Q&A: Incoming MSBA President Marisa Trasatti seeks to boost membership, defend the rule of law

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Marisa Trasatti, who wears “two hats” in her career, is set to take over as president of the Maryland State Bar Association at the end of the week.

Trasatti works full-time as general counsel for Sciton, a California-based medical device company, and is a part-time partner at the national law firm Bowman & Brooke. She’s also involved in a number of professional organizations; the Harford County resident has spent the past year as the MSBA‘s president-elect, and spent two terms as treasurer before that.

She will be elected president on Friday at the organization’s annual Legal Summit in Ocean City, replacing Raphael Santini. Santini’s tenure saw the expansion of group memberships from government agencies such as the Attorney General’s Office; she hopes to further expand membership among lawyers who work in-house at corporations and those who work locally for national firms.

In an interview with The Daily Record, Trasatti discussed her goals for the organization and how she plans to defend the legal profession from attacks on the rule of law.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Daily Record: Tell me your takeaways from your year as president-elect.

Marisa Trasatti: President Santini truly is The Great Santini. I have learned so much from him in so many ways. He has accomplished so much that he’s a tough act to follow, candidly. He definitely continued to push judicial security, rule of law, separation of powers during his administration. He also criss-crossed the state and built a more robust membership. My hope is that I can be as successful as Raphael Santini was.

TDR: Now that you’ve served as treasurer twice and president-elect once, what are your goals for your year as president?

MT: Certainly, promoting the rule of law continues to be my focus. (We’ll be) launching a statewide town-hall discussion to educate the public on the importance of the rule of law, the independent judiciary, and the role of lawyers in safeguarding that democratic process and principles. Civility and leadership programs will definitely be part of what I seek to promote in my year.

I wear two different hats in my professional career. My hope is to get more members from those two venues — the corporate counsel, the general counsel, as well as the national-platform law firms.

And then we’re also going to conduct a strategic planning session. The last strategic plan is up; it was a five-year plan. Mine will be a five-year plan, and it’s going to focus on the return on investment to MSBA members — what members want to see more of, what they want to see less of. I think the ROI already is terrific but we need to take another look at it because the landscape continues to evolve.

And then the other aspect of the strategic planning session will include embracing legal technology. Obviously, MSBA already has a committee on AI. It’s developing so quickly that I think we need to make sure that we are putting that information out quickly enough that we’re staying ahead of the curve. We’ll probably rename it something broader like “legal technology task force.”

TDR: The MSBA has remained neutral on whether continuing legal education should be required. Are you looking at reconsidering that?

MT: We are definitely keeping our ear to the ground on CLE. MSBA, unlike some of the other organizations that I’m a member of … represents the entire legal profession, and the attorney population is split as it relates to mandating CLE in Maryland. As such, the MSBA, given that it has this broader population base, will remain neutral as to whether CLE shall be mandated. But we will continue to be an information conduit, if you will, to ensure that if CLE is mandated, it is an innovative, attorney-friendly model, and that we are poised to provide the necessary continuing legal ed that our membership and population needs.

Whether or not CLE becomes mandatory in Maryland, we still want to be the premier provider of that.

TDR: What challenges is the MSBA facing?

MT: All of our professional organizations (are) seeing a challenge to membership. I think that unlike those organizations — the ABA included — the MSBA really has a fervent population, a loyal base. And whereas some of those other organizations are seeing a drop-off, the smaller state and the specialty ones, like (the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel) and MSBA, are seeing a much smaller population diminishment. So obviously we’re doing something right in that regard.

Ensuring members see the return on investment from their membership continues to be a challenge, and that’s what our strategic planning is going to look at. We’re going to give them the tools, the resources, the learning, the community, that is so important in order to keep people engaged in these organizations. I think that’s why you lose them.

TDR: How do you envision the MSBA’s role in defending the rule of law?

MT: The MSBA is a staunch supporter of every individual having access to competent counsel. We’re opposed to any action that will compromise that right.

We are also mindful that our organization is made up of a lot of diverse individuals with different political views. We believe that we must be mindful of that when making decisions.

So, in terms of the orders that are coming our way, we will examine each one, kind of spot-check the issues that they raise. We will have a task force to look at that. It will be a diverse task force, and with these principles in mind, we will be an unwavering supporter of every individual having access to competent legal counsel and protecting the established rule of law.

We must do everything we can to build public trust for both the judiciary and for lawyers.