2008

It's been a busy year, mostly because of the landmark California Supreme Court's May decision legalizing same-sex marriages. Early in the year, Fred led a discussion at the annual Horizons Foundation conference on charitable donation issues facing partners of unequal wealth, and he was on a panel on recent issues facing same-sex couples at the UCLA Williams Institute's legal update conference.

Fred led two workshops on mediating same-sex dissolutions in the spring; the first was in Oakland at the annual conference of the ADRNC mediation organization, and the second was a first-ever panel on gay divorce mediation at the American Bar Association's Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference in Seattle.

In the wake of the marriage decision, Fred has given talks on partnerships and marriage to the Boston Bar Association/Massachusetts Lesbian/Gay Bar Association in June, in a web seminar for the California CPA Educational Foundation, at a planned giving seminar for Lambda Legal Defense in San Francisco, and for California's Continuing Education of the Bar, all in July.

Fred was interviewed for KALW's Out In the Bay radio show on July 17th, and you can listen to the interview at www.outinthebay.com.

2007

In August 2007, Fred was on a panel at the American Bar Association's national conference in San Francisco, speaking to the business law section on how the recent changes in domestic partnership/civil union legislation affect business attorneys.

In September 2007, Fred was the keynote speaker at this year's Pride Planners Conference, the national association of financial planners serving the LGBT community. In October, Fred is giving a presentation to the Association for Conflict Resolution's annual conference on the topic of Gay Divorce.

Fred is also one of the featured speakers on a panel on advising unmarried partners, presented by the Continuing Education for the Bar program of the California State Bar. For more information on these programs in northern and southern California, check out the program's website, www.ceb.com.

2005

On November 2, 2005, Fred was a lecturer for the educational conference of the California Courts of Appeal research attorneys, reviewing the likely appellate issues raised by the new domestic partnership law.

The national lesbian/gay lawyers association's annual conference, Lavender Law, was in San Diego, October 27-29, 2005, and Fred presented a panel at the conference on the difficult federal tax issues facing registered domestic partners.

On October 22, 2005 in Los Angeles, and again on November 12th in Sacramento, Fred was a panelist at CEB's comprehensive review of domestic partnership issues. For further information, check out their website, www.ceb.com.

On August 5, 2005, Fred was a featured panelist at the American Bar Association's Annual Meeting in Chicago, as part of the Family Law's educational programs.

On May 11th, Fred was a guest on KALW radio's weekly legal affairs show, "Your Legal Rights," talking about the rapidly changing laws affecting domestic partners in California, and the options of executing a registration agreement to opt-out of the marital provisions of state registration.

On April 28th and 29th, Fred presented a keynote talk and a workshop at the Palm Springs conference of Pride Planners, the lesbian/gay financial planner's organization. Fred spoke at their conference in 2003, and more information about this conference can be found at their website, www.prideplanners.org.

On April 14th, Fred participated in a lively discussion on same-sex marriage and domestic partnership issues, convened by The Recorder, San Francisco's legal daily newspaper. For information on this event, check out their website, www.therecorder.com/samesex.

On March 23rd in Los Angeles, and again on March 30th in San Francisco, Fred was a featured panelist at the Rutter Group's educational forum on the recent changes to California's domestic partnership law. For further information on these events or to order a copy of the audio or the video taped recording of the panel, check out the company's website www.RutterGroup.com.

On March 8th, Fred was a panelist at the Bar Association of San Francisco's continuing educational forum on the impact of domestic partnership laws on creditor claims and bankruptcy. A similar presentation was made to the Alameda County Bar Association on March 29th.

2004

In September 2004, Fred presented a summary of domestic partnership and gay marriage legal changes to the San Francisco Foundation's professional advisor seminar.

Also in September, Fred was a speaker Lavender Law, the national lesbian/gay lawyer's association's annual conference. The conference was held in Minneapolis in 2003, and information on the conference (and this year's conference in San Diego) can be found at www.lavenderlaw.org.

In July 2004, Fred was one of four panelists in an American Bar Association sponsored teleconference on current legal issues for same-sex couples. This educational conference was presented in connection with the July issue of the ABA Journal, which featured Fred's work in a lengthy article on gay legal issues.

Fred presented a series of talks on the new California Domestic Partnership Act (AB205) in 2004. In June, he was the speaker for two presentations at the Horizons Foundation in San Francisco, and a co-panelist for the Mechanics Bank/Alameda County Bar Association annual seminar for estate planning and family law attorneys. Fred also was a co-panelist at the Lesbian Health Research Center's Law & Policy day, talking about the legal difficulties that arise in lesbian dissolutions.

In May 2004, Fred presented a similar summary to the Alameda County Association of Certified Family Law Specialists, meeting in Oakland.

Also in May, Fred was a panelist at a community forum on power dynamics and abuses of power in the lesbian and gay community. This panel featured mediators and therapists as well as Fred (as an attorney), and was a follow-up of the professional educational panel that Fred helped organize through the National Center for Lesbian Rights last September.

In March of 2004, Fred presented a summary of the complex issues raised by the newly-enacted domestic partnership law (AB205) to a group of lesbian and gay attorneys in Sacramento, California.

Fred was a featured panelist at the community forum held by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission on February 12, 2004, focused on the property implications of AB205 and the newly-enacted property tax re-assessment rules for domestic partners.

Fred also has appeared twice in 2004 on the CNNfn show "Your Money," talking about property and asset issues facing unmarried couples.

2003

Fred also helped to organize a path-breaking set of panel discussions and presentations on issues of power dynamics and abuse regarding money and power within same-sex relationships. A continuing education program for therapists, mediators and attorneys was held on September 13, 2003, at the LBGT Center in San Francisco, and Fred was the attorney panelist.

In 2003, Fred was a panelist at a workshop on assets and estate planning organized by the Horizon Foundation, the Bay Area's lesbian/gay community foundation, to be held on September 11th in San Francisco. For information about this panel, contact the Horizons Foundation in San Francisco, or check out their website, horizonsfoundation.org.

On June 14th, 2003, Fred was a keynote speaker at a conference for gay financial planners, held in Provincetown, Massachusetts. More information on the conference (and this year's Palm Springs conference) can be found at the website of the convening organization, www.prideplanners.org.

Throughout the year 2003, Fred participated with Alma Soongi Beck in a series of educational panels for same-sex couples on legal issues. The May presentations were in San Francisco (May 3) and in Oakland (May 30). Fred also was a speaker at the LGBT Family Expo, held at the San Francisco LGBT Center on Saturday, June 7, 2003.

2002

California's Continuing Education for the Bar (www.ceb.org) convened two well-attended half-day educational sessions on recent domestic partnership changes in 2002, and Fred was one of the four presenters at that seminar.

Fred was a speaker at the San Francisco meetings in September 2002 of the International Bar Association, speaking on the property rights of unmarried partners in the United States. A copy of his paper is available on this website.

The national organization of LBGT attorneys held its annual conference in 2002 in New York, and Fred joined Evan Wolfson of the Freedom to Marry organization, in a presentation on "Are We Ready for Same-Sex Marriage?"

2001

Fred has appeared twice on MPR's Sound Money show. You can hear Fred's discussion of the rights and obligations of unmarried couples from October 2001 or hear him talk about the need to write a will, from the March 2002 show.

On Valentine's Day 2001, Fred appeared on the popular Bay Area radio show, "Your Legal Rights," at 7:00 p.m. on KALW, talking about the legal rights of unmarried couples, both gay and straight.

On January 29th, 2001, Frederick Hertz appeared as a guest on NBC's Today Show, talking with Matt Lauer about the legal issues facing unmarried couples -- both gay and straight. This appearance occurred in connection with the publication of the 10th edition of Nolo Press' Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples. Fred is a co-author of the 9th and 10th editions of this pathbreaking guide; and the most recent edition includes a CD-ROM with twenty form agreements. The book can be ordered directly from Nolo.com.

The Continuing Education of the Bar broke new ground in 2001 and sponsored a six-hour advanced course on legal issues facing unmarried couples. Fred was one of five California experts chosen to speak on the panel. The program was presented twice in San Francisco, and also in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento.

2000

American Demographics Magazine finally discovered a hidden marketing opportunity, and quoted Fred at length in an article in its December 2000 issue on the growing number of couples -- both straight and gay -- who choose to live together in the absence of a legal marriage.

Fred's legal work was prominently featured in the July 2000 issue of California Lawyer, the "official" magazine sent to every lawyer in the state, in an article entitled "Without Benefit of Clergy: How Gay Couples Create Their Own Legal Rights."

Fred has been quoted in numerous articles published in Hero Magazine. One piece deals with the religious aspects of the fight for same-sex marriage, and another article deals with a subject rarely discussed in our community: competition between same-sex partners in long-term relationships. Fred also wrote a concise guide to legal issues facing couples considering a commitment ceremony for the magazine's Wedding Guide issue in June 2000. For more information about Hero Magazine, check out its website.

Fred also was prominently featured in a "first ever" article on gay dissolutions in the Advocate magazine. Click here to read the article in its entirety.