An Invitation to Engage with the Commercial & Business Litigation Committee

The Commercial and Business Litigation Committee’s Member Engagement Subcommittee welcomes you! Our committee provides exceptional opportunities to expand your professional network, share information and opinion on topics of interest to commercial and business litigators, and spotlight your areas of expertise. Here are some suggestions for how you can get involved in the CBL Committee, help us produce and present useful content, build relationships within the procession, and define and market your personal brand.

Join a Subcommittee

Our committee is organized around subcommittees, most of which focus on specific substantive areas of the law. A list of current CBL subcommittees can be found on the About the Committee page of the CBL Committee website and range from A to Z (well . . . from ADR to White-Collar Crime). There is a place in the CBL Committee for every type of commercial or business litigator, and our subcommittees provide a great way to connect with others practicing in your field.

Share Your Expertise

Do you enjoy speaking and teaching? Our Committee prides itself on the timely and thoughtful content we provide Litigation Section members. These include video roundtables and webinars; in-person CLEs at regional or national events such as the Corporate Counsel CLE and Section Annual Conference; and audio programming including Litigation Radio, the Section’s podcast.

Do you enjoy writing? We publish a quarterly e-newsletter with articles on a variety of subjects and post Practice Points—short blog-like pieces—to our Committee webpage. And if you really enjoy writing, the Committee can help you shepherd a book proposal through the Section’s approval and editing processes.

Define Your Brand

Trying to get your name out there in a particular practice niche? Working with fellow Committee members on programming in a shared area of focus can help get you a foothold, which is sometimes a challenge for younger lawyers.

Expand Your Network

Lawyers who have participated in our Committee over a number of years say that the personal and professional relationships they have formed are the member benefit they value the most. I’ll get personal here and say that, although my term as a co-chair of this Committee ended last year, I elected to stay involved, with a focus on member engagement, largely because of the people I have met on the CBL Committee. We’re simply a great place for expanding your network, including through Committee meet-ups in select cities or geographical areas, allowing you to form or deepen relationships with lawyers in your own area who you might not otherwise have met.  

Go National!

There are CBL members in every one of our 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three Canadian provinces. Active membership in our Committee qualifies you for inclusion in our CBL Geographical Roster, which is a useful resource for referrals, informal questions—perhaps even a conference room or lunch date if you are travelling!

Find a Mentor

Our Committee has active members at every point in their careers (young lawyers, senior associates, new partners, and seniors) and in varied practice settings (big firm, small firm, solo, in-house, and government service). If you are looking for advice or mentoring or want to network with someone whose work experiences are similar to your own, we can help get something organized and off the ground.

Tell Us What You Think

If you are a member of CBL or are thinking about joining, I would love to hear from you. So would Committee co-chairs Charlie Jones, Zach Newman, Mark Romance, and John Strasburger.