Incoming President's Message from Honieh Udenka

It is a deep honor and privilege to steer TMBA through the upcoming year as its President. I am extremely thankful to our immediate past president, Hollie Washington, for her friendship and leadership. I am also extremely thankful to our outgoing board of directors, many of whom served TMBA faithfully for several years. In 2023, our organizational focus will be on Connection, Community, and Compassion.

TMBA’s core mission of increasing the racial diversity of the Orange County legal community will be amplified by programming and events centered around connection. The organization has and will continue to serve as a platform for professional advancement through networking opportunities, coaching, mentorship, continuing education, and career placement.

TMBA will also continue to be a place of community for Black lawyers and law students in Orange County. To that end, programming and events will, to the extent possible, shift back to the in-person format to allow us to reconnect with, and reignite our village. And by serving one another with compassion, TMBA will continue to extend itself to the most vulnerable of those in our community through our charitable initiatives.

I am excited about our upcoming year, invigorated by our incoming leadership, and I look forward to continuing and building on the incredible legacy of this very worthy  association.

In Solidarity,

Honieh

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Outgoing President's Message from Hollie Washington

I have had the pleasure of serving TMBA and our community for the past five years, and it has been a joy to watch this organization grow in membership, purpose and impact in the OC and beyond. From providing legal clinics, scholarships to repeat bar takers, establishing the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association Foundation to be the fundraising arm of TMBA, holding a press conference in response to calls from the community after the murder of George Floyd, mentoring law students and implementing a Summer Associate program, my legal career has truly been enhanced by the work, and it is work, of TMBA.

My reason for joining the TMBA family as a Board member was to increase racial diversity in the OC legal community, which was also the impetus for our 2022 theme of Pipelines to Practice.With the support of our members and sponsors, we have been able to create and facilitate programs and partnership opportunities to open doors and broaden pathways to the practice of law for Black students and lawyers in Orange County.

I look forward to what’s next for TMBA as it continues to champion equitable opportunities by providing access to coaching, mentorship, continuing education and career placement and advancement. As my Presidency comes to a close, my dedication to TMBA continues, and, because the road to practice should never be determined or derailed by economic inequality or hardship, I encourage all of you to join me in devoting some piece of yourselves to expanding TMBA’s reach and influence to more law students, more lawyers, high school students and the greater OC community.

Cheers to Connection, Community and Compassion in 2023.

        The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis. ~ Justice Thurgood Marshall 

In solidarity,

Hollie