Countywide : Bar President Opens Up Views of Group

As the new year rolls around, Michelle A. Reinglass says she can look back on her 1993 stint as Orange County Bar Assn. president as a learning experience--not just for herself, but also for her colleagues in the 6,100-member group.

One lesson she gave by example when she took office last January. As only the second woman to hold the group’s top job, and the youngest president ever, the pioneering Southern California native has shown clearly how times are changing for a group she said was once a “monolith with good old boys.”

More than that, the Laguna Hills attorney has pushed the group to embrace diversity and social responsibility, and weed out unfair practices.

“The association is becoming more open to different views,” said Reinglass, 39. “It’s not so much that it’s becoming more liberal, it’s just becoming more sensitized.”

Some say the association has become energized under Reinglass’ tenure, taking more visible stands on legal community issues and reaching out to the public. Programs, studies and committees were set up to examine topics such as gun control, sex bias and affordable legal aid.

“She’s a fireball,” said Superior Court Judge Donald E. Smallwood. “From the court’s standpoint, she has been just outstanding as president; enthusiastic, highly motivated. (The court) couldn’t have been served better.”

Reinglass said the role she has enjoyed most during her term was that of informal educator, teaching her peers the importance of making their high-profile organization accessible to women and minorities looking for membership and leadership roles.

Earlier this month the bar association approved a new informal in-house forum to investigate, hear and, hopefully, settle sex inequity claims among the Orange County legal community. The effort, Reinglass says proudly, shows the group’s willingness to face its own faults.

“Education is necessary for all of us at different times,” she said. “We don’t want to beat people up on these issues, or necessarily chastise them for their behavior. It’s a matter of sharing new ways of looking at things.”

Besides her effort to open the association’s ranks, Reinglass said she has also urged members to make their services more accessible to lower-income clients. An association committee was set up this year to examine ways that area attorneys could offer discounted rates to disadvantaged clients.

“There’s services provided for indigent people, but for people on a modest income there’s not as many options,” said Reinglass, who will be replaced by incoming President Steven C. McCracken in January. “If someone has an annual income of $20,000 or $30,000, and they go to seek legal representation and find out the attorney has a $5,000 or $10,000 retainer fee, they can walk away wondering, ‘How in the world can I afford help?’ ”

Perhaps the person most qualified to gauge Reinglass’ term is Jennifer J. King, a Santa Ana attorney. King, who in 1990 became the first female attorney to preside over the Orange County Bar Assn., said the group has made great strides in 1993 by becoming more visible and responsive.

“She’s just extremely dedicated,” King said. “She was able to accomplish far more than I did, in part because times have changed and people are more open to women leaders now. But she is also a very persistent, very dedicated person.”