CBA News

CBA Executive Director Keith Soressi will be retiring effective December 31, 2024. The Executive Director Search Committee has engaged Attorney Lina Lee to replace Keith.

On December 3, the annual CBA Presidential Fellows Dinner took place at Grassy Hill Country Club in Orange, where Association leaders and past fellows introduced and discussed the program with the current class of fellows.

The CBA is currently accepting nominations to fill the positions of vice president, secretary, treasurer, and assistant secretary-treasurer for the 2025-2026 bar year.

During two ceremonies that took place on November 8, over 170 new attorneys were sworn into the Connecticut Bar inside the Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building. Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Raheem L. Mullins and Associate Justices Nora R. Dannehy, Gregory T. D’Auria, Steven D. Ecker, and Andrew J. McDonald presided over the day’s ceremonies.

On October 22 and 23, the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA) Pro Bono Committee and Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut held its largest Free Legal Advice Clinic to date, which served 72 clients in need of legal assistance. The clinics, which are held quarterly throughout the year, provide members of the public in need of legal advice with 30-minute virtual meetings with volunteer attorneys providing answers to legal questions in a variety of practice areas.

The Connecticut Bar Association hosted its 9th Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit on October 25 at CT State Community College’s Gateway campus in New Haven. About 150 members of the Connecticut legal community attended the Summit to hear from distinguished speakers, who provided assessments on the state of DEI in the legal community and strategies for improving DEI initiatives within legal organizations.

On Monday, October 21 the Connecticut Bar Association celebrated the recent relocation of its headquarters from New Britain to Meriden with an Open House for members.

This year, CBA members continued to provide pro bono legal services to veterans at the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs’ annual Stand Down event, which the CBA has assisted with since 1998.

CBA Executive Director, Keith Soressi, has tendered his resignation effective as of December 31, 2024. While we at the CBA will miss Keith, this is a happy moment for him. He will be retiring to enjoy time with his family and hobbies.

On September 4, 2024, the CBA hosted its fifth Rule of Law Conference, and the first held in person since 2018, at the state’s Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The event was hosted collaboratively with the American Bar Association (ABA) as part of the ABA Task Force on American Democracy Listening Tour and featured former United States Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson as its keynote speaker.

The Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section (YLS) hosted its annual leadership retreat on August 9-10 at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard. The YLS Executive Committee holds this event each summer to familiarize new members of the committee with the duties of their leadership roles and to present awards to members of the committee for their service during the previous bar year.

The Connecticut Bar Association has moved its office to the following address: 538 Preston Avenue, 3rd Floor Meriden, CT 06450. Please send any mail to the CBA using this new address. Contact us by phone at (860) 223-4400 or email at msc@ctbar.org. Our staff is available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

During the week of July 8-12, the CBA hosted its first in-person LAW camp since 2019 in New Haven for a group of 36 Connecticut high school students. LAW Camp exposes high school students to the legal profession and teaches them critical and analytical thinking to help them succeed in their educational and professional careers.

On Sunday, June 23, over 200 CBA members, officers, and their families and friends gathered at Holiday Hill in Prospect for a day of outdoor fun and summer recreation.

Hundreds of legal professionals gathered for the 2024 Connecticut Legal Conference on June 10 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. The conference featured a wide selection of educational content for attendees, including a special focus on artificial intelligence and the future of the legal profession with several seminars covering issues related to the topic.

The CBA denounces public officials' unsubstantiated attacks on the judicial system.

On the morning of June 7, 36 new attorneys were sworn into the Connecticut Bar during a ceremony held inside the Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building.

The CBA Lawyer Well-Being Committee hosted a series of free events available to CBA members during Lawyer Well-Being Week, which ran from May 6 to May 10. Among these events was the 2024 CBA Well-Being Summit held on May 8 at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich

The CBA Civics Education Committee held its annual Law Day Celebration at the Connecticut Appellate Court in Hartford on May 2. Law Day is a national celebration held annually to celebrate the role of law in our society and to help encourage a deeper understanding of the legal profession. The Law Day event also included the presentation of the 2024 Ralph J. Monaco Civics Education awards.

On April 10-11, a Connecticut Bar Association delegation traveled to Washington, DC to attend the American Bar Association (ABA)’s 2024 ABA Day event. ABA Day is a conference that brings together leaders of the ABA and thousands of professionals from state and local bar associations from across the country to advocate on behalf of issues of importance to the legal profession.