Profile: Lisa Reep, Executive Director Contra Costa County Bar Association

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PROFILE

Profile: Lisa Reep, Executive Director Contra Costa County Bar Association {by Regan Morris] Many bar associations are run by non-attorneys. LawCrossing speaks with Lisa Reep, executive director of the Contra Costa County Bar Association, about her unique legal career and how she carved a niche in the profession knowing she didn’t want to be an attorney or a paralegal.

Lisa Reep thought she always wanted to be

was terrible.

“It’s very varied, which is probably what keeps me interested,” she said. “It’s like

an attorney - until she went to law school.

She worked a second job at night, running

running a small business. You have all of the

the tanning salon at a 24-hour fitness center

personnel and bookkeeping responsibilities.

She had paid the tuition and bought the

while she worked her way up the ladder at

And you also have all of the membership

textbooks despite nagging doubts. She hadn’t

the American Arbitration Association from

responsibilities. Like a trade association, we

taken the LSATs because she planned to

8 to 5. From 6 to 11, she worked at the gym.

have a big service component to what we do

attend a night law school in Santa Barbara.

Eventually she became the director of educa-

as well so I deal with our board of directors,

Because it wasn’t an ABA-approved law

tion, planning and administrating continuing

I deal with our committee chairs, section

school, she didn’t need the LSATs.

education classes and she left the tanning

leaders, and staff that handle the different

salon.

programs that we run. And I deal with com-

That experience lasted just one night.

mittees and sometimes the press.”

“I really didn’t have a sense of what I was getting myself into,” Ms. Reep said. “And the

“It was fun, it was social,” she said of the

first class just struck me - I don’t want to go

tanning salon. “I was young then, in my twen-

It’s a voluntary bar association and most of

to law school.”

ties. I had the energy to have two jobs.”

the members are solo practitioners or from

That was that. Soon after, Ms. Reep left

Ms. Reep, who studied Spanish throughout

chance to network with their colleagues in

her job as a courtroom clerk and Spanish

college and completed an immersion course

other firms.

interpreter at the municipal courts in Santa

in Mexico, says speaking two languages has

Barbara and moved to San Francisco. She

helped in her career, particularly with so

Ms. Reep said the executive director job can

had a bachelor’s degree in social sciences

many people in the United States speaking

be a “lonely position.”

and wanted a legal career, but she wasn’t

Spanish as a first language.

small firms. The association gives them a

interested in going back to school and she didn’t want to be a legal secretary.

“There’s nobody other than other execuHer background in planning continuing edu-

tive directors of bar associations who really

cation courses at the Arbitration Association

understand your job,” she said.

“I kept my eyes wide open thinking I would

helped her land the job as executive director

get a terrific job,” she said. “And I found after

of the Contra Costa County Bar Association,

But the executive directors are a tight knit

looking very hard for a number of months

which offers various courses to its 1,650

group and members of Executives of Califor-

that without a law degree and without a

members.

willingness to be support staff as a legal

nia Legal Associations, or ECLA, gather often to swap stories and advice.

secretary, there really weren’t a lot of legal

Ms. Reep said many small and medium sized

jobs available in the legal field.”

bar associations are run by non-attorney

Ms. Reep, who moved to California from

executive directors and that people inter-

Colorado at 17, said networking is a big at-

Ms. Reep, 45, ran into a friend by chance in

ested in a legal career with a bar association

traction for the members of the Bar Associa-

San Francisco who told her the American

should join the association or apply for sup-

tion and that membership has been growing.

Arbitration Association was looking for a

port positions within the organization.

The association offers specialized courses in

case administrator. Ms. Reep applied for the

various areas of law.

job and got it. She loved the work, but as in

She has been the executive director of the

many non-profit organizations, the money

association for ten years.

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“We also have a really great relationship

continued on back

PROFILE

with our local bench,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities for our bar members to interact with the judges. I think that for litigators that’s pretty important. And also to have an opportunity to socialize with them, to the extent that judges can, so that they build some collegiality.”

The association offers online courses, but Ms. Reep says the classroom based classes are more popular. Attorneys in California are required to have 25 hours of continuing education, recently reduced from 36 hours.

“I think people like coming personally to programs, because they like to see people and have some interaction,” she said.

Ms. Reep said she was “lucky” to get her job because the opportunity arose at a perfect time in her career when she had the experience and the desire to take on a new challenge. She urged job seekers to keep an open mind and be willing to consider unexpected opportunities.

“You know, the year before I got my job I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing what I’m doing now,” she said. “And that applies to my position at the American Arbitration Association as well. So just network, network, network and be open to things that you hadn’t previously considered.”

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