Annual Public Interest Dinner and Installation

Written By Cecilia Tripp

The Annual Public Interest Dinner and Installation is SABA-SC and SABA-PIF’s largest event of the year, where we celebrate community service, swear in our new boards, and honor distinguished guests with awards (Judicial Appreciation, Trailblazer of the Year and Public Interest).

Our 20th Annual Gala was held on May 15th, 2025, and we celebrated special awardees:

  • Judicial Appreciation Award - Hon. Taiyyeba Safri Skomra

  • Trailblazer Award - Gopi Panchapakesan

  • Lifetime Public Interest Award - Manjusha Kulkarni

  • Lifetime Achievement Award - Navneet Chugh

Our 21st Annual Gala will be held on May 14, 2026.

Past award honorees include:

  • 2024 -
    Majistrate Judge Shashi Kewalramani (Central District)
    Janani Rana (Minyard Morris)
    Maya Roy (USDC- Central District)

    2023 –
    Presiding Judge Samantha Jessner (LASC)
    Purvi Patel (Morrison Foerster)
    Faizah Malik (Public Counsel)

    2022 –
    Honorable Neetu S. Badhan-Smith (LASC)
    Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II (LASC)
    Seema Ahmad (Manik & Self Foundation)
    Lifetime Achievement Award: Anjan Choudhury

    2018 –
    Hon. Upinder Kalra (LASC)
    Paul Grewal (Facebook, Inc.)
    Munmeeth Soni (Immigrant Defender’s Law Center)

    2017 –
    Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (Cal. Supreme Ct.)
    Kalpana Srinivasan (Susman Godfrey LLP)
    Bhupinder Malik (SALDEF)

    2016 –
    Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen (9th Circ.)
    Hon. Halim Dhanidina (LASC)
    Nisha Vyas (Public Counsel)

    2015 –
    Hon. Beverly Reid O’Connell (C.D.Cal.)
    Suma Mathai (LA Center for Law and Justice)

    2014 –
    Hon. Holly Fujie (LASC)
    Prof. Jyoti Nanda (UCLA Law School)
    Firdaus Dordi (Federal Public Defender’s Office)

  • 2013 –
    Hon. Virginia A. Phillips (C.D.Cal.)
    Shivbir Grewal (Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth)
    Laboni Hoq (Asian American Advancing Justice – LA)

    2012 –
    Hon. Peter Espinoza (LASC)
    Ajay Patel (Sony Network Entertainment)
    Shashi Hanuman (Public Counsel)

    2011 –
    Hon. Consuelo Marshall (C.D.Cal.)
    Navneet Chugh (The Chugh Firm)
    Rupa Goswami (USAO)

    2010 – Erwin Chemerinsky (UCI Law School);
    Arnold Peter (Peter Rubin & Simon)
    Sonal Ambegaokar (National Immigration Law Center)

    2009 – Tom O’Brien (USAO) and Muneer Ahmand (American University Law Professor)
    Alka Sagar (USAO)
    Ahilan Arulananthanam (ACLU – Southern California)

  • 2008 –
    Kamala Harris (SF DA Office); Javade Chaudhri (Sempra Energy); Nitasha Sawhney (Garcia & Calderon)

    2007 – Sonali Kolhatkar (KPFK Pacifica Radio); Arif Alikhan (LA Mayor’s Office); Amand Thind (Immigration Center for Women & Children)

    2006 – Shakeel Syed (Islamic Shura Council); Hon. Sanjay T. Kumar (LASC); Najeeba Syeed-Miller (Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center)

    2005 – Vanita Gupta (NAACP Legal Defense Fund); Rita Gunasekaran (Haight, Brown & Bonesteel); Manujsha Kulkarni (National Health Law Program)

    2004 – Vikram Amar (Hastings Law Professor); Shan Thever (Thever & Assoc.); Mona Patel-Sikora (Public Counsel)

* In 2011, the Keynote Speaker Award was replaced with the Judicial Appreciation Award

Cecilia Tripp
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