[Identification of item], Bexar County Women's Bar Association Records, 1983-2001, MS 9, Archives and Special Collections, Library, University of Texas at San Antonio.
The Bexar County Women's Bar Association (BCWBA) was started in late 1982 and incorporated in 1988. The mission of the Association is to bring together women attorneys, legal assistants and law students in Bexar County and to provide a local forum for the exchange of dialogue and ideas relevant to women in the legal profession. The earliest motivations for organization were a desire to see a woman appointed to an open County Court judicial bench in Bexar County and to see more women gain leadership positions in the San Antonio Bar Association. Olga Brown organized the initial social in 1983 to gauge interest in forming an organization. Of the 77 original members of BCWBA, three were men. Membership is open to any women in the Bexar County area legal community, and by 1997 amounted to between 400 and 500 people. BCWBA published its first newsletter in 1984. In 1993, the name of the newsletter changed from
The association is governed by a board of directors comprised of officers elected from the general membership, committee chairs, an association historian and a community liaison. Regular committees of BCWBA include Membership, Newsletter, Newsletter Advertisement, Luncheons, Public Relations, Bench Brunch, Social and Roundtable. Officers and directors assemble monthly for board meetings, while the membership in general meets many times throughout the year for social, educational, and professional programs relating to the roles of women's in the legal profession. The programming includes luncheons, lectures by outside speakers, and retreats. Since its inception, BCWBA has implemented many important projects. In 1984, a BCWBA committee designed a child support formula for Bexar County, which the District Judges accepted. It served as a model for the child support formula eventually set by the Texas Supreme Court. In 1990, BCWBA saw the opening of the Teddy Bear Room in the Bexar County Justice Center, a special waiting room initiated by the association for children (trial witnesses and others) in the District Attorney's Office.
BCWBA also lobbied in 1990 for amendments to the San Antonio Bar Association (SABA) bylaws to allow presidents of all local minority bar associations as non-voting members of the SABA board. At the same time, BCWBA also worked for minority representation on the Texas Young Lawyers Association Board. In 1994, a BCWBA group joined other Texas women bar leaders to form the Texas Women's Bar Association. Also in 1994, for the first time five women were nominated to four director positions in the San Antonio Bar Association, thereby advancing one of the original goals of BCWBA.
The longest running and most successful of the projects undertaken by BCWBA is the Annual Bench Brunch. Starting in 1983 in an effort to keep the Women's Law Center from closing, the first Bench Brunch raised $5,000 and successfully met its goal. The Bench Brunch has two foci: to raise money for various charities and to honor women judges in Texas. The program of Bench Brunches includes the presentation of awards, the introduction of honorees, an auction, a raffle and a guest speaker. Past guest speakers include former Texas Governor Ann Richards, former Texas State Attorney General Dan Morales, and former Dean of the Law School at St. Mary's University Barbara Bader Aldave among others.
The BCWBA attributes it success to remaining non-partisan, while supporting the efforts of all its members to achieve leadership roles. As of 1997, the Bexar County Women's Bar Association continues to be an active and on-going presence in San Antonio.
New accessions will continue to be added to these records.
The records of the Bexar County Women's Bar Association consist of founding and incorporation documents, bylaws, minutes, reports, correspondence, printed material, membership information, directories, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and ephemera documenting the inception, daily function, monthly meetings, and projects of this San Antonio women's organization. The collection is arranged into eight series reflecting the group's organizational structure and conforming as much as was possible to the original order in which it was accessioned.
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Records were donated in 1994 by the Bexar County Women's Bar Association.
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be obtained from Archives and Special Collections, Library, University of Texas at San Antonio.
There are no restrictions on these materials.
Processed by Laura Micham, Processing Archivist, June 1997.
Legal and organizational documents of the Bexar County Women's Bar Association created when the organization was incorporated. Subseries include Incorporation Documents and Bylaws and contain the incorporation charter, certificate of incorporation, articles of incorporation, corporate resolutions, and restated bylaws, (1989 and 1990).
This series consists of agendas and minutes of monthly meetings along with documents referred to during these meetings. The Board meets monthly.
The first treasurer's reports are simple statements listing monthly transactions, deposits, debits, and balance of the association's account. Later treasurer's reports include, in addition to the above, disbursements, income/expense reports, and proposed budget guidelines among other information.
The correspondence series is comprised of letters, memoranda, and circulating materials not included in other series. The bulk of the correspondence consists of facsimile memoranda, the favored method of communication among officers and directors of the association. This series is divided into two subseries: Presidential Correspondence, which includes correspondence to and from the current president (newly elected annually), and General Correspondence, which includes all other correspondence among members and to and from individuals and organizations outside of BCWBA.
Membership Information consists of application forms filled out by new and renewing members listing work and home addresses, type of practice, law school attended, membership status, committees of interest, and preferred delivery method of the newsletter (fax, email, or post). The remainder of the series consists of membership lists and directories.
Included in this series are newsletters from the first year they were being published, 1984. In 1993, the name of the newsletter changed from the Bexar County Women's Bar Association Newsletter to Equal Timesâ. BCWBA newsletters are published monthly, and include a calendar of events, the Letter from the President, articles, announcements, and a list of new members.
The largest of the group of records, this series is divided in two subseries: Bench Brunch and Elder Law. The longest running and most successful of the projects undertaken by BCWBA, the annual Bench Brunch started in 1883 and exists to raise money for various charities and to honor women judges in Texas. The materials in this subseries include correspondence, materials relating to the auctions, Belva Lockwood Awards materials, publicity information, reports, programs, tickets, and guest lists. The Elder Law project has as its goal to create a handbook on legal issues relevant to older and retired people in San Antonio. It was published in 1995 and 1996 in English as well as Spanish. Materials in this subseries include correspondence, agendas, lists, and drafts of the handbook.
Included in this series are photographs, scattered materials relating to annual retreats of 1991, 1993, and 1995, invitations, fliers, brochures, information related to speakers hosted by the association, newsletter logos, and copies of the 1995-1996 State Board of Texas Certificate of Achievement.