President's Message — September 2026
Elisabeth Lord
It is with great honor that I find myself writing my first article as RCBA president. I still recall the day that I received the call from Sophia Choi, now the Honorable Judge Choi, that I had been elected to be a director-at -large. I was elated, and quite surprised. I did not realize anybody knew who I was. I was grateful for the opportunity to serve our legal community through our bar association.
I am a firm believer that we, as attorneys, should strive to give back to the legal community that provides us the opportunity to practice. I believe our legal community is what we, as attorneys, make it. As your president, I would like to call upon all attorneys, whether members of RCBA, to consider how they can give back. When we involve ourselves in our legal community, it promotes civility in our practice of law, which promotes settlement and allows us to better serve our clients.
I would like acknowledge and thank Megan Demshki for her service this past year as RCBA president and for her many years of service to our legal community. I know that I have very big shoes to fill. The message I have for you today is very similar to the one Megan had for you in her first article last year. Like Megan, I want to inspire our members to participate and be involved.
For those of you who do not know me, I am a family law practitioner. My firm is Lord & Brooker, APC. After initially practicing juvenile and criminal defense, I began my transition to a family law practitioner when I moved my family and practice to Riverside County in 2005. I came from a small legal community in Central California. We had one courthouse with ten departments that housed all areas of practice. It was a significant transition to find myself in a such an expansive county. I chose to live in the San Gorgonio Pass area because it put me within an hour drive of every courthouse in the county except Blythe.
Although Riverside County is a large county, I found the legal community here to be more akin to a small town. I was a young attorney and did not know anybody. I was welcomed quickly by my colleagues and joined the local bar association in San Jacinto where I had my practice and eventually served as president a few years later. I also joined RCBA. I took advantage of the many great opportunities offered by RCBA including section meetings, general meetings, continuing legal education opportunities, and joining the Leo Deegan Inn of Court. I made connections and friendships with attorneys both within and outside the area of law I practiced. These connections proved invaluable as they offered mentorship, collegiality, and the opportunity to discuss cases outside of the adversarial process. It provided the opportunity to get to know the judges I appeared in front of every day.
My first year on the RCBA board as a director-at-large was in 2020. We all remember that this was the year the world changed. Courts closed and we stayed home appearing in court and attending meetings behind our cameras. Installation that year was virtual. All our board meetings were virtual. Section meetings were virtual, if they occurred at all. Inn of Court meetings were virtual, and even Mock trial was virtual. It would be this way through 2021. Over time, I believe we became accustomed to seeing our colleagues and opposing counsels over Zoom instead of in person, at court or at meetings and events. I believe something was lost during that time that has still not fully returned.
Although the opportunity to resume our in-person connections has now resumed, many of us remain comfortable behind our cameras. Today, I am asking all of you to make a different choice. RCBA offers so many great opportunities to "get out there." I encourage you to attend a section meeting, a general meeting, go elf shopping, join your local Inn of Court, become an education representative for Project Graduate, become a mentor or attend a Barristers mixer. There are so many ways to choose to be involved and present. Riverside is truly a very unique legal community in which to practice law. I am proud to serve our members and be a part of this great community.
With many of our courts, especially civil, being nearly all virtual, lost is the opportunity to run into an opposing counsel in the hallway to discuss a case. Lost is the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee with a colleague or mentor a young attorney who looks lost. RCBA offers many opportunities to fill-in this gap.
As your president, I encourage all of you to become involved. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with your ideas and suggestions as to how we can improve and better serve our members. You will see me out there this year! I hope I see all of you too!
Elisabeth Lord is a family law practitioner and partner at Lord and Brooker, APC and president of the Riverside County Bar Association.