It Figures

January 2025

By Chris Nguyen
Chief Executive Officer

When someone tells me that, “The numbers are staggering,” they get my attention. Even though I’ve spent over 25 years working with large numbers, what CLA produced in 2024 is definitely staggering. Before diving head-first into 2025, I want to pause and reflect on the great work we did last year. The 2024 figures are impressive:

• InReach webinar attendees: 5,663
• On-Demand webinars purchased: 8,918
• On-Demand programs purchased:  1,557

Live person attendees:

• In-Person: 1,847
• Hybrid: 667
• Virtual: 323
• Networking Events: 521

New members added: 2,657

• New Lawyers (years 1-3):  1,402
• Student members: 175

California Legal Pathways Collaborative (CLPC):

• Annual Legislative Day Student Attendance: 170
• LA Supreme Court Oral Arguments Student Day: 66
• Scholarship Recipients: 4

CLPC is part of California Lawyers Foundation (CLF), the charitable arm of CLA. CLPC focuses on law academies for high school students, providing them a pathway to college, law schools, and professions in the legal field.

It was a busy year, to say the least. Whether you attended a CLA in-person event, volunteered your time to our organization or in your local community, mentored a law student or new attorney, or participated in webinars and earned CLE, the results add up.

CLA’s members contribute in too many ways to count. You are the organization, and our membership has its own set of statistics:

• Total unique members: 45,000                                    
• Members from outside California: 2,616

More than 2,600 new members joined us in 2024. Some jumped in and became involved in Section work immediately. Others may have signed up on the dotted line, because frankly, their supervisors told them it was important. Everyone has their own story of how they landed here.

As we enter the new year, our attention shifts to membership. Our 2025 Membership Campaign is underway. We are focused on reflecting the diversity, range of specialties, and work which makes the practice of law in California like nowhere else in the country. We want our membership to reflect California. We want firms and members to have a voice in our profession.

With these goals in mind, we are working to increase our membership for solo and small firm practitioners, the state and public sectors, boutique, mid and large firms, small local Bars, and Affinity Bars. The larger our organization, the better our opportunity to: Connect. Lead. Achieve. The country, and in many cases, the world, looks to California’s system of justice, and CLA members are viewed with prestige, expertise, and trust. The fifth largest economy in the world deserves a world class Bar Association.

One of CLA’s 2025 goals for engagement is our Section Recruitment Campaign. I think a little “healthy competition” is a good thing. I encourage you to get involved in your 2025 Membership Campaign, specifically the Section Recruitment Competition, beginning in February. I’ll be checking in to look at each Section’s stats. You should too. The winning Sections will be recognized at our Annual Meeting, be immortalized in our CLA awards section, and have bragging rights for the whole year!