by Michael G. Yoder

It seems like only yesterday that I sat down to write my first President’s Page. Yet here I am working on my final column, and feeling that I just got started. As many told me it would be, the year was a blur. And although I am very much looking forward to a return to (some kind of) normalcy, I must admit to a certain melancholy as my year as OCBA President comes to an end. It has been a lot of fun, and I hope I have done some good along the way.

But before you get frightened off and start flipping through the magazine looking for Justice Bedsworth’s column, please know that I am NOT going to give you a list of any professed accomplishments over the past year. I also am NOT going to fill up this page by thanking the many people who helped me make it through the year, although there are many who deserve a good deal of thanks.

I prefer to look forward, not back. And on this count, the OCBA is in very good hands with my soon-to-be-anointed successor, Lei Lei Wang Ekvall, President Elect John Hueston, Treasurer Dimetria Jackson, and recently-elected Secretary Wayne Gross, not to mention the talented OCBA staff headed by our dedicated Executive Director, Trudy Levindofske. But my year as President has confirmed what I thought was the case: the OCBA is what it is not because of its President, or its officers, but because of its members, and their willingness to volunteer. I would run out of space before I could list all of the many members who, over the past year, gave their time and talents to serve the OCBA and the Orange County legal community. The OCBA has an incredibly deep bench, and this is what makes the OCBA the envy of other bar associations.

But we can do better. And we will. The work of our Leadership Task Force, chaired by Past President Dean Zipser, will lead (pun intended) to some exciting changes in the leadership opportunities and leadership training offered by the OCBA. Our Young Lawyers Division, now at 750 members and counting, will continue to grow, as will participation in our Mentoring Program, which nearly doubled this past year, providing clear paths for our younger members to get involved and eventually assume leadership roles in our organization.

We also can do better to support our local, law-related charities. I probably sound like a broken record on this subject, but the OCBA Charitable Fund is the backstop for our local non-profits, including the Public Law Center, the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County, and VIP-Mentors. They still need our help. So, for my concluding remarks, let me be blunt. Members, you need to step up.

Each year, with your dues statement from the OCBA, you are asked to make a modest $25 dollar contribution to the Charitable Fund. Of our over 7,000 members, only about 10% do. Surely, we can do better. Yes, I know, many of your firms sponsor Charitable Fund events and give directly to PLC, CRF or VIP-Mentors. But each of us can surely write an individual check for $25 or $50 or even $100. If just half of our 7,000-plus members made a year-end donation of $50 each, we would raise an extra $175,000. If we made it $100 each, we would have an additional $350,000.

The OCBA Charitable Fund can make a tremendous difference in the level of services our local non-profits can deliver to our community. Each of our sponsored charities is struggling to make ends meet. For example, while the recession has caused client demand for PLC’s free legal services to go through the roof, particularly in areas like bankruptcy, foreclosure, homeless assistance and domestic violence, at the same time, some of the financial resources on which PLC relies for its operations are lagging behind. While PLC’s June Volunteers for Justice Dinner was a success, revenues were down 10% from the previous year. Because it has less money to give, the OCBA and the OCBA Charitable Fund contributions to PLC fell off considerably in 2009 and are expected to do the same in 2010. Private foundations and government agencies are both tightening up their funding of legal services as well. Most significantly, estimates are that PLC will lose well over $100,000 in State Bar funding in the IOLTA grant year that begins in July 2010.

Yes, we can make a difference. And the OCBA is going to make it easy for you. When you receive the OCBA’s acknowledgement letter confirming your renewal for 2010, you will also receive an envelope asking you to make an individual donation to the OCBA Charitable Fund. For those of you who sent in a $25 donation with your 2010 dues, think about sending in another check. For those who did not, think about stepping up. It will make a difference.

As I look back on my year as OCBA President, I wish that I could have done more. Each of you, however, is in a position to do more, and to do it now. Wouldn’t it be something if the Orange Country Register ran an article in January describing how Orange County lawyers answered the call by raising a couple hundred thousand dollars for our local non-profits? As I said in my initial President’s Page, lawyers need to be leaders. This is a great opportunity for all of us to be leaders. Let’s do it.