Monday, August 15, 2011
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State Bar Selects Karen Nobumoto to Receive Diversity Award
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar of California has selected its past president, Deputy District Attorney Karen Nobumoto, as one of the recipients of its Diversity Award.
Nobumoto said Friday that she was “extremely flattered and honored” because diversity “has been, for me, a lifelong commitment.”
The award was established by the Board of Governors to recognize outstanding efforts in promoting diversity and ensuring the full and equal opportunity of all persons for entry and advancement in California’s legal profession.
Other individual honorees selected this year include Administrative Law Judge Vallera J. Johnson of San Diego, retired California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Administrative Director of the Courts William C. Vickrey, and Rocklin attorney Ruthe C. Ashley.
They are scheduled to be presented with their awards during a reception at the State Bar Annual Meeting, set for September 15-18, in Long Beach.
Nobumoto is the first “public” lawyer and the first minority woman to preside over the State Bar. When she was elected president in 2001—the same year she was chosen as MetNews Person of the Year—Nobumoto was the first Asian, the second woman, and the third African American to hold that position.
She is a graduate of the University of Hartford, in Connecticut, and Southwestern Law School, where she started a student division of the John M. Langston Bar Association.
The attorney went on to become president of the Langston bar, and also served on the California Young Lawyers Association board, was active in the State Bar Foundation, and joined the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluations.
Nobumoto has spent her entire career since being admitted to practice in 1989 with the district attorney’s office, and said she has never grown tired of doing what she does for a living.
“Being able to practice law is a treat for me,” she said, and she thanked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alan Webster Jr., “for inspiring me,” and her parents, “for everything.”
The attorney also raises champion show dogs, one of whom became the top black cocker spaniel in the country.
Copyright 2011, Metropolitan News Company