Momentum matters and it is a pleasure to serve NCWBA at a time when our past has set us up so well for the present. Your NCWBA board is absolutely phenomenal this year. Your new board was up and running the day after the Summit, and committee meetings were already being set the Monday people arrived back in their offices. We have two free programs for you right out of the gate, and we encourage you to offer them to your boards and your general membership.

At the Summit we were challenged not to wait until we got home to begin implementation of good ideas, so I accepted the challenge and said that I would order the book recommended by the panel, Race for Relevance, by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers. I made good on that promise, and I highly encourage using this book with your boards.

The more I serve the more I learn the truthfulness of the phrase, "if you want something done, ask a busy person." I know this is you and you are incredibly busy. Let us help you. In my president's messages this year I want to offer you brief nuggets of information for both you and your organizations so you can immediately "go and do, not sit and stew." I will also extend a challenge to lengthen our stride and capture the energy needed to truly spark a "change" reaction throughout our nation for women.  

PROGRAM OFFERINGS (registration links below)

September 26, 2018 Teleconference - Engaging Members Who Have Already Been There and Done That!   

October 3, 2018 Webinar - GOOD Guys Panel: Sparking a Change Reaction

TIP FOR YOUR ORGANIZATIONS

Order and work through the book Race for Relevance with your board. As leaders it is your position not only to preserve the legacy of your organization but also to propel it forward.

TIP FOR YOU

See if incorporating the "4 Ds" in your life might help buy you back some precious minutes. From Dave Allen's book, Getting Things Done, as a task comes across your screen or desk make an instantaneous decision to: 1) Do it; 2) Delegate it; 3) Defer it; or 4) Delete it. Encourage yourself to follow the general rule that if it can be done in less than 5 minutes, then do it. Don't let it take more time by deferring it and using up mind space on worrying about when it will get done.  

CHALLENGE

Please return and report with pictures and a paragraph on all the good that is being done in your organizations. There is power in watching our "sisters in law" throughout the country thrive - please do not deprive us of the opportunity to celebrate with you in your successes.  

Did you know that people who use humor in the workplace are consistently evaluated as being more confident and competent?  Here's a brief podcast featuring Roberta (Bobbi) Liebenberg explaining how humor and fun belong in your law firm and even the courtroom. 

Have you heard from former members that your women's bar group just doesn't offer them what they need at this stage of their careers? This view can be especially disheartening when it is expressed by former board members. Rhode Island Women's Bar Association decided to do something about this by creating an Emeritus Committee. Chaired by the immediate past president, the committee works to build relationships with "older" members and brainstorms with them to determine their interests. The committee is relatively new, but so far two successful networking events have taken place: a wine tasting and a night at the theater. These were ideas which came from the target membership segment. Peer-to-peer publicity ensured that potential attendees would know that they would be made welcome. Groundwork for the committee was made possible through personal outreach and surveys. 

On Wednesday, September 26 at 4:00 pm ET, we'll hear from bar guru Elizabeth Derrico  about practical steps we can take to "Engage Members Who Have Already Been There and Done That." 

Register now for this half-hour free teleconference exclusively for our members. Not sure your group is a member? Look for a link here. Questions? Email us.

Want to learn more about the GOOD  Guys program? Join us on Wednesday, October 3 at 1:00 pm ET for a free webinar. Click here for more details and information on how to register.

If you would like to follow up on any of these takeaways, or put any of these programs/lessons to work at your firm/local women's bar organization, please let me know - I would be happy to help you.

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Join us in Topeka on October 12 from 1:30 to 3:30 for a GOOD Guys panel featuring a keynote from Matt Pivarnik of the Greater Topeka Partnership. Moderating the panel will be Natalie Haag of Capitol Federal. Panel members include Eugene Williams, KTWU; Steve Halley, Family Peace Initiative; Pat Doran, Federal Home Loan Bank; Carl Ricketts, Capitol Federal; and Larry Zimmerman of Zimmerman  Zimmerman, PA. For more information and to register, contact us.

This year's Ms. JD annual conference will be held at the Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa on October 18-19. The retreat is designed for women law firm associates in the earlier stages of their careers to engage with women general counsel. For more information, click here.

The American Bar Endowment (ABE) is making available one-time grants which assist in the development or enhancement of innovative programs and projects that address issues of immediate and critical interest to the public and members of the legal profession. Click here for a list of prior awardees. Grantees must be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and classified as a public charity under section 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Application deadline is October 31, and announcement of the recipients will be made on February 28. For more information and an application form, click here.

The Portuguese Association of Women in Legal Careers is hosting a Women's Human Rights Summit in conjunction with the XXIII Congress of the International Federation of Women of Legal Careers. The Summit will be held at the Lisbon University Law School. Click here for more information. 

In 1869, Arabella Babb Mansfield was admitted to the Iowa Bar after passing the bar exam with high marks and successfully challenging Iowa's restriction that only males over the age of 21 were eligible for bar admission, making her the first woman to be admitted to a state bar. This means that in 2019, we will celebrate 150 years of women lawyers in the United States! To commemorate this landmark, the NCWBA is joining with Faircount Media Group to create a publication that our member organizations will be able to share with their own membership in hard copy or by electronic link. We hope to have articles recounting the history and significant milestones of your women's bar group, information about important women lawyer "firsts" from your region, and other articles which capture and preserve the significant history of women lawyers in the United States and Canada. The publication will be introduced at our 2019 Women's Bar Leadership Summit in San Francisco, with a submission deadline in Spring 2019. Articles may be up to a maximum of about 3000 words in length. High-quality photos are also welcome. Submissions are subject to editing and space limitations. Many groups have history committees or have already written their histories, so they have a good starting point for creating articles that explain their histories to a national audience. If you don't already have these resources, now would be a great time to start gathering materials! Let us know what questions you have. We look forward to learning more about the history of women lawyers, both individually and collectively. For research materials, see our history pages.

It isn't too early to begin planning for Law Day 2019. This year's theme is "Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society." For more information about Law Day and resources from the ABA to help with your planning, click here.