Our Section is dedicated to providing valuable resources and support to help each of us excel in our roles. In today's rapidly evolving legal landscape, it is crucial to stay informed and connected. CCS serves as a hub for collaboration, networking, learning, and professional development, ensuring that we stay at the forefront of legal trends and best practices.

I would like to thank Emma Cano for her dedication, passion and hard work serving as the Section Chair for the past year.

As Chair of CCS, I aim to focus on increasing and expanding the membership benefits, including providing more CLE opportunities—in addition to annual events like the Advanced In-House CLE (taking place on August 3-4, 2023 at the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio) and the State Bar Annual Meeting CLE, which are co-hosted by our Section together with the Business Law Section. In the fall, we plan to launch “Corporate Counsel Power Hour” --- a new program to provide free monthly one-hour CLE webinars on current, relevant topics affecting your practice or business.

All of the CLE events are in addition to the wonderful information sources you are already receiving as a Section Member:

• The Corporate Counsel Newsstand, via Lexology, which publishes in excess of 450 articles every day from more than 900 leading law firms and service providers worldwide across 50 work areas in 25 languages. We've tailored the collection of daily articles to practice areas specifically relevant to in-house counsel.

• The Corporate Counsel Review, a law journal co-published twice a year by the Corporate Counsel Section and South Texas College of Law and provided for free to Section Members.

• The Corporate Counsel Section's Newsletter, published several times a year via email to Members on hot topics of interest to our Members and archived on our website.

In addition, I would like to focus on growing our Champions of Pro Bono initiative, which was formed to raise funds to support important pro bono efforts of qualified organizations across the State through annual grants provided by our Pro Bono and Grants Committee. Since 1997, we have awarded more than $850,000 to pro bono legal service providers. We are grateful for the generosity of all of our Champions of Pro Bono sponsors.

Finally, I would like to seek ways to increase the opportunities for our Members to connect virtually or in-person with fellow in-house and outside lawyers across the state. Networking and community outreach not only benefit our professional growth by expanding your network but also our mental health and well-being by forging meaningful connections and sharing insights with your peers.

I seek your help to grow our Section’s reach and supportive community by attaining 5,000 members. If you haven’t already, please renew your membership with our Section at the State Bar of Texas website. Please encourage your friends, colleagues and team members to join our Section for the low annual membership fee of $30 in exchange for multiple valuable benefits.

I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for the Corporate Counsel Section, and I am confident that, together, we can achieve great things and make a lasting impact. Let us continue to support, inspire, and empower each other in our pursuit of excellence.

Thank you for being part of this dynamic community and giving me an opportunity to serve as your Section Chair.

Warm regards,

Toni D. Nguyen