State Bar Foundation Set to Change Name, Director Says

Friday, March 2, 2007

Page 3

State Bar Foundation Set to Change Name, Director Says

By a MetNews Staff Writer

The Foundation of the State Bar of California is set to change its name to the “California Bar Foundation” at the end of this month, Executive Director Leslie T. Hatamiya said yesterday.

Adopting a “crisper, shorter name” that is easier to remember, Hatamiya told the MetNews, is a part of a larger effort to raise the public profile of the State Bar-affiliated non-profit organization.

“Despite being in existence for 17 years and having distributed more than $6.2 million in grants and scholarships, the foundation does not have as strong an identity in the California legal community, much less the broader population, as we think befits the State Bar’s charitable arm,” she explained.

Along with the name change, Hatamiya said that the foundation plans to implement a new logo and launch a redesigned web site at a new URL—www.calbarfoundation.org—over the next month. The changes were approved by the foundation’s board at the end of last year, the executive director added.

With the mission of “promoting, improving, and building public trust and confidence in the rule of law” through funding law-related education and service programs, the foundation is fueled by donations from California law firms, individual attorneys, and corporate sponsors.

Last year, Hatamiya noted, the organization distributed nearly $360,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations, bar associations, courts and the State Bar to fund legal services, education and outreach projects, and awarded almost $225,000 in scholarships to 47 law students and recent law school graduates statewide who demonstrated a commitment to serving the community as public interest lawyers.

“As the California Bar Foundation, we believe we are on the road to creating a stronger identity for the Foundation, to better communicating who we are and what we do, raising greater awareness of our programs, and taking our fundraising to the next level,” she said.