Celebrating 150 years

Promoting professional excellence, fostering justice, serving our members, and educating the public

150 years ago this month, on Wednesday, January 24, 1872, a group of local attorneys held an informal meeting to “consider formation of a Cincinnati Bar Association.” A month later, on February 27, 1872, the Constitution and Bylaws of the Cincinnati Bar Association (CBA) were presented by Nicholas Longworth and officially adopted. Alphonso Taft, former United States Attorney General, was elected president. 

Since those early days in the late 1800s, attorneys and the CBA have experienced incredible change. The invention of the telephone, facsimile, computers, and the internet. Wars, public emergencies, and conflicts over laws have spanned the course of our organization’s existence. Rights have been advanced, reduced, stalled, and catapulted. 

Since 1872, we have grown from an association of 75 members to more than 3,600. We’ve moved locations a handful of times but not many miles. While the practice of law has changed in significant ways, the mission of the CBA remains steadfast: to promote professional excellence, foster justice, serve our members and educate the public. 

The infrastructure of the CBA includes committees and practice groups, which provide opportunities for members to lead, convene and discuss the specifics of their fields of practice. In fact, the first committees were created in 1872, including: Executive, Judiciary and Legal Reform, Investigation, and Grievances. 

Today, we have more than 40 committees and practice groups, two court-related groups, and several professional development and interest groups. Our Young Lawyers Section is a robust affinity group for lawyers under 36 or in their first five years of practice, and the best entry point for those new to the Bar to familiarize themselves with the professional legal community in Greater Cincinnati. 

The CBA is celebrating 150 years in several ways. We’re creating an interactive, multimedia timeline on our website to share historical content that a committee has been compiling from archives. The 150^th committee is also working on a CLE series that covers significant historical Cincinnati cases. We’re planning some social events for the warmer months of 2022, so we can celebrate together, safely and in person. We will combine our Annual Meeting with a 150^th Anniversary Gala, to be held in June downtown by the Banks at Anderson Pavilion. 

We’re also instituting a community service campaign, beginning this month, with a major kickoff pro bono event in February 2022. Promoting access to legal services is an essential component of our mission, and this is one more way we can fulfill it. Members who volunteer their time, whether in one of our CBA-sponsored pro bono events or through other avenues, will be publicly recognized through CBA designations for pro bono service.  

We would appreciate your help, too. If you have a significant memory or artifact from the last 150 years of the CBA, please let us know. Reach out to our communications team at communications@cincybar.org to get involved. 

Thanks to you, our members, we look forward to the next 150 years.