SF Lawyers Club's Next Prez Seeks 'Momentum'

The Lawyers' Club of San Francisco is betting on a well-known name to handle the next portion of its rejuvenation.

Tuesday at its annual Supreme Court luncheon, outgoing president Robert Cross is expected to hand the torch to veteran trial lawyer E. Robert Wallach.

After falling into a $15,000 budget deficit last August, the club is back in the black, Cross said, and its membership is up to about 150 from less than 75 last summer. Bob Wallach came forward last year, Cross said, eager to help the club regain its footing as a vehicle for solos and smaller-firm lawyers to mingle with judges and fellow attorneys.

Known for taking hundreds of cases to jury verdict and even defending himself once in a federal prosecution in New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wallach, who is in his 70s, says he still works on three to five cases at a time. He has been a solo practitioner since 1981 and a Lawyers Club member since the late 1950s. He served as president of the Bar Association of San Francisco in 1975.

LegalPad caught up with Wallach by phone as he prepared to board a plane back to the city from Las Vegas, where he was in meetings for a white collar criminal case.

Wallach said he didn’t ask about the challenges that lie ahead as the club continues to work on its renaissance, preferring instead to focus on the need it exists to serve.

“I think there’s a large reservoir of people in the category of solo and small firms who want a bar association that is available to them for both education and social purposes, and I hope to start that momentum,” Wallach said, adding: “I don’t think it can be accomplished in a year.”

For that kickstart, Wallach says he’ll call for more intimate gatherings where lawyers from across practice areas could socialize, as well as greater opportunities for low-cost educational experiences. He says he’d also like to launch a program under which lawyers donate time to working with San Francisco high schools in developing their own debate and public speaking programs.

Aware of how strained for time lawyers are these days, Wallach says the high school project would be a way that lawyers “can contribute hours without having to spend money or being immersed in another complex project.”

Wallach says he feels a sense of loyalty to the Lawyers' Club. “The most important thing they’ve done for me is I’m the only person ever elected president of the bar association [of San Francisco] in a contested election and I really think the Lawyers' Club votes helped me to win,” he said. “I know that I did very well in the Lawyers Club and I’m a big fan of the San Francisco Bar Association.”

—  Petra Pasternak