Report of President Kathleen Sweet to the House of Delegates of the New York State Bar Association – June 7, 2025
6.7.2025
The New York State Bar Association was founded in 1876 and is the oldest and largest voluntary state bar association in the United States. It is older even than the American Bar Association. We have members in all 50 states and in close to 100 countries. The founding of the New York State Bar Association was inspired in part by the goal to unify attorneys throughout the state and to bring together diverse voices and perspectives for the betterment of the legal profession. Our legacy is embedded in New York’s history, and the association has been at the forefront of numerous impactful legal reforms such as the creation of the indigent defense system, which predates the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.
I am humbled and honored to be the ninth woman to serve as president of this association. Allow me to acknowledge the women who paved the way for me.
- The first woman President of the Association, Maryann Saccomando Freedman, served from 1987-88;
- Catherine Richardson served from 1996-97;
- Lorraine Power Tharp served from 2002-03;
- Kathryn Grant Madigan served from 2007-08;
- Bernice K. Leber served from 2008-09;
- Claire P. Gutekunst served from 2016-17;
- Sharon Stern Gerstman served from 2017-18; and
- Sherry Levin Wallach served from 2022-23.
Due to time and space constraints, I will not name the 120 men who have preceded me as president!
As we approach our 150th Anniversary, a significant milestone, it is important to reflect on our history. The New York State Bar Association has shaped the development of law, contributed to the history of New York, and has provided education, information, and resources to attorneys and the public in New York, across the country and around the world. The objectives outlined in the association’s founding constitution remain: “to cultivate the science of jurisprudence, promote reform in the law, facilitate the administration of justice, and elevate the standards of integrity, honor, professional skill, and courtesy in the legal profession.”
Being a member of the New York State Bar Association means being able to make a difference – whether through advocacy for necessary reforms or speaking about issues important to the profession – the association has a strong and respected voice with significant influence to make change.
My goal is to build upon this legacy by increasing membership and addressing our members’ needs. I am happy to report that engagement with member benefits has increased substantially since our new membership model was rolled out last fall.
Our new all-inclusive model includes complimentary access to almost all Continuing Legal Education programs. The increase in registration and attendance at CLE programs has been dramatic:
- Webinar registrations increased by 6,177 from 2024 to 2025 (61% increase);
- Webinar certificates issued increased by 3,041 (54% increase); and
- On-Demand certificates for pre-recorded CLE programs issued increased by 3,709 (34% increase).
We continue to track and gather data on member engagement to inform our outreach campaigns to reach the virtual and global audience as well as New York lawyers who are not members.
These statistics prove that the New York State Bar Association is a leader in legal education and programming. The expertise that our faculty members offer in hundreds of programs is recognized to be of the highest quality.
In the last 6 months:
- We have 6,120 new social media followers.
- Our eBooks and downloadable forms have logged 11,545 sessions, which translates to lawyers spending over 637 hours with our content.
- From January 1 to March 31 our website had over 1 million views.
I want to congratulate our staff, our creative and wonderful Executive Director Pam McDevitt and our membership committee.
We have seen an increase of 20% in section membership. We have held 10 section destination meetings in April and May of this year, and there are 20 more coming later this year including:
- 2-Day Advanced Commercial Mediation Training in New York City;
- Family Law Section Summer Meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY;
- Tax Section Summer Meeting in Galloway, NJ;
- Elder Law & Special Needs Section Summer Meeting in Baltimore; and
- Real Property Law Section Summer Meeting in Galloway, NJ.
I want to encourage all of you to do individual outreach on membership. I have a House of Delegates challenge for you. If every one of you brings me just one new member, I would be so grateful. Whoever among you brings the most members will given two tickets to the Annual President’s Gala at the Plaza Hotel. Please think of those folks, over 100,000 lawyers – it’s a target rich environment – who are not yet members but are licensed in New York that you can recruit to be a member of our association.
Thank you to the leaders of the Sections and our incredible NYSBA staff. Their hard work is what makes these – and many other events throughout the year – possible.
Above all, the New York State Bar Association is a member services organization. We help our members to help their clients. We help our members become better attorneys, and we advocate for the legal profession.
I want to take this moment to remind myself and all of you that when it comes to Constitutional principles, respect for our adversaries, decency in discourse, the value of diversity, ensuring access to justice, promoting civic education and civic responsibility, we as lawyers have a non-delegable duty. While other segments of our society and citizenry may grow numb to what has become a coarsened political discourse, we as lawyers and judges must stay tuned in. We must pay attention. We are the keepers of the flame that is the Rule of Law.
We will continue to defend the profession, the Rule of Law, the independent judiciary, and the right to due process.
I look forward to the coming year of service to the association and to each of you.
