On August 13th IANGEL celebrates our seventh anniversary gala, “In It To Win It”
with a fantastic line-up of advocates, artists and trailblazers!
International human rights scholar, advocate and Professor of Law
Connie de la Vega
will join us for a featured keynote speech.
We are also honored to be awarding the Amel Zenoune-Zouani Rights & Leadership Award to
Joan Haratani
for her unwavering commitment, stewardship and leadership.
Professor Connie de la Vega writes extensively on international human rights law and participates in United Nations human rights meetings. She has submitted amicus briefs detailing international law standards to U.S. courts for juvenile death penalty and affirmative action cases, and has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor de la Vega has served as the UN representative for Human Rights Advocates, and she authored the Dictionary of Human Rights Law (2013). She headlined the “Women in Peacekeeping and Peacemaking” symposium: Women and War, William and Mary College in 2005, and “UN Human Rights Mechanisms” in Protecting Women’s Rights panel in 2014. She was named as the Warren Christopher International Lawyer of California in 2016.
Professor de la Vega is the co–author of The American Legal System for Foreign Lawyers (Wolters Kluwer, 2011) and International Human Rights Law: An Introduction (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007). Her latest publication, The Guide to International Human Rights and Criminal Law Procedures, offers practical approaches for advocates seeking remedies for rights violations. She established the Frank C. Newman International Human Rights Law Clinic at USF and is a founding member of Human Rights Advocates. She believes that, “[w]e are all responsible for ensuring the protection of human rights and thus promoting peace.”
Joan Haratani, a Morgan Lewis San Francisco partner, represents Fortune 500 companies in commercial and mass tort litigation. Known for her work as a California litigator, Joan has been recognized as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California” and as a “Top 75 Women Litigator” by the Daily Journal. She was selected by the corporate members of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a “Female Litigator on the Rise” in Diversity & the Bar. She was also named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans in America by Avenue Asia Magazine. Ms. Haratani is a founding member of CAPA21 Leadership Council, an Asian American Pacific Islander political action committee that invests in progressive candidates and projects to improve AAPI participation in the political process.
Joan plays an active role in the legal community. She has served as a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates and as president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the first woman of color to hold that position. Ms. Haratani is also a past president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, as well as past regional governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She is a past board member of several philanthropic organizations, including The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) of Northern California. Notably, she was the first runner-up in the 2017 LLS Bay Area Woman of the Year campaign and is also an Elite Athlete with its Team in Training program.
