The Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation ("BWLF"), hosts its Thirty Fourth Annual Scholarship and Awards Luncheon at the Luxe Hotel in Bel Air, CA.

The Annual Luncheon is held to raise funds to award scholarships to deserving law students in their second or third year of law school to help defray the cost of their legal education. This year's event will also celebrate African American literary figures whose achievements have inspired people of color in the legal profession and the community at large.

The Luncheon Keynote Speaker and Honoree is Acclaimed Actor and Best Selling Author HILL HARPER. BWLF will also honor Publisher NATALIE COLE, Author TANANARIVE DUE and Attorney, Author PAMELA SAMUELS YOUNG, ESQ. Former Divorce Court Judge MABLEAN EPHRIAM will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies

Hill Harper is an accomplished film, television and stage actor. A Magna Cum Laude graduate from Brown University and a Cum Laude graduate of Harvard Law School, he also has a master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Hill stars in the hit CBS drama series, CSI: NY. Hill's deep-rooted passion regarding the plight of today's youth drove him to write the critically acclaimed and New York Times Best Sellers, Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny and Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny, a series of books intended to provide the frequently regarded "lost generation" with words of encouragement and guidance.

Natalie Cole is the CEO and Publisher of "Our Weekly", a newspaper dedicated to the African American communities of Los Angeles. Dedicated to delivering accurate, relevant and trustworthy news stories from an ethnic and community perspective, Our Weekly features coverage at the local, state and national levels that is important to African Americans and the communities in which they live. Ms. Cole is a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles and served as Director of Sales and later as Director of Advertising with the Los Angeles, Times, where she worked for over twenty years.

Tananarive Due is the American Book Award-winning author of nine books, ranging from supernatural thrillers to a mystery to a civil rights memoir. Her newest novel, Blood Colony (June 2008), is the long-awaited sequel to her 2001 thriller The Living Blood and 1997's My Soul to Keep, a reader favorite that Stephen King said "bears favorable comparison to Interview with the Vampire." Due has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Leeds, England, where she specialized in Nigerian literature as a Rotary Foundation Scholar. Due currently teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles.

Pamela Samuels Young is managing counsel for labor and employment at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. in Torrance. A native of Compton, Samuels Young, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in broadcasting from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She obtained her law degree from UC Berkeley's School of Law. After eight years as an associate and then special counsel at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, Samuels Young first took an in-house position at the Raytheon Company and then joined Toyota in 2001. Now, Samuels Young balances her legal career with fiction writing. The author of four legal thrillers, Samuels Young has tapped into her journalism and law backgrounds to weave tales of murder, mystery - and sexual harassment.

Individual tickets for the luncheon are $95 each. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For information on sponsorship opportunities or to purchase tickets for the event, please contact Shirley A. Henderson, Luncheon Committee Co-Chair at or