CBA Statement Updated April 2024

The Celtic Bar Association (CBA) aims to promote camaraderie amongst members, civility and professionalism within the Orange County legal community, and a greater awareness of Celtic culture and history, particularly its contribution to the law. One need not be of Celtic descent to join! All we ask is that you be an OCBA member, have an outgoing nature, and support our organization’s goals.

We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at Muldoon’s Irish Pub—originally through the graciousness of one of our founding members, Ronald “O’Schwartz” (and now thanks to the pub’s new owner, Mario Marovic)—located near Fashion Island in Newport Beach. We have a longstanding tradition set forth in our bylaws that meetings cannot last more than five minutes, which is strictly adhered to at all meetings, with our leaders heckled down as the deadline approaches.

Each year, we install officers and recognize our Celtic Judge of the Year on Samhain Eve, which heralds the beginning of the Celtic New Year. This past year, we recognized the Honorable James P. Gray (Ret.) as the Celtic Judge of the Year and Nikki Presley Miliband of Good Wildman as Attorney of the Year at our well-attended Samhain Eve installation dinner. Past attorney recipients include Kate Corrigan, and past judicial officer recipients include the Hon. Judge Maria D. Hernandez, Judge John Nho Trong Nguyen (Ret.), Charles Margines (Ret.), Judge H. Shaina Colover, Judge Jamoa Moberly (Ret.), Judge Linda S. Marks (Ret.), Judge Nancy Wieben Stock (Ret.), Judge Gail A. Andler (Ret.), Judge Dennis Choate (Ret.), Judge Sheila Fell (Ret.), Judge James Di Cesare (Ret.), Justice Kathleen O’Leary, Judge William McDonald (Ret.), Judge C. Robert Jameson (Ret.), Judge David McEachen, Judge Ronald Kreber (Ret.), Judge Dan Pratt (Ret.), Judge Franz Miller (Ret.), Judge Michael Brenner (Ret.), Judge Andrew Banks (Ret.), Judge Lon Hurwitz, and Justice William Bedsworth. In 2019, we granted the inaugural Founder’s Award at Samhain Eve to Attorney Ronald Schwartz. In 2021, we instituted our annual Whiskey Tasting to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day; in March 2022, we hosted a very well-attended second edition with the OC Korean American Bar Association, followed in 2023 with another OCKABA co-hosted tasting at Muldoon’s.

We have organized MCLE travel seminars to Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, France, Italy, England, Spain, and Wales, and this last year (2023) we returned to Ireland (Dublin and Ashford Castle). We have also had excursions to contemporary Irish comedies and plays, the Orange County Irish Fair, a local Renaissance Faire, and Irish and Celtic movies. There are seven Celtic nations, all of which are connected by common history and culture: Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Galicia (in Spain), Brittany (in France), and Cornwall (in England). Celtic people are known for their outgoing nature and love of the written and spoken word. While there are many Irish-American lawyers’ groups throughout the United States, we believe that the CBA is the first attempt to gather all the Celtic clans in a single legal organization.

More than 300 lawyers and judges rally to our cause. (We have modest annual dues of $25!) For further information, contact CBA President Meredith L. Williams at mwilliams@rutan.com or visit celticbarassociation.org.