Columbus Bar Association President’s Report | March
Hi everybody, and welcome to our March 2021 podcast. Today, I have something very special for you. I’ll be interviewing our Executive Director, Jill Snitcher.
Jill is the glue that holds everything together here at the CBA. She is our Chief Operating Officer, presidents come and go, but Jill remains to do the important work of the Columbus Bar Association.
Rob Erney: How are you today, Jill?
Jill Snitcher: I’m fine.
Rob Erney: Tell us a little bit about your background at the CBA before becoming Executive Director.
Jill Snitcher: Sure. I actually started with the Bar Association in 1998 when I was still in law school. I started as the membership director.
I was doing that for a couple of years, and then once I passed the bar exam, I decided maybe I should try to practice law. So I moved down the hall to the Ethics Department, where we processed grievances against attorneys, and we also did unauthorized practice of law claims at that time.
I was down there for about five or six years, then I went to be the Executive Director of the Ohio Association for Justice for a few years. And I came back here as Assistant Executive Director in 2007, and was promoted to Executive Director when Alex Lagusch retired in 2010.
Rob Erney: Tell us a little bit about the Columbus Bar Association, how it is set up.
Jill Snitcher: So the Columbus Bar Association, I will call the parent organization, is a 501c6 association for lawyers, paralegals, judges. We have about 4800 members. We cover all of Central Ohio, which includes Franklin in the contiguous counties.
Within the Bar Association, we have a foundation, which is our charitable arm. We have a for-profit subsidiary that’s Columbus Bar Services, and we have an insurance agency which is its own entity as well.
Rob Erney: Tell us a little bit about your staff.
Jill Snitcher: We have a phenomenal staff. We have about 18 people on staff right now. About a third of them have been here for over 20 years, which is pretty remarkable.
We’re very team-oriented, we have a lot of departments of one, as I say. One person in charge of CLE, one person in charge of membership, but the nice thing is everybody works together very, very well, in teams and on projects.
Rob Erney: Jill, what are your goals for the CBA?
Jill Snitcher: Our goals are to help our members be more successful. Without our members the Bar Association doesn’t exist. So we really pride ourselves on listening to what our members needs are, and those change frequently.
Again, not to be too myopic, but just this past year, we’ve seen lawyers needs change dramatically. And so for us to have our ear to the grind, if you will, to be able to be responsive, and quickly responsive to our members needs, to deliver the services they want.
Rob Erney: Jill, when will the CBA reopen to its members and the public?
Jill Snitcher: We are really crossing our fingers to be more open to our members in June. We have never officially closed, I guess, but we certainly are working remotely about 80% of the time.
Some of our staff are always here, like our receptionist and our CFO is here frequently, our media specialist is here frequently. So we’ll start welcoming people back in whenever they’re comfortable, but our staff will try to be back in on a more routine basis starting in June.
Rob Erney: How many CBA presidents have you served?
Jill Snitcher: Well, since ’98. Gosh, probably 18 different presidents.
Rob Erney: And who is your favorite?
Jill Snitcher: Oh, you, of course. [laughter]
Rob Erney: Jill, thank you for spending the time with us today.
We hope you enjoyed this presentation with Jill Snitcher, our Executive Director. We’re very blessed to have her. You saw an edited version of this video.
If you would like to see the entire video, it is available on our website, www.cbalaw.org Thank you for joining us. I’ll see you in April.
I’m Rob Erney, CBA president number 130. Thank you.
Consider watching the video podcast for this President’s Report on The Columbus Bar Associations Website.
