From the President C. Michael Alder
Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
2012: A great year for consumer attorneys More members mean more clout. Let’s make it happen
2012 is here and I’m thrilled to be
taking over the office of president of CAALA, one of the strongest consumer attorneys’ associations in the country. It’s time for all of us to work together and focus on goals that benefit our profession. The CAALA staff and lead- ership are committed to carrying out our mission to increase membership in CAALA and CAOC. Now I ask that each of you commit to these organiza- tions as well. Our members are our strength and our main asset.
Membership in CAALA Despite Advocate magazine having
a circulation of 9,500, CAALA’s mem- bership has hovered around 2,000 for years. A significant percentage of plaintiff lawyers are NOT CAALA members. We need to reach out to those lawyers and bring them into the fold.
The benefits of being a CAALA
member, in exchange for the $295 annual basic membership fee, are too many to list here: the camaraderie with your like-minded colleagues, access to the Listserve and its incredible search- able archive and helpful members, past Advocate articles, the deposition and document bank, the members-only MCLE programs, and the reduced prices on court reporting, insurance, etc., are just a few. All of this for less than the cost of one deposition. Why do we need members? First
and foremost, it increases our clout in many venues. Although we are already the largest local trial lawyers’ organiza- tion in the country, more members
92 — The Advocate Magazine JANUARY 2012
means we speak with a larger voice. Whether it is politicians, the judiciary, other bar groups or the press, larger numbers means more people will listen to us and take us seriously – a sad fact of life, but true. You want to fight against Howell?
Let me call our politicians on behalf of the 4,000 or 5,000 members of the country’s largest local trial lawyers’ organization. Let me call our politicians on behalf of the largest bar group in Los Angeles. The second reason we need more
members is simple: our bottom line. Membership dues are a significant part of our annual budget. Finally, we can all benefit from
the collective intelligence of more peo- ple who do what we do and fight the good fight every day. We want more and diverse input from all of those plaintiff lawyers who aren’t yet a part of our organization. So how do we accomplish this?
Well, an easy thing that all of us can do is to tout the benefits of membership to any plaintiff ’s lawyer that we know or encounter who is not already a CAALA member. I am more than will- ing to speak to any one of these col- leagues to help convince them to join us. If we discover that there are plain- tiffs’ lawyers out there who truly can’t afford the $295 membership fees, sev- eral firms and individual members have committed to sponsor their mem- bership.
Another crucial element in our
quest to increase membership dramati- cally is to make your best effort to
respond to CAALA’s periodic calls to arms and/or membership drives. Each month, we have lapsed members who need to be contacted to see what can be done to get them to renew. Often, getting someone to renew is as simple as a friend calling to check on them. We need those friends to call.
Membership in CAOC CAALA is a 501(c)(6) non-profit
organization. We are chartered as an education-based group. Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) is our political wing. When we need to lobby (think Howell), it’s CAOC (and only CAOC) that is permitted to do that. A strong CAOC is every bit as impor- tant to each of us as a strong CAALA. Yet only about half of our current members are also CAOC members (and CAALA members are by far the largest contingent of CAOC members). I have committed to our incoming
CAOC president, Niall McCarthy, to join in the statewide campaign to get all of the local trial lawyer bar mem- bers (CAALA, Orange County Trial Lawyers’ Association, CASD, SFTLA, etc.) to also become CAOC members. I’ve been a member of CAOC and on the board for many years. I can tell you first-hand: CAOC’s work has benefited us in so many ways, again and again. In sum, I am looking forward to
the best year yet for California’s con- sumer attorneys. I hope all of you will join me in making this vision a reality.
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