Deliver beyond expectations

By Caroline Nevin

The start of a New Year is a time of optimism and hope; the clock strikes midnight, we close our eyes and open ourselves up to the possibility that this year will be better – that WE will be better – and that the slate of the past year is wiped clean.

If organizations set resolutions, here would be ours: No matter where you are, geographically or career-wise, the CBA delivers beyond the value you expect for the price of your membership. 

One of the invigorating things about working at the CBA is that our membership is so diverse. Some of you are in the throes of “establishing yourself,” others are mid-career and juggling demands on multiple fronts. Another, surprisingly large number of you are looking back on decades of service to clients and the justice system, and are considering when and how you will “retire” from the law. And all of you have work environments that vary almost as much as your postal codes.

For a new lawyers’ organization starting out in B.C., the task might be daunting. How on earth can you serve 6,700 people with so many different needs? We love it. We have the advantage of being more than a century in this role, but perhaps more importantly, we have spent the last few years becoming one of the best organizations in the country when it comes to asking – and listening to – members on the topic of what we can do to be better.

We employ 21 people in the B.C. Branch office. Every one of them believes that lawyers do good work in the world and that when we provide support and services that help members, we play a role in that important work. Our personal commitment to knowing and meeting our members’ needs is one of the main reasons that B.C. consistently leads Canada in terms of innovative ideas that get exported to other Branches.

For example, when your membership term is up, you will get a call from a fellow lawyer at some point in the next 60 days if you haven’t yet renewed. For most people, it’s a simple matter of a reminder. For others, it’s the opportunity to communicate with another lawyer about changes that have happened in their lives, or to communicate how the CBA could do better to serve their particular needs. Regardless of the outcome, we make sure that every member knows that we care enough to check in with him or her, and that we don’t take their membership for granted. That practice started in B.C. and is now followed in most jurisdictions in the country.

Another example of how we listen and respond is in the realm of Professional Development (PD). In B.C., we specialized very early on in quick, accessible PD hours on current topics, primarily by building on the strengths of our Sections and our committed volunteers who lead them. But we didn’t stop there – we worked with all of the other CBA Branches and the Ottawa office to ensure that members had access to all PD hours provided by the CBA anywhere in the country. Overnight, the PD offerings our members could attend, both online and in person, expanded exponentially. Every CBA member now has ongoing access to Canada’s best legal minds in specific areas of law, and a wide array of experts on topics such as practice management, client relations, technology and ethics. 

These are just two innovations that B.C. has led the way on; and we’re not stopping there. Whenever you have an idea for how we can serve you better, let us know. We resolve to deliver great membership value every day!

This article was published in the February 2012 issue of BarTalk. © 2012 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.