Before I ever went to work for a bar association, I was involved with three types of bar activities: 1) My local hometown bar association, The Cleveland County Bar; 2) The Oklahoma Bar Family Law Section and 3) The Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting, which takes place this week. (Info here.) I think beginning lawyers make a real mistake by not getting involved with their local bar and the Young Lawyers Division of their state bar. There’s no better source for so many things young lawyers need: mentoring and wise advice, possible referral of work, insider info on how things really work at the courthouse, potential employment in small firms that may not be advertised and much more. You may be a bit uncomfortable the first meeting or two as you get to know everyone, but don’t let this deter you from a great networking opportunity.

For Oklahoma lawyers who do any family law, the OBA Family Law Section is an incredible resource. At their meeting this week, one of the doorprizes is a trip to the ABA Annual Meeting in Hawaii this summer.

There was a recent online article bashing the volunteers who work in bar associations. I won’t even dignify it with a link. You can come to our OBA Annual Meeting and get to know some of the best lawyers in our state. Stop by the OBA Management Assistance Program exhibitor’s booth and say "Hi." Sharon and I would love to hear from someone who we didn’t know that follows the blog. We even have a modest giveaway.

(I’ll bet most readers don’t connect a movie reference with the title of this post. It starred a native Oklahoman who grew in my hometown.)