X
September 2020 Cover Story – The OCBA’s 2021 Candidates for Secretary: Shirin Forootan and Christina Zabat-Fran

In our annual election, two outstanding and contributing members of the Orange County legal community are nominated for Secretary of the OCBA to serve the term beginning January 1, 2021. Yearly, the Secretary elevates to Treasurer, President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past-President. The person you elect will influence the development and direction of the OCBA for years to come.

If you are an active attorney member of the OCBA, please vote. The online election will open for voting on Tuesday, September 1 and will close at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at www.ocbar.org/vote.

In alphabetical order, and in their own words, here are the statements from your two candidates for OCBA Secretary: Shirin Forootan and Christina Zabat-Fran.

Shirin Forootan

Shirin Forootan has a long history of volunteering in our legal community, and with your vote in September, she hopes to continue to do so as your 2021 OCBA Secretary. Shirin has served on the OCBA Board of Directors for the past five years. She is currently the Chair of the Labor & Employment Section, where she has worked hard during this unprecedented time to provide quality legal programming via monthly webinars to its hundreds of members. Shirin also serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Orange County Superior Court’s Prevention of Bias Committee. In past years, Shirin has Chaired the Community Outreach Committee, Mommy Esquire Committee, and the Lawyer Well-Being Task Force (now Committee) .

Shirin has the experience, judgment, diplomacy, and work ethic that would make an excellent leader for our bar association. She has practiced law for over a decade. She has worked at both large and small firms, practiced defense and plaintiff’s-side litigation, and has served in advice and counsel roles. Her varied law firm experiences and her vast volunteer leadership roles allow Shirin to be uniquely suited to respond to the needs of our diverse bar members.

Shirin is committed to continuing her volunteer efforts to raise the bar in our legal community. As OCBA Secretary, Shirin’s vision includes supporting OCBA members whose jobs have been affected due to the pandemic, working with the court to promote bias-free courtrooms, and supporting the newly formed Racial Justice Task Force. Shirin became a lawyer in order to help other people. As Secretary, she would work tirelessly to carry out the mission of our bar: “To Enhance the System of Justice, To Support the Lawyers Who Serve It, and To Assist the Community Served By It.”

Shirin is a partner and employment litigator at Workplace Justice Advocates, PLC, in Irvine. She graduated college from UCSD, and then UCLA School of Law. She lives in Newport Beach with her husband and second-grade son.

Please vote for Shirin for 2021 OCBA Secretary so she can continue her longstanding commitment to serving our bar. To learn more about her, please visit: www.voteshirin4ocba.com.

Christina Zabat-Fran

Christina Zabat-Fran is the Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for St. John Knits, the American heritage fashion brand founded in Orange County and known for its nearly sixty-year history dressing confident women. Christina has led global legal affairs for the multinational company during a critical era of its evolution.

Christina has been extremely committed to public service and to the community, particularly through the OCBA. Christina has been a board member for five years, and has served as Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section and the Membership Task Force, and on several committees. Christina is Co-Chair of the Charitable Fund’s “Raise Your Glass,” the hallmark fundraising effort that went virtual for the first time this year.

Christina stepped up as an active leader for the OCBA’s trailblazing COVID-19 Task Force, helping navigate the bar through this unprecedented year.

Christina believes that the OCBA should be a key source for members to meet fellow talented attorneys, judges, and neutrals, and for attorneys in the private sector to meet prospective clients, to support attorneys during these challenging times, and to better serve our increasingly diverse business community. For example, Christina founded an annual event on behalf of the OCBA that features general counsel who share their inimitable insight and mentorship with the OCBA’s young lawyers.

Recognized by the Orange County Business Journal as GC Rising Star of the Year, Christina speaks nationally on the topics of counseling business clients, the attorney’s voice in the boardroom, and personal branding. Christina received her law degree from UC Irvine School of Law, where she was a leader in the law school’s prestigious inaugural class. Christina became one of the school’s most accomplished early stakeholders, working with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky to start the student bar association and the law review, for which she was co-editor-in-chief.

Beyond her leadership in the legal and business communities, Christina loves dedicating time to the arts and cooking delicious meals for family and friends. Christina believes that the OCBA should provide its members with positive community-building events to support balancing their practice with life’s other pursuits. Please visit www.christina4ocba.com.

Return