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The Philadelphia lawyer taking leadership of the Pennsylvania Bar Association is making technology central to his goals for the coming year.

White and Williams partner Charles Eppolito III is set to become president of the PBA on May 11. As president-elect for the past year, Eppolito spearheaded the creation of a cybersecurity and data privacy committee, which officially launched just a few weeks ago.

Chuck Eppolito III.

“The charge of that committee is to analyze cybersecurity issues and educate members,” he said, noting that it will include lawyers from all sizes of firms and government entities, as well as judges. “We're going to advocate for best practices and environments that mitigate security concerns.”

But that committee isn't the only update to PBA technology. The PBA recently launched a redesigned website, and is looking for other ways to utilize technology to better serve members.

“We want to do more to help our lawyers practice effectively and efficiently,” Eppolito said.

That includes lawyers from all sizes of firms, he noted. Having practiced law in Centre County, Dauphin County and now Philadelphia, Eppolito said he has an understanding of the various perspectives firms from those areas bring to the PBA.

He also said he is working to “energize” the PBA's long-existing large law firm committee. One of the tasks he hopes they will take on, he said, is analyzing how law firms can make better use of alternative fee arrangements.

“We always want all lawyers in Pennsylvania to be engaged and be more engaged,” he said. “We do have a large number of lawyers from large firms. We want more.”

One way those large firms could be helped by the PBA is in local legislative efforts, Eppolito said. Even the largest law firms are unlikely to have the representation the PBA has to advocate for issues affecting the legal profession in Pennsylvania legislative matters.

Eppolito said he plans to travel the state and get to know more of its law firms and lawyers. The PBA creates opportunities for them to contribute to publications and continuing legal education, he noted, which might get more firms involved.

As of late, the PBA has an increasing CLE function, having absorbed the administrative and governance functions of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. The PBI was already a subsidiary of the PBA, but it had run into financial troubles in recent years, cutting into reserves to cover expenses.

The PBI board, which has many members in common with the PBA board, voted to eliminate the officers and directors of the PBI. Outgoing PBA president Sharon Lopez said the decision was not made lightly, and PBI is now being assessed to determine how it should proceed. Property leases and personnel costs will be taken into account, Lopez said.

“It was clear that in order to keep the gold standard of CLE in the marketplace and in order to preserve the brand that PBI has … immediate action had to be taken,” Lopez said.

Regarding Eppolito's assumption of the PBA presidency, Lopez said she's confident in his leadership style and message.

“Our demographic of license holders in Pennsylvania is changing,” she said. “Chuck shares my commitment to making sure there's active engagement in membership recruitment.”

Lopez has served as president of the organization since last May. Anne John is set to become the incoming president, and will serve as president beginning in May 2019.