Dear OCBA Members:
As March turns to April, I wanted to provide you with an update on what the OCBA is doing during this health crisis. First, consistent with the Governor’s Order, we are continuing to suspend all in-person events at least through April 30. But, notwithstanding this, the OCBA is continuing to put on programs through Zoom or related technologies.
Our sections are starting to take advantage of this technology by holding monthly section MCLE programs remotely. The Labor & Employment Law Section is presenting their program “Will the Real Employer Please Stand Up” via a live webinar on Monday, April 13, and the Real Estate Law Section’s “2020 Annual Real Estate Update” with speaker Peter C. Wittlin will be broadcast online on Tuesday, April 28.
The OCBA COVID-19 Task Force has been extremely busy hosting free webinars once or twice a week. So far we put on webinars covering topics such as working remotely, COVID-19-related employment issues, attorney well-being, and ethics and civility. Our webinar at noon today will feature in-house counsel speaking about what they are looking for from their outside counsel during this pandemic. Then, this Friday, April 3, our webinar will cover the recent Congressional stimulus bills, and what law firms need to know about them. Many more good programs will follow, so look out for our announcements.
The OCBA also is launching a Community Board on our website, which will allow members to share ideas and help each other out with work and personal needs.
The OCBA also frequently communicates with the courts – both to pass along suggestions and questions from our members to the court, and to communicate court announcements to our members. Please refer frequently to our website for postings of recent court announcements.
We also continue to move forward on other initiatives, even if some have to be altered to accommodate the current situation. But rest assured that the business of the Bar will continue.
Finally, I want to thank the many members of our legal community who have worked so hard these past few weeks to keep us all informed and generally to keep the trains running. This includes our OCBA Board of Directors, our COVID-19 Task Force members, our Orange County Superior Court judges and court staff, and our OCBA staff, to name just a few. I am so proud of the Herculean efforts being made by all of these people. Nobody signed up for this, but this is the situation we find ourselves in, and we are all doing what we can to help our OCBA community and the people of Orange County.
Stay safe, and stay connected.
Scott B. Garner OCBA President