less cumbersome." For those individuals who expressed reservation about the time it took (or would take) to sign up, please visit the CMN page on our CLEOdiverCITYNetwork.org website and look at how much more "pared down" both the mentor and protégé applications are versus before. We still have plenty of CLEO participants in need of a mentor and strongly encourage all CLEO alums and attorneys in good standing to get signed up today. Thanks!

CLEO Alum, Israel Balderas, currently works in Charlotte, NC as the evening anchor and reporter for the local FOX TV affiliate. He's also a legal analyst for the station's morning show, FOX News Rising. Each day, Israel reports on current events

With a broadcast career that started in college, Israel has worked as an anchor, reporter and producer for various news organizations, including international news agencies Reuters and Associated Press TV; cable networks; and local TV affiliates in Texas (KFOX), Tennessee (WTVF/WNAB) and Oklahoma (KOTV).

He's also written opinion editorials for print publications and websites on the economic and social benefits of a growing Latino community, as well as the importance of the Hispanic vote to national elections. Being raised in El Paso, TX and most recently having worked there as an anchor/reporter for the FOX News affiliate, Israel is quite familiar with U.S./Mexico border issues that are now the focus of national news. Last summer, Israel appeared on CNN Spanish and CNN International, as a legal commentator discussing the constitutionality of states like Arizona passing immigration enforcement laws.

In 2006, Israel earned his Juris Doctor from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law as a part-time evening student while working as political producer for the FOX News Channel. In those four years, he was a member and published author for CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communication Law & Policy; he competed nationally in moot court; and he was the graduation student commencement speaker.

His legal experience includes working at the Federal Communications Commission as a media advisor, a year-long internship with U.S. District Court Chief Judge Royce Lamberth; and a summer associate for the communications law firm of Cole, Raywid & Braverman. Licensed in the District of Columbia and Maryland, Israel did pro bono work offering translation services.

Israel attended the 2002 CLEO Attitude Is Essential weekend seminar in Atlanta, GA. And although the program only lasted three days, Israel felt that he was "very prepared" when he walked into law school that fall, including knowing what to expect from reading assignments, to participating in class, and, perhaps most importantly, doing well come exam time.

For now, Israel plans to continue working in television, but believes that his law degree and legal experience will continue to open up new and exciting opportunities for him.

We wish Israel nothing but the best in all his future endeavors!

Your Success is "Our" Success

We love the opportunity to "spread the word" about good news that may have happened to you either professionally or personally. If you would like to share something positive that's happened in your life, please send an email to cleo@americanbar.org so that we all can celebrate the good news. Thanks!