President’s Message

Trevor E. Carson, President, Sacramento County Bar Association. He can be reached at trevor@rootedlegal.com.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, meaning the disease was having a global impact. COVID-19 has enormously affected countless individuals and businesses, including the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA). The Association’s revenue dramatically decreased on several fronts, including membership and events. Like every business, we had to adapt. The SCBA unfortunately separated with several employees and was forced to radically cut costs.

The Association was in a lease agreement for 4,123 square feet of unused and expensive space. It was an enormous financial burden that resulted in a lot of meetings attempting to work out solutions. Ultimately, the SCBA was able to negotiate out of the lease and secured a new home at 8928 Volunteer Lane, Suite 250, Sacramento. The new space is substantially more affordable and is truly helping to solidify our future. I am grateful to Ognian Gavrilov and Kirill Tarasenko for their help with this new location.

The SCBA has successfully navigated a full year of COVID-19; however, there is still plenty of work ahead and we are dealing with a variety of problems. On February 23, 2021, the Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) was placed on hiatus. The Executive Committee is analyzing the underpinnings of the LRIS to create a possible plan of action for reviving the program. The Executive Committee is also reviewing several other programs and attempting to find an equitable way of sharing the workload among the current staff who are all parttime: Martha Fenchen, Cecilia Uribe, and Milenko Vlaisavljevic. Their assistance with daily business affairs of the organization has been exceptionally helpful. I’m appreciative to all of the staff for their willingness to adapt and their dedication to this organization. The Association has hired a new bookkeeper to convert our old accounting system to an online platform with remote deposits that will be more efficient. The Executive Committee is working on smaller tasks such as consolidating bank accounts and decreasing office costs relating to the office printer and postage. We are also exploring the possibility of expanding the fee arbitration program to neighboring jurisdictions, which will ideally increase revenues.

There are plenty of fires that need immediate attention; nevertheless, I am still focused on membership benefits. I hope to create a standard contract for third-parties who agree to provide benefits to members of the SCBA. I want to secure more discounts on professional and personal products and services and to expand our list of local vendors offering discounts to SCBA members. I hope to begin marketing these benefits on social media platforms and the weekly newsletter before the end of the year.

Although vaccines are currently being distributed, I do not expect life to return to normal any time soon. I anticipate the Association will continue to hold virtual-only events until at least mid-Summer 2021. The SCBA has already decided that Bench-Bar Reception will be hosted virtually on May 27, 2021. As time progresses, we will continue to assess the situation with the intention of eventually transitioning back to in-person events. Personally, my hope is to host an in-person Annual Meeting in December 2021.

I believe COVID-19 has created an opportunity to thoroughly assess the foundation of the Association and we will come out of this substantially stronger. I’m thankful for this opportunity to serve the Association as 2021 President.