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Proposed merger in works for 2 area bar associations
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By ARLENE FINE, Senior Staff Reporter
Once upon a time, there was one bar association for Cleveland lawyers. Then there were two.
Now there may be one again n and thereby hangs a tale of discrimination, innovation and, ultimately, acceptance and pragmatism.
Kerin Lyn Kaminski, president of the 6,000-member Cleveland Bar Association (CBA) and Steven Gardner, president of the 2,400-member Cuyahoga County Bar Association (CCBA) have reached a consensus among their membership to turn the two bar associations into one.
Just like the establishment of Oakwood Club in 1905 and the building of Mt. Sinai Hospital in 1914, the reason two bar associations existed in the first place relates to a long history of prejudice and discrimination against Jews.
The CCBA was formed in 1928 to give an organizational voice and a common meeting ground for mostly Jewish attorneys who were sole practitioners, government attorneys, or attorneys from smaller firms, explains attorney Ronald Rosenfield of Rosenfield Co. LPA.
“Minorities were not welcome as members of the Cleveland Bar Association because this was a bastion of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants from the large business and corporate-oriented Cleveland law firms.”
This was the same reason, adds Rosenfield, that black lawyers established The Norman S. Minor Bar Association in Cleveland.
Over the years this rift was healed, yet the two major bar associations kept their separate identities.
“Steve (Gardner) and I are able to put aside our own personal goals and consider what is best for our dues-paying members” today, says Kaminski of Giffen & Kaminski LLC. “As Cleveland’s civic leaders are working hard to pull this city together and show a united front, Cleveland lawyers, working as one group, can help our city’s business and civic leaders position this region for an economic rebound.”
“It is better for both associations to be pulling the oars at the same time,” says Gardner of the firm McDonald Hopkins LLC. “By combining resources we will no longer be competing for members. We can offer outstanding continuing legal education seminars and have a unified grievance committee. We can also improve and expand our community service efforts including our pro bono legal work.”
Cleveland is just one of a few cities to have two nonprofit bar associations, says attorney Thomas Dettelbach, who was president of the CCBA and the CCBA Foundation during the 1980s.
“The feeling now is that it makes less and less sense to have two major bar associations co-existing in the same city,” he says. “The only attorneys who have expressed concern about the merger are the CCBA trial lawyers and small practitioners, who fear they will be shuffled aside and not have the same kind of voice. The new association has to make sure their interests are dealt with.”
“The feelings that separated and differentiated the two organizations are no longer as strong as they once were,” says Bennett Yanowitz, who has been a member of the CCBA for the past 58 years. “The CCBA has lost its raison d’être, and I think the merger is a natural consequence of that feeling.”
Both bar associations hope the merger will be complete before the end of this year. Gardner and Kaminski will share the presidency for the remainder of their current terms. A panel of members of both bar associations will select the inaugural board of the new association and name the next two succeeding presidents.
“We will make sure that the voices and viewpoints of both memberships will be heard in our new organization,” says Kaminski. “Cleveland has the largest legal community in the state, and now we will be able to leverage our size to become powerful advocates before the state legislature and the Ohio Supreme Court.”
The new organization, with the proposed name of Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, will be housed in the offices of the Cleveland Bar Association’s East 9th St. office. Some services may remain in the offices of the CCBA Superior Ave. offices. CBA executive director Larkin Chenault is expected to become executive director of the merged association.
afine@cjn.org
Now there may be one again n and thereby hangs a tale of discrimination, innovation and, ultimately, acceptance and pragmatism.
Kerin Lyn Kaminski, president of the 6,000-member Cleveland Bar Association (CBA) and Steven Gardner, president of the 2,400-member Cuyahoga County Bar Association (CCBA) have reached a consensus among their membership to turn the two bar associations into one.
Just like the establishment of Oakwood Club in 1905 and the building of Mt. Sinai Hospital in 1914, the reason two bar associations existed in the first place relates to a long history of prejudice and discrimination against Jews.
The CCBA was formed in 1928 to give an organizational voice and a common meeting ground for mostly Jewish attorneys who were sole practitioners, government attorneys, or attorneys from smaller firms, explains attorney Ronald Rosenfield of Rosenfield Co. LPA.
“Minorities were not welcome as members of the Cleveland Bar Association because this was a bastion of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants from the large business and corporate-oriented Cleveland law firms.”
This was the same reason, adds Rosenfield, that black lawyers established The Norman S. Minor Bar Association in Cleveland.
Over the years this rift was healed, yet the two major bar associations kept their separate identities.
“Steve (Gardner) and I are able to put aside our own personal goals and consider what is best for our dues-paying members” today, says Kaminski of Giffen & Kaminski LLC. “As Cleveland’s civic leaders are working hard to pull this city together and show a united front, Cleveland lawyers, working as one group, can help our city’s business and civic leaders position this region for an economic rebound.”
“It is better for both associations to be pulling the oars at the same time,” says Gardner of the firm McDonald Hopkins LLC. “By combining resources we will no longer be competing for members. We can offer outstanding continuing legal education seminars and have a unified grievance committee. We can also improve and expand our community service efforts including our pro bono legal work.”
Cleveland is just one of a few cities to have two nonprofit bar associations, says attorney Thomas Dettelbach, who was president of the CCBA and the CCBA Foundation during the 1980s.
“The feeling now is that it makes less and less sense to have two major bar associations co-existing in the same city,” he says. “The only attorneys who have expressed concern about the merger are the CCBA trial lawyers and small practitioners, who fear they will be shuffled aside and not have the same kind of voice. The new association has to make sure their interests are dealt with.”
“The feelings that separated and differentiated the two organizations are no longer as strong as they once were,” says Bennett Yanowitz, who has been a member of the CCBA for the past 58 years. “The CCBA has lost its raison d’être, and I think the merger is a natural consequence of that feeling.”
Both bar associations hope the merger will be complete before the end of this year. Gardner and Kaminski will share the presidency for the remainder of their current terms. A panel of members of both bar associations will select the inaugural board of the new association and name the next two succeeding presidents.
“We will make sure that the voices and viewpoints of both memberships will be heard in our new organization,” says Kaminski. “Cleveland has the largest legal community in the state, and now we will be able to leverage our size to become powerful advocates before the state legislature and the Ohio Supreme Court.”
The new organization, with the proposed name of Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, will be housed in the offices of the Cleveland Bar Association’s East 9th St. office. Some services may remain in the offices of the CCBA Superior Ave. offices. CBA executive director Larkin Chenault is expected to become executive director of the merged association.
afine@cjn.org
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