Chancellor's Update: An Exciting Start to 2024

By Jen Coatsworth

It’s been an exciting first half of 2024 for the Philadelphia Bar Association. As Chancellor, I have been consistently awed by the dedication and enthusiasm of our staff and volunteer leadership, which has resulted impactful advocacy, engaging events, and top-notch CLE programming.

To share just a few examples

• We held a highly-regarded Spring Quarterly focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The critical discussion that began at that event will soon continue with a series of conversations about how can bring about substantive progress in this area in the Philadelphia legal community.


• We expanded our institutional partnership program by welcoming our first two public interest institutional partners: Community Legal Services and Philadelphia Legal Assistance. These partnerships, which began with Temple and Drexel law schools and grew last year to include the City Law Department, DA’s Office and Defender Association, allow our Association to speak with a stronger and more diverse voice on issues that matter to the legal profession and the clients we serve.


• We launched our expanded Annual Partner and corporate sponsorship program with a number of valuable new member benefits including free trust accounting, a free 30-minute financial consultation, and discounts on eDiscovery, practice management, and legal call answering and intake.


• In partnership with the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association, we held a successful Law Day program at the Constitution Center about the challenges facing free and fair elections in 2024. We are also teaming up with the Pennsylvania Bar and the Committee of Seventy to recruit legal professionals as poll workers and poll watchers for the upcoming election.  Additionally, we are working with the City Commissioners to support the opening of satellite election offices.


• I had the honor of traveling to Washington, D.C. and moving for the admission of 25 Philadelphia Bar Association members to the U.S. Supreme Court.


• Our Summer Quarterly featured an historic panel of women leaders: Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Deborah Todd, Superior Court President Judge Hon. Anne Lazarus, Commonwealth Court President Judge Hon. Renee Cohn Jubelirer, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas President Judge Hon. Nina Wright Padilla, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Rep. Joanna McClinton and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jacqueline Romero. If you missed the inspiring discussion, you can watch videos from the event here.


• We held several members-only events with city leaders, including our annual Large Firm Management Committee Mayor’s breakfast with Mayor Cherelle Parker, and forums featuring City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.


• In addition, we spoke out on behalf of our community and delivered testimony before City Council committees in support of providing permanent funding for the city’s eviction diversion program and of legislation to provide for licensing of people responsible for performing tenant evictions at residential properties. Both measures were ultimately successful.  I also had the chance to provide commentary on the most recent En Banc argument session on PCN, providing explanation for lay members of the community on the cases heard by the Court.


• Our Board of Governors passed resolutions in support of intent-based parentage and of proposed legislation that would prohibit conversion therapy for those under 18. The Board also passed a resolution in opposition to the Disciplinary Board’s proposed rulemaking regarding succession planning, and suggesting amendments to the proposed rule.


• Our Professional Guidance Committee along with its counterpart at the Pennsylvania Bar Association issued an ethics opinion on the use of generative AI in the practice of law, encouraging attorneys to make themselves aware of the risk and benefits offered by the technology. We also recently launched a new Privacy Committee and a Lawyers User Group for AI to continue to stay abreast of new developments in a rapidly evolving sector.

And that’s just the beginning. We are already beginning to plan a number of exciting activities for the late summer and early fall, including our 2024 Bench-Bar Conference in Atlantic City on Sept. 19-21, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Cuba for a CLE program in November, our annual Membership Appreciation Week celebration and more. Interested in becoming more involved? Consider running for an Association leadership position; sign up for our Sept. 12 virtual info session to learn more.

None of this would be possible without the constant support of all of our members – each of you is crucial to continuing a robust agenda of policy initiatives, educational programming and networking activities. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Jen Coatsworth is 2024 Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.