Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) President Kelly Dermody appointed Keker & Van Nest Partner Quyen Ta to co-chair BASF's Equality Committee. As one of the committee's leaders, Ms. Ta will organize diversity and inclusion initiatives such as BASF's 2012 Diversity Summit. Chosen for her long-standing commitment to diversity, Ms. Ta has held numerous leadership positions in minority bar organizations and speaks frequently on diversity in the legal profession. In addition to her role as Equality Committee co-chair, Ms. Ta also serves as a BASF board member and Minority Bar Coalition representative, as an Asian Law Caucus board member and fundraising committee chair, and as a Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California board member and past-president. Ms. Ta focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property, securities, and legal malpractice disputes.
BASF is a national leader in improving equal opportunity in the legal profession. A pivotal 1987 study, commissioned by the University of California, discovered "profound disadvantages within the city's legal workplaces." Acting upon this report, the BASF Board of Directors adopted goals and timetables for minority hiring and advancement, which formed the cornerstone of the organization's diversity efforts over the past 20 years, and have lead to the establishment of numerous diversity programs.