July 30, 2019

President’s Address:  July, 2019

President’s Address:  July, 2019

I dictate this month’s President’s Address while waiting for a plane at the San Diego airport.

The American Association for Justices’ annual convention just ended.  My dear friend, Bruce Stern, was just sworn in as AAJ’s newest president.

I have been attending ATLA (now AAJ) conventions for over 30 years. It would be an understatement to indicate that I have formed strong friendships with AAJ lawyers from around the country. In fact, I can confidently say that for me, these conventions are more about friendships than about MCLE.

ABPLA is about the same thing.  Strong friendships with talented lawyers from around the country.  The more time that passes, the more I look forward to ABPLA’s next conference. A time to catch up with friends and true professionals. We are in the closing weeks of finalizing our location for next year’s seminar. It looks to be an all-time great.  Standby for further information.  And, the only hint I’ll give you, is get ready for the sun!

As a past president of the Belli Society, I attended the Belli Seminar, the black-tie Belli dinner, and of course, the Belli board meeting. As with ABPLA, discussions at the board meeting dealt with the organization’s desire to remain relevant, serve its members, and the age-old debate about whether to relax trial standards in order to attract a younger membership. It would appear that many organizations are grappling with the same issues.

Please utilize our Listserv ([email protected]) and chime in with your thoughts as to whether, as a general proposition, we should lower our standards, (trial requirements, or otherwise), in order to attract younger members.  I am very interested in your thoughts!!  

It should come as no surprise that our Standard’s Committee has been closely analyzing this issue. In fact, the ABPLA board discussed the issue for a considerable time at our last board meeting. We need your input and help. Please use the listserv and let us know your thoughts.

As I close, I do know that today is day one of the California Bar Examination.  My son is hard at work answering essay questions or whatever else comes up on today’s examination.  I think I’ll have another glass of wine while waiting for the flight. I guess age does bring with it certain benefits.