CBA offers new opportunities for participation

by Frank C Kraemer

We at the CBABC have heard from our members about their desire for more opportunities to be involved in the activities at CBABC. We are taking a number of initiatives to that end.

First, this coming year, we will offer enrolment in five Sections at no cost to law students and articled students. We firmly believe that there is real value in offering opportunities to young lawyers to become involved in Sections, not only from an educational point of view, but also for the opportunities for networking and possibly mentorship.

Secondly, intermediate members, that is, those lawyers who are called less than five years, will receive one free Section when they have enrolled in and paid for one Section. If they enrol in three or more Sections, they will be entitled to a total of two free enrolments. All other CBA members will continue to receive one free Section enrolment when they enrol in four or more Sections.

We are also looking at other opportunities that will make Sections more accessible to members outside the Lower Mainland. I hope to be able to introduce some of those plans in the coming months.

There are two other exciting developments that I would like to report to you. On June 21, 2003 at the Provincial Council Meeting, Council approved the creation of an Elder Law Section for B.C. You may already know that there is a corresponding national Elder Law Section. Members enrolled in the CBABC Elder Law Section will automatically become a member of the national Section

The purpose of this Section is to improve the law affecting seniors and to educate the public, the bar, the Judiciary and members of the Association on important Elder Law issues. It is expected that at the regular monthly meetings, topics such as age discrimination, care facility regulation, elder abuse and exploitation, medical and housing issues and ethical and practical aspects of advising the older client will be discussed. With a progressively aging population, the creation of this Section appears timely indeed.

Finally, I can also report to you that at its June meeting, CBABC Provincial Council created the Women Lawyers Forum. This is a Provincial Conference created under our bylaws with a broad mandate to promote and support the enhancement of the stature and influence of women in the legal profession. The Constitution adopted for the Forum sets out a number of objects, including:

• To develop business and professional confidence for women in the practice of law, including private practice, public service and in-house counsel and in community leadership;
• To promote a forum for networking, education, mentoring and resource/educational support for women in the legal profession;
• To liaise and share resources with other legal jurisdictions, women in the judiciary, other professions and organizations; and
• To pursue the formation of a national CBA Women Lawyers Forum.

The full text of the Constitution of the Women Lawyers Forum can be found on our Web site (www.cba.org/BC) in Professional Development.

Members wishing to become members of the Forum may do so by completing that portion of the Section enrolment form which has been mailed to each of you.

We see these initiatives as part of our ongoing commitment to respond to the needs of our members. We expect there will be even more in the future.

This article was published in the August 2003 issue of BarTalk. © 2003 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.