Women Lawyers of Alameda County’s

44th Judges’ Reception

October 23, 2025

Preservation Park

Congratulations to our honorees!

Lawyer of Distinction

Jessica Takano

Jessica Takano is a trial lawyer specializing in real estate and business disputes. She represents property owners, developers, contractors, commercial landlords, investors, and businesses and their owners. Her cases often involve construction issues, non-disclosures in sales of property, disputes between neighbors or co-owners of property, commercial lease disputes, and other business and contract disputes. Jessica is a trained mediator and brings to her practice a particular focus on achieving her clients’ objectives as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

Jessica and her husband, Joe, are proud graduates of Cal and Berkeley Law. They enjoy exploring the great outdoors, good food, music, and spending time with their two wonderful sons, Justin and James. Jessica sings with local women’s choir WomenSing and loves singing along to the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

Jurist of Distinction

Noël Wise

Judge Noël Wise served as a law clerk to Justice Harry Anstead and then entered the United States Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program in 1994 where she served as a trial attorney in Washington, D.C., and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Southern District of California. In 2000 she received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award from Janet Reno.
She served as in-house counsel and as a director of power generation at Pacific Gas & Electric and later started a women-owned law firm in the bay area. She has taught at numerous law schools including Berkeley and a fellowship at Stanford.
In 2014 Governor Jerry Brown appointed Judge Wise to the California Superior Court, County of Alameda, where she served until 2024. During that time Judge Wise had numerous assignments including as the Supervising Judge of the Court’s Appellate, Settlement, and Civil Complex Divisions. From 2021 to 2022, Judge Wise sat on assignment for Division Seven of the California Second District Court of Appeal. During the years Judge Wise served as a California judge, she served on the board of several non-profit organizations, including Girls Inc of Alameda County, and the Alameda Food Bank. During that time she wrote articles on a variety of legal issues that were published in legal periodicals as well as Time magazine and The Atlantic. She also sat on numerous state-wide committees, including serving as the chair of the Judicial Council’s Access, Ethics and Fairness Curriculum Committee, and taught judicial education courses, including at Judicial College, and New Judge Orientation.
In 2024, President Biden nominated Judge Wise for a seat on the federal district court for the Northern District of California. She was confirmed by the United States senate, and Judge Wise took the oath of office in December 2024.

Firm of Distinction

Pointer & Buelna, LLP aka Lawyers for the People

Pointer & Buelna, LLP also known as “Lawyers For The People” is a plaintiff side law firm that was established by Attorneys Adanté Pointer and Patrick Buelna in 2020. The firm is committed to representing survivors of police abuse, government overreach and person’s injured as result of reckless conduct. In its 5 years of existence, the law firm has secured some of the largest verdicts and settlements in civil rights cases.
Among LFTP’s most impactful work, in 2022 Pointer and Buelna secured a historic $21 million verdict for the family of 16-year-old Elena Mondragon who was fatally shot by Fremont police.
Indeed, The Daily Journal recognized LFTP’s founders as Top 100 Attorneys and bestowed the firm with its 2024 CLAY California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year Award. Adanté was also recently featured on the cover of Super Lawyers Magazine with an accompanying article detailing his lifelong fight to tip the scales of justice in favor of the people. Women play a prominent role in all aspects of the firm’s organizational structure and work product. LFTP is honored to be the Women Lawyers of Alameda County’s 2025 Firm of Distinction and is proud of its track record as a staunch advocate for the advancement of women in the legal profession.

Rhoda and Judge Stuart Hing Scholarship

Khue Mai Tran

Khue Tran (she/her) is a 2L at Berkeley Law dedicated to advancing equity for marginalized communities. Raised in East New Orleans, she witnessed firsthand the discriminatory policies that devastated her neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina. A Yale graduate in Political Science and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, Khue reported as a community journalist in Flint and organized with Zealous to challenge carceral injustice. At Berkeley Law, she represents clients in eviction defense through the Homelessness Advocacy Clinic at EBCLC and builds expertise in impact litigation, federal funding, and disability rights to uplift unhoused people and strengthen community reintegration.

Kazan Partners’ Foundation Scholarship

Trinity Balla

Trinity Balla is a 2L at UC Davis School of Law pursuing a career in Immigration Law, something she
has already begun through King Hall’s Immigration Clinic. She is the founder of Grace Period, an
Oakland-based non-profit aimed at ending period poverty in the Bay Area by distributing hygiene items
to the homeless population. She currently holds the title of Miss Black California 2025, through which
she is able to inspire young women to seek empowerment through education and leadership. As an
Oakland native and child of immigration, Trinity hopes to affect change in her community.