I’m delighted to have been asked to contribute to the first issue of Modern Lawyer. I’m sure it will become a great way for us to share news and developments that can improve our practices and our lives, and hopefully to spark our interest in ideas or activities that might otherwise have escaped our attention.

First and foremost, I want to thank Belinda, Genna and the rest of our staff for the incredible job they do. Modern Lawyer is a prime example. It was Genna’s idea, and he put it together. Thank you Genna, who has, incidentally, been with us for 18 years. Only Jose, at 20 years, has more time in the trenches.

I would like to use this opportunity to let you know how we are doing. The good news is that the underlying metrics are not only strong but improving. Our membership has grown astronomically in the last couple of years; there has been a huge growth in the number and scope of our MCLE programs; we have just added 25 new sections; and we are in great shape financially.

In some ways, the pandemic was good for the BHBA, because it made us reevaluate our need for both our in-person MCLE programs and events, and for a physical office. In the end, we let them both go. It was a wrench, because we all enjoyed the camaraderie of getting together at the office for meetings and MCLE events, but financial stability must come first, and we are able to provide plenty of opportunities for our members to get together in person at restaurants and other venues. There are bar-wide mixers every quarter (next one is scheduled for 11/7 at The Stalking Horse), and each section gets a generous allowance to hold in-person executive meetings for its section members.

And we continue to hold our marquee events in person. The dinner to meet the Family Law judges was another sellout this year, as was our first Entertainment Law Summit at the Skirball which combined a lunchtime presentation of the Entertainment Lawyer of the Year award to Robert A. Darwell of Sheppard Mullin with Ken Ziffren’s annual presentation on the state of the entertainment industry.

One of the best decisions we made was to invest in Salesforce, a software platform that runs all of our events and programs, as well as doing much more. By automating the back office functions, it has freed up staff to do other tasks, and enables us to distribute our programming much more widely. Not only are we now accredited MCLE providers in 46 states, but we are providing our programing to other bar associations to distribute to their members which brings in strong revenues. Through August, we produced a staggering 270 CLE programs, up 75% from the same period last year, with over 36,000 attendees (an increase of 71% from last year) averaging over 130 attendees per program, which speaks to the quality of the product. This year, we have not managed to beat the highwater mark held by the June 2022 program discussing Depp v. Heard which has generated over a million views on YouTube, but then, I doubt we ever will!

Our membership now exceeds 5,700, and around half of our members are young lawyers in their first 3 years of practice or law students. We are enormously grateful to our sponsor, Lawyers’ Mutual, for helping us reverse the trend of ageing membership that most bar associations are experiencing and enabling us to reach out to those of us who are starting off in the profession. It is now our responsibility to make a meaningful difference to our younger members. The Barristers section leads the way, but those of us who have been around for a while can also make a huge difference as mentors. We need more mentors – it’s immensely rewarding and is not time consuming – please sign up here.

A plea to our younger members – to get the most out of your membership, you need to be active. Join the sections that cover your practice areas and volunteer to help put on programs; look for other opportunities such as legislative affairs, where we are always looking for researchers; get involved in pro bono work, either by attending our Roxbury Park free legal clinic which is recommencing in October for the first time since the pandemic, or working with an experienced lawyer on a pro bono project; and have some fun – we have put on a wide range of social activities this year, including surfing, a theater outing, a cigar night, hiking and fly fishing, but it only makes sense to continue to offer these activities if people participate.

Lastly, I want to thank our Audit Committee for sterling work this year in reviewing our internal procedures, including finances, cybersecurity and insurance, to make sure that we are as well protected as possible against whatever the future may throw at us. Their report confirms that we rest on a solid and responsible foundation.

It’s been a great privilege to have been president and I have enjoyed my year very much – my only regret is that I have not been able to attend many in-person events as I would have liked for personal reasons. Whenever I have, it has been great to meet and chat to people with whom I have only otherwise spoken via Zoom. The BHBA is my legal family. Please never forget that it is yours too.