Riley Has Big Dreams for County Bar During Her Presidency

The Daily Transcript (January 25, 2016) Allen Matkins partner Heather Riley would like to get more big law attorneys involved in the bar as she takes over as president for 2016.Riley said she plans to use the new platform to encourage lawyers at bigger firms like hers to become more active in the organization, as they have drifted away over the years. "I want to remind them as one of the members of a large firm that they can get stuff from the bar they can't get anywhere else," she said. Riley said she also plans to highlight how being active in the county bar presents attorneys at firms large and small with a bevy of leadership opportunities. She said she benefitted in a variety of ways from serving as chair of the bar's environmental and land use law section, including meeting judges she and other attorneys at her firm appear before. "When you are in charge of a section like that, you have a platform that you can exercise that lets you interact with people you might not otherwise, especially as a junior associate," she said. "It gave me a little more credence, a little more of a reputation boost inside and outside of my firm."