President’s Message: Take a Walk, Take a Friend

More years ago than it seems, I was a young associate at my current law firm. One morning, a prominent and well-connected senior partner walked through my office door and sat down. His name was Rob Clark. Rob told me that there was a great national organization called the Federal Bar Association, that the FBA had an active chapter in Utah, and that the Utah Chapter board was meeting that day. He invited me to join him. That moment changed my life and my career.

That day, I met some of Salt Lake’s most impressive lawyers, as well as a federal judge and a court clerk. Only a few years out of law school, judges generally, and federal judges in particular, were slightly terrifying to me. Fortunately, the judge on our board, Hon. Dale Kimball, was a member of my law firm before taking the bench and has been a long-time family friend.

As the board discussed past and upcoming events, it was easy to see that becoming part of the FBA would give me an opportunity to learn how to become a better lawyer and to hear from and get to know Utah’s federal judges in a way no other organization offered.

A few days later, I was invited to join the board as the newsletter editor, a position I happily held for several years. As newsletter editor, I met with a number of Utah’s federal judges to gather information for judicial profiles I was writing. I quickly learned that they weren’t terrifying after all; they were all very supportive of the FBA and its mission and happy to share their professional journeys and provide practice pointers on how to be more effective advocates in their courtrooms.

I met still more federal judges and highly respected lawyers at FBA events like the Utah Chapter’s annual CLE conference and our awards banquet. Later, I even had the opportunity to lead the Utah Chapter.

As Chapter president-elect, I attended what we now call our Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. There, I learned that the FBA is one of the largest and most-respected national bar associations, and I made friends from around the country. While it was not my intention when these friendships blossomed, I now have a national network of fantastic lawyers to whom I send work and who refer work to me. When lawyers at my firm need counsel in other states, they often come to me first because of my FBA relationships.

My FBA friendships not only have enhanced my career they have enriched my life. Members of my FBA family are often those who share with me (and I with them) the joys and sorrows of life, as well as the triumphs and challenges that a career in the law brings to each of us.

Following Rob’s good example, I frequently take a walk and take a friend to FBA events. I invite them to join the FBA and to get involved. One of the best of those walks was when I invited Jenifer Tomchak to come with me to an FBA Utah Chapter board meeting. She quickly became enthusiastic about the FBA, both locally and nationally, and has served as a Utah Chapter president, our national Younger Lawyers Division president, and currently serves as chair of our extremely important Law Student Division. She has made a huge positive difference for the FBA locally and nationally, as well as for me personally and professionally.

A few years later, Jen took a walk and invited a new lawyer she knew, who happens to be my daughter Sarah, to get involved with the FBA’s Younger Lawyers Division. Through Jen’s invitation, Sarah now has a growing local and national FBA family. We discuss often how much we love the FBA—both its people and also its mission to support our federal judges and federal practitioners in a non-partisan manner.

What we do together as the FBA matters. The FBA is its people. We often are the mouthpiece for the federal judiciary. Right now, we are lobbying Congress to create and fund additional judgeships and to create an independent Article I immigration court. Our current immigration judges are now operating under the executive branch, while Article I judges are part of the judicial branch. And perhaps nothing we have done in recent years has been as important as taking a leading role in advocating for increased judicial security. I was so happy when the Daniel Andrel Judicial Security and Privacy Act was passed. We were an important part of transforming that idea into law, which is named after the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was killed by a disgruntled litigant.

As FBA members, we have a national reach in our relationships and our influence. At the same time, often the FBA’s greatest positive impact on our careers and lives is in our own legal communities. Call me biased, but I honestly believe that all federal judges, clerks, and practitioners should be part of the FBA. We offer great national and local CLE, fun social gatherings, interactions with federal judges and clerks, and leadership opportunities for everyone who wants one.

During my year as your president, the FBA will be focusing on membership experience, retention, and growth.

I hope that your FBA membership experience has been positive; that your life and your career are both better because of your FBA participation and service. I would love to hear about your experiences, positive, negative, or neutral, so that the FBA can continue to improve. You can reach me at president@fedbar.org.

We also will be working to grow our membership nationally by 10% over the next year in each of our Chapters, Sections, and Divisions, and to increase our membership retention to 80%. That retention number is close to our historic average but higher than what we have seen post-COVID.

As the FBA grows, our energy and our influence grow as well.

I love the FBA! My time in the FBA has been transformative. I hope you will join me this year in taking walks wherever you may be and on those walks inviting others to join you in becoming involved with our Federal Bar Association. Those walks may be literally in the halls of your workplace or through an email or phone call. Whatever the means, introducing others to the FBA can improve their careers and their lives, as well as yours.

Thank you for being part of the Federal Bar Association. I look forward to a great year together!