California Lawyers Association
Giving Thanks for the CLA Community
By President Jeremy M. Evans and
Chair of the Board of Representatives Ryan M.F. Baron
As we approach Thanksgiving, it is a good time to acknowledge and thank the folks at CLA – staff members and volunteers – who are going the extra mile to grow and improve our association.
We will start with Ellen Miller and Tricia Horan, who are serving as interim co-executive directors while we conduct a nationwide search for a new executive director. We appreciate Ellen, Tricia and all the staff working hard behind the scenes to improve your member experience.
Our Section volunteers have also been busy preparing for some exciting marquis events coming up this month:
- 2021 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar and California Tax Policy Conference, Nov. 3-5
- 45th Annual IP Institute: Shifting Tides – Intellectual Property in a Changing World, Nov. 9-10
- 31st Annual Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute, Nov. 17-18
Also coming this month, our Office of Bar Relations is hosting our annual training for bar leaders. If you or someone you know is leading your local bar association, attend our free virtual half-day training on Nov. 16.
These popular annual gatherings come on the heels of the CLA Annual Meeting and the Environmental Section’s 30th annual conference at Yosemite last month. As a follow-up to this event, Section members are hosting a post-conference Zoom social for law students and young lawyers on Nov. 19.
As we discussed last month in our inaugural message as president and chair, these kinds of high-quality events are a key part of our strategy to grow the organization. Our recent event featuring media and entertainment executives from Hollywood’s biggest companies drew 130 people over Zoom and raised money for our nonprofit, the California Lawyers Foundation.
In March, we will see the return of a Week in Legal London, a group excursion to historically significant legal venues such as the Supreme Court, the Royal Courts of Justice, and the Old Bailey. It is an awesome chance to meet members of the British legal community.
As we resume in-person events, we are looking to expand our repertoire into experiential events. For example, we might combine an outing to a baseball game or museum with related speakers from those industries. Let us know what kinds of new events you would like to see.
Finally, we invite you to check out our new quarterly publication, Legal Perspectives, our official CLA-wide publication, which we launched earlier this year to showcase the best-written content our Sections are producing.
We appreciate all the hard work that goes into creating excellent content and events. Each one presents an opportunity to enrich our ties with the California Judges Association and other bar associations across California. Let us continue to collaborate and innovate so we can bring in new people and new ideas to expand our network and extend our reach.