Comments
To submit a comment, please email us at abbashadjian@sbcglobal.net
July 30, 2015
Levitt & Quinn attorney Amanda Fleming reports the training was wonderful. Packed full of useful information throughout the entire day. Thank you Abbas for putting together such a wonderful program!
Tai Glenn
Executive Director
Levitt & Quinn
July 28, 2015
Great program. Thanks for the opportunity to help.
Steven A. Mindel
Dear Mr. Hadjian,
You are to be congratulated on a fine seminar. Thank you so much!
I am a therapist working in the family law arena--and met you at Pasadena Bar Assoc. I look forward to seeing you again.
Warm regards,
Mary Ann Aronsohn
Thank you, Abbas, for your efforts to bring this type of much-needed seminar to fruition. I drove up from SD for this and really found it to be extremely informative.
I don't know of any seminar in the history of SD (at least in the past 25 years of my practice) like this.
I'm going to recommend to a close colleague friend of mine with the San Diego Family Law Bar Association and fellow CFLS who is looking for suitable topics or the Fall CFLS seminar that she call you and pick your brain. The Fall seminar this year is dedicated to custody topics and it would be wonderful to include cultural aspects into the agenda. I've copied two other fellow SD specialists of this email so that they can help make this happen as well.
Very truly yours,
Linda Papst de Leon
This is really wonderful. So nice to see how this has grown since we started 8 years ago. You are an amazing force for awareness and education, Abbas. I'm honored to have been a part of this. Congratulations!
Diana L. Martinez, Esq.
The program was very well done and I got a lot out of it. But only 6 hours credit?
Thank you,
Deborah
Congratulations! I am so sorry that I missed it. I will watch the videos.
Ernestine
I am so disappointed I missed this event. Kian and Jonathon told me it was absolutely wonderful! I intended to be at the event but I had to drive to Orange County to see some family and I could not reschedule as they were leaving the country the next day. I hope to be there next year. I heard so many wonderful things and I cannot believe I missed it. Again, my deepest apologies.
Best,
Atousa Saei, Esq.
It was a really fine program. But please next year try to schedule the program so that it ends at 4:00 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. at the latest. I for one, and people around me as well, were all very wiped out by the time the last hour began.
Also, if the program starts at 8:30 a.m. and goes to 5:00 p.m. (a total of 8.5 hours), and we're even having some CLE over the lunch hour, how do we wind up with only 6.0 hours of MCLE credit? (Not that I personally care--I have so many hours of MCLE credit it doesn't matter for me. But other folks might like getting more than 6.0 hours of credit for the day.)
My guess is that since you're now attracting a larger audience, you'll need to move the program to a new location next year and of course you've already heard the complaints about air conditioning and the need for an amplifying system that works reliably.
Commissioner Keith M. Clemens (Ret.)
Response: Re termination at 4:00 or 4:30: Will seriously consider that.
Re MCLE Hours: On the paper we had 6.5 hours, 4 x 1 hour (60 minutes) and 2 x 1.25 hour (75 minutes), total of 390 minutes. In reality we had 4 x 55 (220) and 2 x 70 (140), or total of 360 minutes/6 hours. I am acting at the safe side.
Re having bigger place to serve larger audience: It is a trade-off between high cost (of the location) and low charge (to the attendees), but working on it, already.
Thanks for caring and guidance.
Abbas Hadjian
Dear Abbas:
I wanted to thank you for this note and very much regret I could not attend the program this year but am determined to do so next year. Are parts of the program available on other media sources for those who could not attend? It all looked so fascinating and you must be commended for spear-heading this much needed program.
Best, Ann VanDePol
Excellent program. Unfortunately I lost my CLE credit sheets. Can you send me replacements? Please feel free to put my name on them if that is a concern.
Seth D. Kramer, CFLS
It was an amazing program.
I was reminded of how our experiences form our normative views. From infancy, we start learning to classify. We learn that the thing with four legs, a tail, black and white with big spots is a cow. Then, we learn it can also be a dog. Or cat. Then, that not all cows are black and white patched. Some are brown, black…..but, really, all the same. You'd never know which color when you eat that Big Mac. Same with humans…..sans the Big Mac part.
Saturday's event was wonderful - a wonderful reminder how we all classify, but how we can work to avoid negative stereo-typing when we become aware. And, to dress well. LOL
Laurel Brauer
July 27, 2015
Hear, hear! Excellent program.
Judge HJF
If any attendees at Abbas Hadjian's cultural Competency Seminar were bothered by my wailing and gnashing of teeth over my stolen car, rest assured. I found it right where I had parked it. Thanks to Jamie Fosgate who helped me out and was willing to help even further, and Debbie, my seatmate, who also took care of me. An example of gray-haired incompetency.
Sincerely
Kathryn M. Fitzgerald, CFLS
Abbas
I truly hope you can understand that while many people had the idea - it has been you who has consistently made the program come to fruition year after year. And it continues to grow - which is amazing. We have had so many discussions about how people don't always want to attend seminars on cultural competency - thinking that they are culturally competent. It's so great that this forum has allowed people to see what a life long journey this is.
It's just so darned exciting that it gets bigger and bigger every year. A big congratulations to you Abbas! Wonderful, wonderful job
Linda Bortell, Psy.D.
An Amazing accomplishment. Thank you Abbas jan for your dedication and professionalism.
To many many great years ahead.
Foojan
July 26, 2015
I just wanted to say that it was a great event and thank you so very much for inviting me to participate.
Carol L. Newman, Esq.
Thank you for the opportunity. I didn't know what to expect in terms of attendance, program, participation, etc. I was so very impressed with all of it. What a great turnout, dynamic and thoughtfully conceived program, and the audience was so very engaged throughout the day! Mazel Tov,
Judge DZZ
Great, great event. My only suggestions are there only 6 rather than 7 panels and only 3 per panel.
Connolly Oyler
Incredible Learning Experience!! The legal, ethical, and judicial integration aspects of this course were tremendous to our educational and real life experience applications!! Thank you Abbas, great job.
Corinne Sanchez
Dear Abbas,
I sat next to you during the seminar today but never got a chance to thank you (although I did make attempts, you were too busy!) for putting together such a great program; thank you! The program was fun and informative.
The vast majority of my cases are cross-cultural (even between Koreans) or cross-national/jurisdictional, and I would love to get on the panel next year if you are putting something on for Culture-DV crossover (e.g., I recently had a client in Korea who got a restraining order against her husband for his having called her elderly grandparents on New Year's day to tel them about their divorce proceedings while getting a restraining order for physical violence in Korea is almost impossible (being disrespectful to and insulting elders in the family are much more frowned upon than actually beating your spouse) or jurisdictional issues (and service process) for parties residing in different countries (Service through Hague convention in Korea is taking 7 months now when same took only 2.5 months just 2 years ago).
Anyways, the program was so stimulating; thanks again for all your hard work in putting together such a great group of panelists and topics.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Jinna Kang, Esq.
Ditto to Tom's comments! Fantastic program. The lack of AC and poor audio did not detract from a fabulous program. Kudos to Abbas.
Stanley J. Dale
Big props to Abbas Hadjian and the rest of the team that put on the Cultural Competency program at UWLA Law School today!
As with so many all day programs, there was more provided than many people can assimilate in one day. But just piles of information and thoughts about what to consider, look at, research as cases present themselves.
What is it about Persian lunch buffet that you can eat too much and still NOT get drowsy during the afternoon sessions?
The panelists were universally good, knew more than they could tell us in their allotted time, but whet interests in a variety of subjects. Even Davis got discussed, but didn't hijack the program. Some more nuanced comments on it than have appeared on the listserv, and some not so nuanced.
All in all, a very good (if inadequately air conditioned) day.
Thomas M. Hall
July 20, 2015
California was not the first in same-sex marriage
I am in receipt of your letter dated 7/15/15 regarding the Third Annual Cultural Competency Seminar scheduled for Saturday, 7/25/15. Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment on that date and will be unable to attend. However, your letter of invitation has a significant error contained within its list of "firsts" which I wanted to bring to your attention. California was not the first in same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts voted to legalize same sex marriage on November 18, 2003 and the first same sex marriage occurred in that state on May 17, 2004. I am alerting you to this error in the hope that it will not be repeated in any material distributed at the seminar. I would be delighted to be a participant in next year's conference on July 30, 2016.
Commr. Matthew St. George, Santa Monica
P.S.: You are correct that California was the first state to legally recognize same sex couples with a domestic partnership registry, but it was in 1999, not 1984. The earlier domestic partnerships available were at the municipal level.