by Colin A. Hendricks
What Is the YLD?
The Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the Orange County Bar Association provides a variety of professional, educational, and social opportunities tailored to young lawyers to assist them in not only advancing their legal careers, but also in striking that ever elusive work-life balance. YLD provides a convenient forum to connect with mentors, friends, and client referrals, as well as access to a variety of legal resources at reduced or no cost. United by inexperience, the YLD’s 800-person membership transcends practice area, age, ethnicity, gender, and religion, and includes ambitious legal minds and future community leaders. The YLD is led by the YLD Chair, Chair-Elect, and five appointed Committee Chairs. The Chair represents the YLD as a voting member of the OCBA Board of Directors.
Personally, I have greatly benefited from the YLD. When I first moved to Orange County after law school, I had no contacts or friends outside of work. Today, I belong to numerous professional and social groups, and have been helped by mentors outside my own firm. It has been rewarding to establish relationships with so many intelligent and caring professionals who volunteer hours upon hours of their time away from their work and family to support their community. I am proud to call Orange County my home, largely because of the relationships rooted in my time as a member of the YLD.
What’s New for 2017
During a time some are calling the “age of information overload,” my first goal this year is to further streamline the YLD’s resources and communications. In pursuit of this goal, I decided to lower the number of official events that each YLD committee is required to organize, which, in turn, will help focus the YLD Board’s resources on improving and expanding our core events.
I also sought the reduction of the number of official events in pursuit of my second goal for the year: to promote, in conjunction with the newly formed YLD Diversity & Inclusion Committee, a more diverse YLD membership and event calendar. I believe a more flexible calendar will enable committees to experiment informally with new ideas that might otherwise not be considered due to what is typically a tight calendar coupled with a general hesitation to avoid events with unpredictable attendance. Initial results of this strategy are promising. For example, the Sports & Fitness Committee, with Committee Member Evan Clark taking the lead, had overwhelming success in informally coordinating a brand new event in April—a free cycling class for thirty YLD members at Soul Cycle in Newport Beach that quickly sold out and received positive feedback. I am particularly hopeful that the new calendar flexibility will allow the YLD to co-sponsor events with the OCBA affiliate bar associations.
Further goals for this year include: (1) providing additional events and resources to assist members in improving their emotional and physical health, and (2) formulating the most effective use of the YLD’s list server to ensure that our members stay well informed by way of the fewest number of emails. As the YLD Board continues to look for ways to improve how we serve the YLD, we welcome suggestions and feedback from members.
Meet the 2017 YLD Board
Diversity & Inclusion
Eemaan Jalili (Admitted 2013) chairs the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which seeks to coordinate with the YLD Committees, OCBA affiliate bar associations, and other community organizations to help promote full participation in the YLD regardless of gender, religion, national origin, disability, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As the committee is only in its second year, Eemaan has tirelessly spearheaded the formulation of the committee’s purpose and functions. To that end, he has met with nearly all of the OCBA affiliate bar associations to establish formal lines of communication and co-sponsor events.
Eemaan specializes in tax law and is in-house counsel for Moss Adams LLP, a west coast accounting firm. He is a member of numerous OCBA affiliated bars, the Minnesota Bar, and even speaks four languages.
Sports & Fitness
Timothy Schneider (Admitted 2014) and Kristin Garcia (Admitted 2014) co-chair the Sports & Fitness Committee, which plans events and activities to improve the mental and physical health of YLD members through exercise and teamwork. Most notably, Tim Schneider manages the YLD’s renowned Irvine city softball team, The Bad News Bearristers, while Kristin Garcia manages monthly indoor soccer nights at TOCA soccer training center in Costa Mesa. The committee also plans annual events such as the Angels Game Night, as well as informal events such as weekend hikes in Crystal Cove State Park.
Tim practices intellectual property law at Myers Berstein LLP, and Kristin practices general civil litigation and environmental law at Jackson Tidus, A Law Corporation. After serving as Chair of the Sports & Fitness Committee myself in 2014 and 2015, and taking the initial step to expand the committee’s role to include an emphasis on improving the mental and physical health of our members, I am delighted to see the strong leadership that Tim and Kristin have brought to the committee to continue its robust agenda.
Community Outreach
Jennifer Bergh (Admitted 2015) chairs the Community Outreach Committee, which coordinates opportunities for the YLD to help serve the Orange County community. This past April, the Community Outreach Committee organized volunteers for the Black and White Ball for the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) and plans to similarly assist CASA with its Back-to-School Picnic in August. Additional events this year may include volunteering with Orangewood Foundation or Habitat for Humanity.
Jennifer practices real estate law at the Law Offices of Michelle Ghidotti. She is a member of Lex Romana and teaches Constitutional Law and Civil Litigation at Bethesda University.
Social
Alexander Avery (Admitted 2015) chairs the Social Committee, which plans social events to facilitate peer-to-peer networking and generate camaraderie among YLD members. The Social Committee puts on some of YLD’s most popular events, including the Tiki Cruise in Newport Beach and Day at the Races at the Del Mar Racetrack. The Social Committee’s 2017 calendar started off strong in March by holding a sold-out Spring Mixer at Antonello Ristorante.
Alex practices personal injury, workers compensation, and product liability law at Bentley & More LLP.
Education
Michelle Reynolds (Admitted 2012) chairs the Education Committee, which holds Continuing Legal Education events that young lawyers will find particularly interesting and affordable. As a solo practitioner, Michelle brings a unique perspective to her committee that will expand the potential education topics covered this year. Events this year may include a mock deposition and a discussion of best practices for in-house counsel.
Michelle is the founder of her own law practice, THE Legal Advocate, which focuses on representing both claimants and employers with state administrative law claims before the Employment Development Department, Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Chair-Elect
Kelly Galligan (Admitted 2015) serves as Chair-Elect, which is elected by the YLD membership to assist the Chair in a vice-presidential capacity for one year and to elevate to serve as Chair for the following year. Kelly practices corporate law at Rutan & Tucker, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. She serves in numerous other community organizations, including the OC Women Lawyers Association and the OC Bar Foundation. I am excited to see the YLD thrive and improve even more under her leadership next year.
If you are interested in becoming a future leader of the YLD, please contact Kelly or myself for more information on how to apply for committee chair positions and/or to run for Chair-Elect.
Colin A. Hendricks (Admitted 2012) is the Chair of the OCBA Young Lawyers Division. He is an associate in the Public Law Litigation Department at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth. He can be reached at chendricks@sycr.com, and he hopes to see you at the next OCBA YLD event.