President's Message — October 2026

Elisabeth Lord

In this very special issue, we celebrate the anniversary of the Riverside Lawyer magazine. I would like to first thank everybody that contributes each month to the production of our magazine. This is one of the aspects that makes our Bar so special. Every month members get information and insight on legal issues, our fellow attorneys, and upcoming events.

September was a big month for RCBA. On September 17, the Riverside County Law Library celebrated its eighty-five year anniversary. Riverside County Bar Association received a Community Partnership award for RCBA's contributions and support to educate and promote the library's programs and resources to the legal community and general public. With honor, I received the Community Partnership Award on behalf of RCBA.

Other organizations receiving this award included the Ronald H. Roberts Temecula Public Library, Inland Counties Legal Services, Southwest Riverside County Bar Association, Desert Bar Association, Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino, and Riverside Legal Aid.

The Distinguished Service Award went to the Honorable Jackson Lucky (ret.) and the Honorable Michele Levine (ret.) This event occurred at the Law Library and was quite the celebration. There was wine, jazz music, and even swing dancing lessons. Let's just say nobody was asked to be quiet. I want to thank everybody who made time to attend this event.

September was also the month of our annual Installation dinner at Mission Inn. I consider this to be a very special event that provides our members with the opportunity to get together at a historic and beautiful venue. I want to thank all of you that came out for our big night. For those of you that missed it, there is always next year. I want to especially thank the members of our judiciary who made time in their busy schedules to attend. Your support is meaningful and appreciated.

I would like to congratulate our Krieger Award recipient, Public Defender Steven Harmon. Mr. Harmon's dedication to our Bar, legal community, and assurance of quality representation of indigent defendants is to be celebrated and admired.

I would also like to congratulate Virginia Blumenthal, who was the recipient of the esteemed Aurora Hughes Award for Service to our bar association. Ms. Blumenthal's dedication to service, mentorship, and the elevation of women in our legal community is un-parrelled.

It was an honor to share this night with two such highly esteemed members of our legal community. They are an example and inspiration of what all of us, as lawyers, should seek to achieve.

Last, I would like to thank our donors to the silent auction to benefit the Riverside County Bar Foundation. I thank those of you who pulled out your wallets and credit cards to bid. The Foundation is a very special arm of RCBA that seeks to serve, recognize and better our legal community and community at large.

The RCB Foundation was established in 2015, but many of its programs existed long before. The RCB Foundation supports our notorious Elves program, Good Citizenship Awards, Reading Day, the Douglas Weathers Scholarship for Mock Trial students and Project Graduate. Each of these programs serve an aspect of our community in need.

Good Citizenship Awards acknowledge high school students in our community that demonstrate service, kindness, and character. Each year these students are invited to our beautiful Department 1 to be recognized and receive a small monetary award to help with starting their future. The Douglas Weathers Scholarship is given to four outstanding students who participate in the annual Riverside County Mock trial competition.

Reading Day is an annual event typically held in March on National Reading Day. RCBA sponsors a Riverside County Elementary School. Judges and attorneys volunteer to read the book of their choice to students. The selected school also receives a $1000 donation to support the school's library. This is fun and rewarding day for our members and students alike.

The Elves Program and Project Graduate rely on the generous donation of time and money from our members. As the holidays approach, Elves will be asking for your assistance. Our Elves program ensures that needy families have gifts to open on Christmas day. There are several ways that you can help. We need Elves to shop, wrap, deliver and donate. Keep an eye on your emails and I assure you there will be an opportunity to contribute to this wonderful cause. If you are short on time, any size donation to assist with the purchase for gifts is welcome and very much appreciated.

Project Graduate is a program that assigns an educational representative to a foster child to help guide them toward graduation from high school. These kids don't have parents to guide them through this very significant part of their life. At this time, Project Graduate is in need of volunteers willing to take on this task. It is a chance to make a real difference in an emerging adult's future. If you have some hours to spare, please reach out to RCBA for how you can help.

All these programs are significant in their impact and your support at Installation helped to guarantee their ongoing dedication of service to our community.

I am excited about the upcoming year and thank our members for their ongoing support.

Elisabeth Lord is a family law practitioner and partner at Lord and Brooker, APC and president of the Riverside County Bar Association.