The Marin County Bar Association is thriving. Our Association’s membership is full of a diverse group of amazing lawyers who care about their clients and their communities. We are providing our membership with fun and interesting social and educational events that are also wonderful networking opportunities. We regularly communicate with our bench to continue our pursuit of innovative ways to ease court congestion and increase efficient access to justice. We provide rewarding pro bono opportunities to help our community. We bring you the Marin Lawyer every month. The list goes on. One of the ingredients for this success is leadership. In order to remain a vibrant group of innovative lawyers we need to cultivate those leaders—a pipeline of leadership. This pipeline starts at the section and committee level, moves to board membership and ultimately ascends to the executive committee of our Association.

Our Association wants and needs to build a leadership pipeline with diverse viewpoints and new ideas to help the Association and our members thrive. We are one of the smaller bar associations and so your participation matters tremendously not only to MCBA but to the community. We have many avenues for involvement and leadership development.

The American Bar Association recognizes the important role a lawyer must play both in the legal community and society at large:

As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest.

Please take this opportunity to join our leadership pipeline. It will add to your enjoyment of the practice of law, contribute to your community and you will become a better leader. We have many different ways for you to become more involved and contribute to the continued success of our Association and to your own success as well. Please contact me directly if you would like to help our Association raise the bar. cdresow@rflawllp.com; 415.453.9433.