It might be true that wisdom comes with age, but recently, the Section of Business Law has reinvigorated its commitment to reach out to young lawyers — embracing the idea that it's not only a smart move, but a necessary one, to invest in the future.

The challenge to cultivate a more welcoming and nourishing environment for the next generation of business law leaders is nothing new to the Section. The under-representation of young lawyers has been a continuing topic of concern and debate. But the leadership is both building on the efforts of those that came before them and enthusiastically adding to the mix its own innovative solutions — recognizing that the future of the Section is tied to its ability to attract and retain promising young lawyers.

"I think once you set your mind to do it, once it becomes a priority, that's half the battle," said Barbara Mayden, chair of the Section in 2004-2005.

And the Section is not shying away from the other half of the battle either. Within the last few years, it has designed and implemented several initiatives aimed specifically at diversifying the demographics (age wise) of its members. The vision: to transform the Section into a second home where the brightest young minds in business law can thrive and grow.

These initiatives include the Business Law Fellows program, now in its seventh year, the one-year-old Young Lawyers Forum, as well as several noteworthy efforts by individual committees and leaders within the Section.

Lynn Howell, a veteran leader in the Section, began her involvement as a law student when she worked as a research assistant for a professor who chaired one of the Section's committees. "I was basically raised there," said Howell, a member of the Council. As a young lawyer, she said she saw a lack of young lawyers who were active in the Section.

Over the years, as Howell climbed the leadership ranks, she became a vocal and passionate advocate for the increased integration of more young lawyers into the core of the Section. As former chair of several Section committees, former chair for the Business Law Committee of the Young Lawyers Division (YLD), and former YLD liaison to the Section, Howell has played an instrumental role in not only helping the Section recognize the need to integrate more young lawyers, but also in pushing for decisive action to be taken.

"When I started, there were hardly any young lawyers. Just the two liaisons from the division, me and whoever I dragged along to the meetings," she said.

According to Howell, there has been a concerted effort on behalf of the Section since the late '80s to bring more young lawyers into the fold. "We tried everything from 'nights out on the town' type things, to mentoring meetings. We tried to make it as soft and warm and welcoming as possible," she said.

But these efforts did not seem to be working as well as the Section hoped. A slight pause and Howell identifies the why. "The thing is, until you get a critical mass — young lawyers just won't come," Howell said. "I went to the leadership and told them that we have to combat this. We have to lure them over, but we have to offer some bait."

Enter the Business Law Fellows program.

The program was created as a means of combating two of the main reasons the Section saw as impediments to bringing in more young lawyers: the cost of attending Section meetings and the perceived lack of opportunity for young lawyers to do substantive work in the Section.

"Getting them to come to a Section meeting where there wasn't funding was a challenge," Howell said. To ensure the success of the Fellows program, the Section commits to reimbursing the selected Fellows for the cost of attending the Spring and Annual meetings, as well as any other additional committee meetings that the Fellows are required to attend.

Five Fellows are selected every year on a competitive basis, and the Section funds their expenses for two years. In addition, the Fellows are appointed to a committee where they are assigned specific tasks and given opportunities to become actively involved in meaningful work, as well as assigned a mentor from the committee to help guide them.

According to Patrick Clendenen, a former chair of the Fellows Program and former Fellow himself, these types of institutionalized initiatives say a lot about the Section's effort to diversify its age base.

"I think what they reflect is the Section's commitment to developing the future of the Section — to recruiting and attracting the best and brightest in our area of practice," said Clendenen, who is a young partner at the Boston office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C. "As more and more Fellows have become integrated into the Section, more people have become attuned to the needs of new generations of business lawyers," he said.

He added that over the past five years he has seen a definite growth in the depth and diversity of the Section's commitment to reaching out to young lawyers and placing them on a track toward leadership. "I think that the Section is a pioneer in this kind of commitment," he said. "In this regard, the Section is way ahead of the curve compared to the rest of the ABA."

Matt Nelson, who is a former Fellow and is currently the chair of the Business Law Committee for the Young Lawyers Division, said that the Section's commitment to young lawyers recognizes that the future of the Section is tied to cultivating new leaders.

"Like any other group, Sections can get stale. Young lawyers bring an influx of new ideas and new energy to help reinvigorate what's going on," Nelson said. "Also, the Section gets some assurance that its future is vibrant and useful. If young lawyers don't participate, the Section won't have much to do for much longer."

One of the requirements to be a Fellow is that the lawyer had to have been actively involved in the YLD — the point of entry for most active lawyers within the ABA. The age cutoff for the YLD is 36. Once a lawyer's 37th birthday comes rolling by, they are "aged-out" of the YLD, and often seem to shy away from joining a Section and continuing their involvement with the ABA.

The Fellows program is one way to counteract this. "Certainly I will continue to be involved in the Section. The Section has made an investment in me," Nelson said. "They put me in a leadership position and funded my attendance at the meetings. I plan on making a return on that investment."

There are not many 31-year-old lawyers that can just pick up the phone and call up their buddy — a bankruptcy court judge. But Matthew Reinhard, a current Fellow finishing up his last year, can do just that. Thanks to the program, Reinhard counts Judge Elizabeth Stong, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York, as his mentor.

Reinhard, who focuses on white collar crime in Washington, said that the Fellows program provides a nice transition for those lawyers who have aged out of the YLD. "It can be kind of intimidating to come out from the YLD into a larger Section where you don't know anyone," he said.

Reinhard said that in a city like D.C, where everyone is a lawyer, it's important to distinguish yourself early on. "I think one of the biggest challenges of working in D.C. is that you can't throw a rock without hitting five lawyers," he said. "You spend the first few years with your head spinning, just trying to figure out what you're going to do."

Heather Jefferson, 36, is also a second-year Fellow and echoed Reinhard's sentiments about the benefits of being a Fellow. The program appealed to her because it gave her both leadership opportunities within the Section, but also provided her with a pathway to get involved in exciting projects that fit her area of interest.

She said that the benefits of being involved have been threefold. First, she was "given access to some of the best legal minds in the country." Second, she took full advantage of the Section's practical and dynamic learning environment. "There's a different type of learning that takes place at the ABA than you would get at a firm. In a firm, you just learn what you need to learn to get the project done," Jefferson said.

And third, she added that she was able to start developing a network of prospective clients and resources at a younger age than most of her peers.

Jefferson originally bypassed the YLD to join the Section. She started attending Section meetings in 1991 before ever having participated in the YLD. "I thought the Business Law Section was a place I wanted to go. I went to a few receptions — and felt too young. Not that people weren't nice, but I wasn't ready," she said.

After attending a couple of Section meetings, Jefferson decided to give the YLD a try instead. The YLD proved to be a better fit for her at the time and she eventually became very active in the group, as well as the Law Practice Management Section — eventually founding and chairing the Section's Women Rainmakers Committee.

When she recently aged out of the YLD, she turned to the Section of Business Law again. "Now I'm back and I still feel young. But now I have colleagues who are my age and who are here and we all just stumble together," she said, laughing. "The current environment is completely geared toward younger lawyers. I'm enjoying it."

The Young Lawyers Forum, only one year old, is the newest initiative created to help make the Section more enticing and rewarding to young lawyers. The mission of the Forum, the brainchild of former Section Chair Barbara Mayden and former YLD liaison to the Section Timothy Lupinacci, is to ease the transition for young lawyers into the substantive work and leadership of the Section and its committees. The Forum also offers young lawyers an environment in which they can socialize with other young lawyers as well as more senior members.

"It is important and beneficial for all lawyers to get involved with the Section, but it particularly helps younger lawyers drill down into a specialty in a way that's not possible in law school," Mayden said. "With all our committees and such, you are able to learn very specific skills — and doing it elbow to elbow with the leaders of the field."

The first official meeting for the Forum was in April of 2005, but it had been in the works for about a year. Mayden hopes that the forum will offer a comfort level to young lawyers who might have been apprehensive about joining the Section. "Sometimes, it's a little daunting when you walk into a room where there are a lot of people who are older than you, whom you don't know and who have an expertise you haven't had the time to acquire yet," she said.

Michelle Gallardo, co-chair of the Forum and former YLD liaison to the Section, said that every Section lawyer member who is under the age of 40 or has been in practice for less than 10 years will automatically become a member of the Forum. The Fellows will also be actively involved in the forum.

"It provides a soft landing for lawyers moving on from the Young Lawyers Division and looking for another place within the ABA that they would like to be involved in," she said. "The goal is to help young lawyers get access to the Section and move into positions of leadership more easily."

The Forum is comprised of six committees: programming, public service, newsletter, membership, social and The Institute for the Young Business Lawyer committee. The Institute, which was jump started in Seattle as part of the 2004 Spring Meeting, is designed so that young lawyers or lawyers new to the practice of business law can attend a one-day meeting and be brought up to speed on what's going on in the business world.

Besides the Section-wide programs geared toward increasing the representation of young lawyers and young leaders, many Section committees have also taken it on themselves to foster a warm and welcoming environment for their younger members.

Mitchell Bach, chair of the Committee on Business and Corporate Litigation, said that while he has noticed a change in the Section in regard to deepening its commitment to bringing in more young lawyers, his committee — one of the newest in the Section — has always had that goal in mind. "We've always had that tradition. The Section is catching up to us in that sense," Bach said. "I've made it a real priority. I've brought in as many young lawyers as I could into the area and got them involved. I have the benefit of experience, and I am happy to share that with people."

Bach said that for as long as he could remember, the committee has always been welcoming to young business and commercial litigators. "It's extremely important to get new blood involved in the committee in terms of cultivating future leadership," he said.

Bach said that they encourage committee leaders to recruit young lawyers, and that their Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs are often organized and chaired by young members. Many young lawyers who were qualified to speak about particular subjects have been included in the committee CLE programs and in fact some of their subcommittees are chaired or vice-chaired by relatively young lawyers.

Gabriel Galanda, 29, is a prime example. Gabe is one of the Section's Business Law Ambassadors.

Galanda, a lawyer in the Seattle office of Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, who focuses on Indian law, has only been involved in the Section for about two years — but that has been time enough for him to make a name for himself as a dynamic young leader in the Section.

In his relatively short time with Business Law, he has already published two articles on Indian law, co-chaired a committee forum on "Hot topics in Indian Gaming," was the membership subcommittee chair for the Gaming Law committee, presented several programs at ABA meetings or forums, and was recently appointed vice chair of the new Tribal Court Litigation Subcommittee to the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee.

"All of this for a young lawyer is virtually unprecedented in other Sections. It's an accelerated track toward leadership," Galanda said. "Perhaps it's the way the Business Section operates."

For Galanda, even more important than the formal, institutionalized programs that the Section has in place — is the open-arms invitation he received and the sense that the Section not only values the ideas that young lawyers advance, but also gives them the opportunity to act on those ideas.

He said that the willingness of the already seasoned leaders in the Section to lend a hand to emerging leaders is key to make sure that they live up to their commitment. "They have to build infrastructures that will invite young lawyers, but then have to nourish those young lawyers the same as they would new associates in a firm. It takes time and devotion," he said.

According to Galanda, young lawyers often have to struggle for people to see beyond their age to their potential leadership abilities. "Historically, it seems to be believed that expertise only comes with age, tenure and experience," he said. "Sometimes young lawyers just need to be taken seriously in spite of the fact that they're 28, 29 or 30. We need to be considered as equals and peers who have something of substance to say," Galanda said.

Melanie Damian, 36, has also attained a leadership role in the Committee of Business and Corporate Litigation — she is one of the founders and chair of the Subcommittee on Women Business and Commercial Advocates. Damian said that young lawyers have plenty to bring to the table. "Young lawyers have new ideas. People who haven't been doing it for 20 years think of things differently — and that's good. Young lawyers can help develop ways for the Section to continue for years and years."

Stephanie Cohen, 33, has been involved with the Partnerships and Unincorporated Business Organizations Committee since the 2004 Annual Meeting and is a new Business Law Fellow. "It's obvious that this past year they're really trying to involve young lawyers and make sure we don't get left behind," Cohen said.

For example, the committee makes it a point to always have their speakers devote a couple of minutes at the beginning of their presentations "to breaking things down" (such as explaining the terminology) so that younger lawyers don't walk away feeling overwhelmed, Cohen said.

Howell, that veteran Section leader, reminds us that it took work to come to this point. "We had to convince the Section leadership to take chances on younger people," she said.

But Howell was quick to add that young lawyers also have to take responsibility — and action. "A lot of them have a bad habit of hiding," Howell said. "They have to set shyness aside, and be a little adventuresome. Meet a few people. They won't bite."

Nelson, the chair of the Young Lawyers Division Business Law Committee, said that the most important thing the Section can do now is honor its recent commitment to young lawyers. "Sometimes these programs can fade in and out as leadership changes," Nelson said.

But Judge Alvin Thompson, current chair of the Section, assures that there is nothing to worry about on that front. He said that it has been a continuing source of pleasure to see young lawyers embrace the Section's values, and in turn, the Section embrace the contributions of the young members.

"We are making a conscious effort to make them feel welcome, and are trying to convey to them how much they are needed if the Section is to have continuing vitality," Thompson said.