CLA eNews

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. Read more

Membership renewal season is here! We are here to make the renewal process easy for you and answer all your questions. Read more

First, we would like to start with a thank you. We are privileged and honored to serve you as your incoming President of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) and Chair of the Board of Representatives of CLA. We would like to share a bit about ourselves and our goals to help CLA remain true to its brand as the bar association for ALL California lawyers. Read more

Eating a plant-based diet can reduce your risk for breast cancer and help stop recurrence. Read more

Among its lesser legacies, the 1970s Watergate scandal left a naming convention by which every purported political scandal must go through an early stage where the suffix “-gate” is affixed to it, until cooler heads prevail and rechristen it. (E.g., “Irangate” of the mid-1980s begat the “Iran-Contra Affair,” which in turn edged out an early favorite, “Iranamok.”) Watergate, however, did have an influential and lasting effect on legal education. With many players in the Watergate cast having been lawyers sworn to uphold the law, the American Bar Association, as the accrediting agency for law schools, made Professional Responsibility a required course for law students. Consequently, any lawyer admitted to practice over the last several decades will have taken such a course. Read more

It can be easy to forget that my own experience as a white woman moving through the world is vastly different from the experience of an African American person. The Racial Equity Challenge helped me to remember this and to foster some new habits for self-improvement and for creating real change. Read more

CLA is in the process of developing our first organization-wide strategic plan. We have convened a Long Range and Strategic Planning Committee, engaged our membership and leadership via survey and Town Halls, and are now at the final stages of drafting the plan. Read more

Over 250 individuals from the legal community, their friends and family joined us this summer to virtually walk across California in the CLA Wellness Walking Challenge! Read more

In 2020, CLA’s Diversity Outreach Advisory Committee (DOC) launched a new video project, Diverse Voices of the Legal Profession, to share the stories of diverse legal practitioners with young people in the interest of inspiring and encouraging them to consider a future as a legal professional. We are looking to continue this video series with legal professionals who identify with any group which has been historically underrepresented among the legal community. Read more

“I want to swim. I must swim. I need to swim. I crave swimming.” I thought, and felt to my core, soon after Covid-19 shut down the pools I swim at and stopped me from this every-other-day ritual. And when I started swimming again a couple of months later it is swimming that has helped me, is helping me, will hopefully continue to help me cope with the pandemic and stay healthy – physically, emotionally, mentally, sociably. Or at least not devolve. Read more