Former dean named bar’s new
executive director
The State Bar Board of
Trustees has named Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, dean emerita of the University
of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, as its next executive director/chief
executive officer. She will assume her responsibilities on Sept. 1.
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Parker |
“I am excited to welcome Elizabeth Parker as the State Bar’s next executive
director/CEO,” State Bar President Craig Holden said. “She has stellar
credentials – having successfully led many large complex organizations – and I
am confident she will be highly regarded by both our stakeholders and
employees. She will have an immediate impact in helping increase our focus on
public protection, improving the delivery of legal services and enhancing our
accountability.”
As executive director and
CEO, Parker will answer to the board and carry out its policies. The executive
director leads a senior management team responsible for the numerous programs
of the State Bar of California.
Parker served as dean of the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the
Pacific in Sacramento for 10 years. Previously she was general counsel to the
26-campus University of Wisconsin System, the Central Intelligence Agency and
the National Security Agency and was the principal deputy legal adviser at the
U.S. Department of State. She has worked at major national law firms and also
spent a decade litigating federal class action lawsuits with legal services and
civil rights organizations after graduating from the University of Michigan and
its law school. She has argued successfully twice before the U.S. Supreme
Court.
“For one committed to the importance of our legal system, it would be hard to
imagine a more professionally fulfilling opportunity than serving as the
administrative leader of the nation’s largest, most forward-looking
professional bar organization,” Parker said. “I look forward to joining the new
leadership team which the Board of Trustees is creating and to working with the
bar’s dedicated staff.”
With Parker’s arrival comes the departure of current Acting and Deputy
Executive Director Robert Hawley, who has announced his intention to leave the
State Bar at the end of September.
“I am pleased to see the
board line up such a stellar team to lead the organization. I am most pleased
to have served the State Bar for many years and to now leave for greener
pastures,” he said.
President Holden added: “Bob is like an encyclopedia and has been an invaluable
resource for many years. We cannot thank him enough for his decades of public
service.”
Holden further noted that a new chief operations officer position will replace
the position of deputy executive director upon Hawley’s departure in September.
The COO position is on contract to the board, will answer to the executive director
and provide operations oversight and support for the organization, including IT,
budget, personnel, facilities and other operational areas.