Thursday, April 9, 2020
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Former LACBA President Michael E. Meyer Joins Glaser Weil’s Real Estate Department
Lawyer Was Catapulted to Leadership of County Bar Through Effort By Reform Movement; Led Turnabout in Approach to Finances
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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MICHAEL E. MEYER Attorney |
Michael E. Meyer, who as 2017-18 president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association oversaw efforts aimed at revitalizing an organization with sagging membership and dwindling finances, has become of counsel to Glaser Weil, it was announced by the law firm yesterday.
He had been managing partner of the Los Angeles office of DLA Piper U.S. LLP for 16 years.
Meyer—who has a national reputation as a top leasing attorney, with expertise in renewal rights—will serve in the Century City and downtown Los Angeles offices of Glaser Weil.
Daniel Jordan, a partner in that firm and chair of its 21-person Real Estate Department, remarked:
“Michael’s leasing experience and invaluable years of legal practice will add additional support to Glaser Weil’s robust Real Estate Department. We look forward to his collaboration with the group and the firm as a whole.”
Major Clients
Meyer recently won a $5.6 million arbitration award for Capitol Records based on a determination of a fair market rental rate. Among other clients of his are Nestle USA, ICM, and City National Bank.
In 2011, he was named by the Los Angeles County Bar Association (“LACBA”) as Real Estate Lawyer of the Year.
At a time when LACBA was losing $1 million and year and giving away roughly that same sum to charitable projects, and financial statements were denied to its members, a reform movement was instituted. In 2016, the first contested election in 25 years took place, and Meyer won the post of president-elect.
Firm Control
He took the reins of the organization as president on July 1, 2017, veering it from what many saw as a path to bankruptcy. Under his leadership, the trustees voted unanimously to end subsidies to the association’s charitable arm, Counsel for Justice (“CFJ”).
While forgiving CFJ’s $4,514,688 debt to LACBA—which was deemed uncollectable—the trustees declared “that CFJ undertake renewed and increased efforts to achieve its economic self-sufficiency, and to eliminate by December 31, 2018 all financial support required from LACBA to sustain it.”
Financial records and other information previously kept secret from members were freely divulged, and sections—which complained of bullying by “LACBA Central”—were given a large degree of autonomy.
Ends Rubber-Stamping
Previously, governance decisions were made by officers in Executive Committee sessions and rubber-stamped by trustees the following night. Meyer held no Executive Committee sessions.
Strides in revitalizing LACBA continued to be made under his immediate successor, Brian Kabateck.
Meyer, who earned his law degree at the University of Chicago, remains an inveterate Cubs fan.
The lawyer was admitted to the State Bar of California on Jan. 5, 1968.
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