Friday, July 24, 2015
Page 3
Ex-McGeorge Dean Parker Named Executive Director of State Bar
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California has named Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, dean emerita of, McGeorge School of Law, as its next executive director/chief executive officer, effective Sept. 1, the State Bar said yesterday in a release.
“I am excited to welcome Dean Parker as the State Bar’s next executive director/CEO,” State Bar President Craig Holden said in the release. “She has stellar credentials – having successfully led many large complex organizations – and I am confident will be highly regarded by both our stakeholders and employees. She will have an immediate impact in helping increase our focus on public protection, improving the delivery of legal services, and enhancing our accountability.”
Parker served as dean at McGeorge for 10 years. Previously she was general counsel to the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency and was the principal deputy legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State. She has worked at major national law firms and also spent a decade litigating federal class action lawsuits with legal services and civil rights organizations after graduating from the University of Michigan and its law school. She has argued successfully twice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the State Bar noted.
“For one committed to the importance of our legal system, it would be hard to imagine a more professionally fulfilling opportunity than serving as the administrative leader of the nation’s largest, most forward-looking professional bar organization,” Parker said. “I look forward to joining the new leadership team which the Board of Trustees is creating and to working with the bar’s dedicated staff.”
The release said the acting executive director, Robert Hawley, will retire as deputy executive director at the end of September. “I am pleased to see the board line up such a stellar team to lead the organization,” he was quoted as saying. “I am most pleased to have served the State Bar for many years and to now leave for greener pastures.”
Holden added:
“Bob is like an encyclopedia and has been an invaluable resource for many years. We cannot thank him enough for his decades of public service.”
Holden further noted that a new chief operations officer position will replace the position of deputy executive director upon Hawley’s departure. It will be a contract position.
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