April 20, 2025 • 15 mins
We spoke with Attorney Tim Shearin about membership in the CT Bar Association.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is attorney Tim Sharon. He's from the
Connecticut Bar Association and of Pullman and CALMLYLLCA. Good morning,
Good morning Alison. We're here to talk about the Connecticut
Bar Association for people who don't know about it. When
was it formed? Why was it formed?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The Bar Association was formed one hundred and fifty years
ago this year, eighteen seventy five. It's a professional association
of lawyers, judges, some law school students, and exist as
a professional association of folks who have a common cause.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So what does it do for these members.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We look at it in having two really two factors.
One is for its members and one is for the public.
For its members, we are a more than a trade association.
We're a professional association, but we advocate on behalf of
our members. Some of that involves helping them run their practices,
educating them on changes in the law. We have a robust,
(01:02):
continuing legal education program where we offer over one hundred
programs a year on advances in the law and what
people need to know is the law changes. We have
a dynamic section and committee program where lawyers can come together,
get to know one another, share common experiences in different
(01:22):
fields of the law, and lobby on behalf of their clients.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Why did you decide to join the Connecticut Bar Association?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Most Connecticut lawyers join. We have about eight thousand members,
and it's a way in which you get to know
your colleagues. Connecticut, to its good fortune, has a very
collegial bar. We get along with one another, and part
of that is the Bar Association brings together people who
are adversaries in court or adversaries across the table, but
(01:52):
otherwise friends and colleagues in the common pursuit of the law.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Very nice. Are you looking for members currently?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
We're always looking for members.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We're an association, so as law students graduate each year,
we try to track them to the bar. For those
of lawyers out there who are not current members, we're
always looking for them to join as well.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is there an eligibility clause or do you just need
to be a law student or a paralegal or a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
No eligibility, all the all the criteria you just mentioned
work for us.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So how would they become a member?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's simply filling out an application. There's there's no credentialing,
there's no appletely, there's no test.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's just becoming a member.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So if anybody would like to become a member, the
best thing for them to do is go to ctbar
dot org. Tell me how does it operate.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We have a House of Delegates and Board of Governors,
which are are operating legislative bodies. And then an officer
track a president, president elect, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer,
secretary are assistant secretary. Those offices are occupied for one
year terms. The vice president elevates and so you it's
(03:09):
an up ladder program.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
What kind of lobbying does the CBA undertake?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Two types.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Our sections will often lobby on behalf of their constituencies.
So for example, the real estate section or the Estates
and Probate section might decide that there are changes in
the law that are necessary to protect clients, and so
they will lobby those issues with the legislature. And then
(03:36):
we as an organization lobby on behalf of our member's interest,
and that really takes two forms. One is general business lobbying. We,
like every other business in the state, want to have
a robust economy. So when there are legislative proposals on
the table that will expand business. That's good for us,
(03:58):
and so we lobby for that. And then there are
specific issues like healthcare legislation. I'm sure it's no surprise
to you that the price of health care insurance goes
up and up and up every year. We have to
incur that expense on behalf of our employees, and so
we try to lobby the legislature on ways in which
(04:20):
those premiums might be reduced.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Can you help me out with eggs? Can you get
them to bring the price of eggs town?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I actually have fifteen chickens at my house, so we
sell them. If you want to come all the way
to Newtown, you can buy a dozen eggs for five dollars.
Well change the price.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yet, I have always had chickens. I'm Italian. That's what
we did. If you all had names, I would go
out and feed them, and then in the morning we'd
go out and look for the eggs. It's the greatest,
isn't it the best? It's pretty fun, it really is.
A New Town is beautiful, by the way, too. So
you are celebrating one hundred and fifty years are you
going to commemorate the event.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It's a big year for us YEP. We're going to
roll out our celebration at our Legal Conference on June's thirteenth.
That's our biggest event for the year. We run a
day long program of seminars. We have about eight hundred
people who attend, lots of vendors who are offering services
for law firms.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
We'll roll it out there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
We have a gala plan for October sixteenth, which we
will presumably be advertising very soon. We're going to run
a video series where past presidents talk about their term
and passing the gavelon to the next president. And then
we are going to encourage all our members to devote
(05:38):
one hundred and fifty minutes to some community activity of
their interests that get.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Back to the community.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So that particular day you're going to have seminars and vendors.
What can people look forward to? What are some of
the seminars of the vendors.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We run six different tracks, so there are running throughout
the day and their competing programs for the same time slots.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So people you know, you might.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Have a program at nine fifteen and then you missed
the one that you wanted to go to at nine fifteen,
and so you show up at three fifteen for the
same program. It occupies all areas of the law. Each
of our sections usually hosts a centemar, seminar brings in
speakers to present whatever's hot in that particular area.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So it's it's an incredible day.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So I guess what I'm asking is if somebody is
an attorney or paralegal, let's say, but they're not a
member of the Connecticut Bar Association, this might be something
that they might want to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Absolutely and they are free to attend, and if they're interested,
ctbar dot org is the way place to go.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Beautiful beautiful. You mentioned you work hand in hand with
the court to improve the administration of justice house.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So so the Court often needs lawyers who are obviously
its constituents to help figure out how it can improve
its delivery of justice, how it can make it more efficient,
how it can make it more effective. So we often
serve on committees that the Court and panels to share
(07:19):
our intelligence, our experience with the court system.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We propose rule.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Changes to the judges on things we think might help
the system work better, and we work hand in hand
with the Court in terms of the delivery of pro
bono legal services.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You also promote diversity. How does the Connecticut Bar Association
do that.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
The legal profession for years and years was predominated by
white men, and that's fortunately changed over the last several decades.
But change is still needed, more changes needed. So that's
not attitude that we think should continue, and we do
(08:04):
our best to change it. And we do that by education,
by making clear to people what is right and what
is wrong behavior. We promote affinity bars, the bars I
mentioned to you before.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
We bring on.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Programming to address how it is that diversity ought to
be advanced at the firm level, at the court level,
at the selection of judge level, and we sponsor programs
what we call pipeline programs for folks who are economically disadvantaged,
(08:47):
who come from inner cities, who have an interest in
law but don't know though I see a pathway to success.
And often those folks are diverse, not always, but we
do our best to make sure that they find a
way to realize their dream and so we support them.
At the high school level. For students who've indicated a
(09:12):
interest in law school, we help support their studying. We
provide financial assistance to those students.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It's worked.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We just graduated our first class of legal scholars we
supported I think it was five people seven eight years
ago and so they now just joined the bar, which
is a great real success story.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Must be very gratifying for you.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It's tremendous, it's wonderful. I mean you actually see something accomplished.
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And how are the efforts made to help these people?
Is their funding?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Do people volunteer all of the But we have a
pro bono committee which I can talk about in a minute,
and we have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and
that committee.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is charged with.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Overseeing the implementation of our various programs. It's currently run
by Judge Cecil Thomas, who was its founder, a former
president of the Bar Association and who was a real
proponent of DEI. And the members on that committee are
very committed to the effort. So we reach out. We
(10:25):
often secure sponsorship from law firms, we secure funding from
private corporations. It's been a real success story for us.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
And if people wanted to make a donation, they can
just go to Ctbar dot org.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yes, we can very good.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
One of the things I've often read about is the
access to justice? What is that and what role does
the CBA play in this area.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The access to justice gap is simply the realization that
there are people who need legal services but cannot afford them.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So the poverty.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Level in Connecticut by federal Census standards is about twenty
five thousand dollars for a family of three, and those
folks just can't afford legal services. If an eviction arises,
if they've got a collection problem, if they've got a
(11:19):
dispute with a neighbor, they have no ability to interact
with the court in a way which is meaningful. And
then on top of the folks that are at poverty level,
you've got folks who are just above that, who we
call modest beans, folks who even at twenty six thousand
dollars can't afford the lawyers.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So the access to that's the access to justice gap, is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
The number of people who can't otherwise afford legal services
because of their financial situation. And at the poverty level
that's about that's close to four hundred thousand people in
the state. So the CB the court. There are various
legal service corporation legal service organizations in the state devoted
(12:06):
to probono legal services, and we work together to find
ways in which we can provide free legal service to
the folks who need it.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Some would say that the rule of laws under attack,
does the Bar Association weigh in on that issue.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It does, and in today's climate, it's probably the most
important thing that we do at a macro level, somewhat
separated from our members, but reflective of our member's interests.
Our mission statement in the Constitution says that we promote
(12:47):
We're here to promote the public's interests through the advancement
of justice and the protection of liberty. The problem is
that justice is sometwns sometimes now defined bylolitical rhetoric, and
liberty has been swallowed by political agendas. And I want
to make clear this is not a political position. We're
(13:09):
an a political organization. But the trend over the last
really ten to twenty years has been this divisive political
climate that winds its way up and winds its way
into really dismantling the rule of law. And the rule
(13:30):
of law is nothing more than the collective commitment we've
all made to one another to be governed by a
set of rules that ensures a organized society that protects
our liberty, and when that rule of law is questioned
or dismantled, then society will falter, democracy will falter, anarchy
(13:57):
will occur. As lawyers, we are the only profession that
can stand up for the rule of law. Judges do it,
they should do it. But judges can't speak at a podium.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
They can only.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Express their opinions in decisions and only those cases that
come before them. So oftentimes lawyers are the only ones
who can stand up for the rule of law and
make sure that it is not undermined by whatever may
whatever might be happening happening politically, and that's happening every
(14:41):
single day.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Now I'm speaking with Attorney Tim Sharon from a Pullman
and Commonly LLC, also of the Connecticut Bar Association. If
you're a lawyer, a judge, a paralegal, a law school student,
you need to go to ctbar dot org. You need
to become a member of this amazing organization. Thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Thank you, Alison, appreciate very much.
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is attorney Tim Sharon. He's from the
Connecticut Bar Association and of Pullman and CALMLYLLCA. Good morning,
Good morning Alison. We're here to talk about the Connecticut
Bar Association for people who don't know about it. When
was it formed? Why was it formed?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The Bar Association was formed one hundred and fifty years
ago this year, eighteen seventy five. It's a professional association
of lawyers, judges, some law school students, and exist as
a professional association of folks who have a common cause.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So what does it do for these members.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We look at it in having two really two factors.
One is for its members and one is for the public.
For its members, we are a more than a trade association.
We're a professional association, but we advocate on behalf of
our members. Some of that involves helping them run their practices,
educating them on changes in the law. We have a robust,
(01:02):
continuing legal education program where we offer over one hundred
programs a year on advances in the law and what
people need to know is the law changes. We have
a dynamic section and committee program where lawyers can come together,
get to know one another, share common experiences in different
(01:22):
fields of the law, and lobby on behalf of their clients.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Why did you decide to join the Connecticut Bar Association?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Most Connecticut lawyers join. We have about eight thousand members,
and it's a way in which you get to know
your colleagues. Connecticut, to its good fortune, has a very
collegial bar. We get along with one another, and part
of that is the Bar Association brings together people who
are adversaries in court or adversaries across the table, but
(01:52):
otherwise friends and colleagues in the common pursuit of the law.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Very nice. Are you looking for members currently?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
We're always looking for members.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We're an association, so as law students graduate each year,
we try to track them to the bar. For those
of lawyers out there who are not current members, we're
always looking for them to join as well.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is there an eligibility clause or do you just need
to be a law student or a paralegal or a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
No eligibility, all the all the criteria you just mentioned
work for us.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So how would they become a member?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's simply filling out an application. There's there's no credentialing,
there's no appletely, there's no test.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's just becoming a member.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So if anybody would like to become a member, the
best thing for them to do is go to ctbar
dot org. Tell me how does it operate.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We have a House of Delegates and Board of Governors,
which are are operating legislative bodies. And then an officer
track a president, president elect, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer,
secretary are assistant secretary. Those offices are occupied for one
year terms. The vice president elevates and so you it's
(03:09):
an up ladder program.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
What kind of lobbying does the CBA undertake?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Two types.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Our sections will often lobby on behalf of their constituencies.
So for example, the real estate section or the Estates
and Probate section might decide that there are changes in
the law that are necessary to protect clients, and so
they will lobby those issues with the legislature. And then
(03:36):
we as an organization lobby on behalf of our member's interest,
and that really takes two forms. One is general business lobbying. We,
like every other business in the state, want to have
a robust economy. So when there are legislative proposals on
the table that will expand business. That's good for us,
(03:58):
and so we lobby for that. And then there are
specific issues like healthcare legislation. I'm sure it's no surprise
to you that the price of health care insurance goes
up and up and up every year. We have to
incur that expense on behalf of our employees, and so
we try to lobby the legislature on ways in which
(04:20):
those premiums might be reduced.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Can you help me out with eggs? Can you get
them to bring the price of eggs town?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I actually have fifteen chickens at my house, so we
sell them. If you want to come all the way
to Newtown, you can buy a dozen eggs for five dollars.
Well change the price.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yet, I have always had chickens. I'm Italian. That's what
we did. If you all had names, I would go
out and feed them, and then in the morning we'd
go out and look for the eggs. It's the greatest,
isn't it the best? It's pretty fun, it really is.
A New Town is beautiful, by the way, too. So
you are celebrating one hundred and fifty years are you
going to commemorate the event.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It's a big year for us YEP. We're going to
roll out our celebration at our Legal Conference on June's thirteenth.
That's our biggest event for the year. We run a
day long program of seminars. We have about eight hundred
people who attend, lots of vendors who are offering services
for law firms.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
We'll roll it out there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
We have a gala plan for October sixteenth, which we
will presumably be advertising very soon. We're going to run
a video series where past presidents talk about their term
and passing the gavelon to the next president. And then
we are going to encourage all our members to devote
(05:38):
one hundred and fifty minutes to some community activity of
their interests that get.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Back to the community.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So that particular day you're going to have seminars and vendors.
What can people look forward to? What are some of
the seminars of the vendors.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We run six different tracks, so there are running throughout
the day and their competing programs for the same time slots.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So people you know, you might.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Have a program at nine fifteen and then you missed
the one that you wanted to go to at nine fifteen,
and so you show up at three fifteen for the
same program. It occupies all areas of the law. Each
of our sections usually hosts a centemar, seminar brings in
speakers to present whatever's hot in that particular area.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So it's it's an incredible day.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So I guess what I'm asking is if somebody is
an attorney or paralegal, let's say, but they're not a
member of the Connecticut Bar Association, this might be something
that they might want to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Absolutely and they are free to attend, and if they're interested,
ctbar dot org is the way place to go.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Beautiful beautiful. You mentioned you work hand in hand with
the court to improve the administration of justice house.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So so the Court often needs lawyers who are obviously
its constituents to help figure out how it can improve
its delivery of justice, how it can make it more efficient,
how it can make it more effective. So we often
serve on committees that the Court and panels to share
(07:19):
our intelligence, our experience with the court system.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We propose rule.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Changes to the judges on things we think might help
the system work better, and we work hand in hand
with the Court in terms of the delivery of pro
bono legal services.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You also promote diversity. How does the Connecticut Bar Association
do that.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
The legal profession for years and years was predominated by
white men, and that's fortunately changed over the last several decades.
But change is still needed, more changes needed. So that's
not attitude that we think should continue, and we do
(08:04):
our best to change it. And we do that by education,
by making clear to people what is right and what
is wrong behavior. We promote affinity bars, the bars I
mentioned to you before.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
We bring on.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Programming to address how it is that diversity ought to
be advanced at the firm level, at the court level,
at the selection of judge level, and we sponsor programs
what we call pipeline programs for folks who are economically disadvantaged,
(08:47):
who come from inner cities, who have an interest in
law but don't know though I see a pathway to success.
And often those folks are diverse, not always, but we
do our best to make sure that they find a
way to realize their dream and so we support them.
At the high school level. For students who've indicated a
(09:12):
interest in law school, we help support their studying. We
provide financial assistance to those students.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It's worked.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We just graduated our first class of legal scholars we
supported I think it was five people seven eight years
ago and so they now just joined the bar, which
is a great real success story.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Must be very gratifying for you.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It's tremendous, it's wonderful. I mean you actually see something accomplished.
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And how are the efforts made to help these people?
Is their funding?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Do people volunteer all of the But we have a
pro bono committee which I can talk about in a minute,
and we have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and
that committee.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is charged with.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Overseeing the implementation of our various programs. It's currently run
by Judge Cecil Thomas, who was its founder, a former
president of the Bar Association and who was a real
proponent of DEI. And the members on that committee are
very committed to the effort. So we reach out. We
(10:25):
often secure sponsorship from law firms, we secure funding from
private corporations. It's been a real success story for us.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
And if people wanted to make a donation, they can
just go to Ctbar dot org.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yes, we can very good.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
One of the things I've often read about is the
access to justice? What is that and what role does
the CBA play in this area.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The access to justice gap is simply the realization that
there are people who need legal services but cannot afford them.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So the poverty.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Level in Connecticut by federal Census standards is about twenty
five thousand dollars for a family of three, and those
folks just can't afford legal services. If an eviction arises,
if they've got a collection problem, if they've got a
(11:19):
dispute with a neighbor, they have no ability to interact
with the court in a way which is meaningful. And
then on top of the folks that are at poverty level,
you've got folks who are just above that, who we
call modest beans, folks who even at twenty six thousand
dollars can't afford the lawyers.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So the access to that's the access to justice gap, is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
The number of people who can't otherwise afford legal services
because of their financial situation. And at the poverty level
that's about that's close to four hundred thousand people in
the state. So the CB the court. There are various
legal service corporation legal service organizations in the state devoted
(12:06):
to probono legal services, and we work together to find
ways in which we can provide free legal service to
the folks who need it.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Some would say that the rule of laws under attack,
does the Bar Association weigh in on that issue.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It does, and in today's climate, it's probably the most
important thing that we do at a macro level, somewhat
separated from our members, but reflective of our member's interests.
Our mission statement in the Constitution says that we promote
(12:47):
We're here to promote the public's interests through the advancement
of justice and the protection of liberty. The problem is
that justice is sometwns sometimes now defined bylolitical rhetoric, and
liberty has been swallowed by political agendas. And I want
to make clear this is not a political position. We're
(13:09):
an a political organization. But the trend over the last
really ten to twenty years has been this divisive political
climate that winds its way up and winds its way
into really dismantling the rule of law. And the rule
(13:30):
of law is nothing more than the collective commitment we've
all made to one another to be governed by a
set of rules that ensures a organized society that protects
our liberty, and when that rule of law is questioned
or dismantled, then society will falter, democracy will falter, anarchy
(13:57):
will occur. As lawyers, we are the only profession that
can stand up for the rule of law. Judges do it,
they should do it. But judges can't speak at a podium.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
They can only.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Express their opinions in decisions and only those cases that
come before them. So oftentimes lawyers are the only ones
who can stand up for the rule of law and
make sure that it is not undermined by whatever may
whatever might be happening happening politically, and that's happening every
(14:41):
single day.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Now I'm speaking with Attorney Tim Sharon from a Pullman
and Commonly LLC, also of the Connecticut Bar Association. If
you're a lawyer, a judge, a paralegal, a law school student,
you need to go to ctbar dot org. You need
to become a member of this amazing organization. Thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Thank you, Alison, appreciate very much.
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