Monday, September 30, 2002
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Laura Goldin Tapped to Be Revamped Conference’s Director
By ROBERT GREENE, Staff Writer
Longtime Conference of Delegates activist Laura Goldin was selected Friday to be the group’s executive director.
The San Francisco attorney will become the first director of the nascent Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations next month, when the 68-year old conference gavels closed and out of existence as a formal component of the State Bar and the new, independent CDCBA takes its place.
Goldin said the job would be part-time and that she has no plans to give up the family law and probate practice she shares with husband and law partner Tony Rothschild.
Conference Chairman Stephen Marsh of the San Diego form of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps said Goldin was “definitely the best” among the 70 applicants, seven of whom were invited for interviews.
Marsh said Goldin’s job was to do “everything.”
“She will be the chief staff person, she’ll be responsible for drafting a budget, working with the Executive Committee, fundraising, and supporting the work of the committees,” Marsh said.
Additional build-up of support for the conference, including a full-time staff and headquarters, is still under discussion, Marsh said.
The Conference of Delegates has been undergoing rapid change for nearly a decade, as lawsuits have limited the scope of resolutions members can discuss and political opposition has led State Bar leaders to keep a close watch on conference activities.
Once supported by the State Bar, the conference began relying on solely voluntary donations when it reconvened in 1998 in the wake of a veto of the State Bar dues bill by then-Gov. Pete Wilson.
Complete independence from the State Bar came this year with incorporation of CDCBA and a contract with the State Bar for billing and convention facilities at the two groups’ annual meetings.
This year’s annual meeting is Oct. 10-14 in Monterey.
Goldin, 49, has strong ties to the conference, which traditionally has inspired fierce loyalty among members who propose, debate, and adopt resolutions to recommend new laws to improve the administration of justice.
She chaired last year’s Conference of Delegates, following in the footsteps of her father, attorney Leon Goldin, who served as conference chair in 1994 and later was elected to the State Bar Board of Governors. Her mother is retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin.
Laura Goldin met Rothschild at the 1984 conference.
She was a candidate this year for the Board of Governors as a San Francisco representative, but was defeated in a campaign that labeled her too much of a bar insider.
The executive director position is new with the new organization.
Goldin said Friday that there was a lot of work to look forward to.
“There is lots of organizational stuff that will go into kicking off the organization,” she said. “Fundraising needs to be done, and we need to establish procedures for the transition to being completely independent from the State Bar.”
As for this year’s conference, Goldin was typically enthusiastic.
“It’s our biggest since the veto,” she said. “There are going to be some interesting discussions of interesting issues. It’s going to be great.”
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company