Upcoming Events

Dec.
04
Wed
Holiday Party 2024
When: 5:30 PM
Where: Fire & Cork

Contact Us

Rockland County Bar Association
337 N Main Street, Suite 1
New City, NY 10956
E: office@rocklandbar.org
P: (845) 634-2149
F: (845) 634-1055
Hours of Operation
Monday-Friday 9am-5pm EST
Serving Rockland, Orange and Westchester Counties

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Rockland County Bar Association

The Rockland County Bar Association was founded in December, 1893!  The Bar Association is still going strong at nearly 130 years old!

The founders met in the Hotel St. George in Nyack (the building still stands today on Burd Street).  Alonzo Wheeler and Abram Demarest were two of the founders.  Alonzo Wheeler was elected as the first President of the Rockland County Bar Association.

Future Board meetings were held in the Court House in New City during the lunch hour.  The annual dues were set at $1, payable at the Annual Meeting in September each year. 

The By-Laws remain much the same today as in 1893.  The only Standing Committees at that time were the Judicial Committee and the Grievance Committee.  Today we have 24 Standing Committees.

We’ve seen much growth and many changes in our Association since then, including the addition of women and minorities in the profession, and more specialized practice for attorneys.  We’ve increased the amount of dues over the years, and in 2000 the Bar Association was able to purchase a condominium to house the offices of the RCBA.

Each year at its annual events, the Bar Association honors individual attorneys and community members who have made a contribution to either the Bar or the local community.  At the Installation Dinner Meeting (June) and the Annual Dinner (October) the Bar gives named awards to those deserving individuals.  The Liberty Bell Award is given at Law Day each year.

In 2016 the Bar Association established the first-ever Natalie Couch Award, named for Natalie Couch, a Rockland County native who was the first woman to practice law in Rockland County.  Natalie Couch was also the first woman to vote in the County in 1918 and the first woman President of the Rockland County Bar Association.

For a listing of Rockland County Bar Association Past Presidents, please click here.

To view the Transcript of the 130th Anniversary Meeting on December 14, 2023, please click here