Date/Time
Date(s) -

12/01/2022

Location
Catalina Jazz Club

$8 Parking Garage & Street Parking

Come early during the cocktail hour and enjoy a limited complimentary peach Bellini, courtesy of Angry Mob Music!

Virgil Roberts, Esq. | Managing Partner, Bobbitt & Roberts

Virgil Roberts attended UCLA majoring in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations. Prior to graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, Roberts passed the Foreign Service Office’s examinations and received an appointment to the U.S. Foreign Service.

Roberts’ interest in foreign affairs led to work as an intern for the Voice of America during the summer of 1967. He has described his experience that summer as a turning point in his life. More than 100 race riots exploded across the nation, and the “Black Consciousness” movement took root across the land. Profoundly affected by the historic shifts in the American body politic, Roberts reconsidered his decision to become a career Foreign Service officer. He returned to UCLA and, along with a few fellow students, helped to create UCLA’s African American Studies Center.

He attended Harvard Law School and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1972. Roberts specialized in Civil Litigation and Entertainment Law. He also became involved in civil rights and civil liberties matters. Notable among them was his representation of the NAACP in the Los Angeles school desegregation case (Crawford vs. Los Angeles Board of Education).

Roberts joined Solar Records as Executive Vice President and General Counsel in 1981, became President of Dick Griffey Productions (DGP) in 1982, and President of Solar Records in 1990. One of the most successful African American-owned record companies in the ’80s, Solar had an impressive roster of gold and platinum-selling artists including Babyface, The Whispers, The Calloways, Shalamar, Midnight Star, The Deele, Lakeside, Dynasty, Klymaxx, Absolute, Jody Watley, Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel, Vanity, and Richie Havens.

In 1996, Roberts left Solar/DGP to form the law firm of Bobbitt & Roberts. He is Managing Partner of the firm, which specializes in representing entertainment industry clients, concentrating on television, film, music, theater licensing, and merchandising. Mr. Roberts has represented clients such as Usher, Kanye West, Chaka Khan, Deathrow Records, Blackground Records, Slip-N-Slide Records, the Ruff Ryders, the J. Walter Thompson Agency, and MTV.

Throughout his professional career, Roberts has been actively involved with the community and the legal profession. Currently, he serves on the Board of Trustees of Families In Schools, Southern California Public Radio, the FEDCO Foundation, Community Build, and the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools. He is also Vice Chairman of Usher’s New Look Foundation, and Co-founder and Chairman of the African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI).

Roberts has served as a Trustee of both Occidental College and Claremont Graduate University and as Chairman of the Board of the California Community Foundation, and Board Chair of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP), a public school reform organization, which under Roberts’ leadership, raised and spent more than $120,000,000 to reform public education in the Los Angeles basin. He recently retired from the Board of the James Irvine Foundation after twelve years and as the Chairman of the Board of Broadway Federal Bank after years of service and leading Broadway as it merged with City First Bank of Washington, D.C. to create the first African American-managed bank with more than a billion dollars in assets.

He has been honored for his service to the community by the Los Angeles Urban League, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the University of Southern California (USC) School of Education, the UCLA Black Alumni Association, Chaka Khan Foundation, The Association of Fundraising Professionals, the California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, and the 100 Black Men.

Roberts is married to writer/editor Brenda (Banks) Roberts, author of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, a children’s book that won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for its illustrations. Virgil and Brenda are the proud parents of two daughters, Gisele Simone and Hayley Tasha.

This event is sponsored by

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