HARRISBURG (May 8, 2017) — York County lawyer Sara A. Austin, a partner in the Austin Law Firm LLC, will become immediate past president of the 27,000-member Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) at the conclusion of the PBA Annual Meeting, May 12, in Pittsburgh.
Austin is ending her term as the first woman PBA president from York County and the third woman president in the 121-year history of the PBA.
During her 2016-17 year as PBA president, Austin traveled the state to address issues of the organized bar, met with numerous county bar association leaders, spoke out in support of lawyers who helped clients facing immigration issues and spoke in opposition to proposed federal funding cuts that would impact legal aid services for low-income Pennsylvanians.
During 2017-18, she will remain a voting member of the PBA leadership team; will remain a member of the association’s House of Delegates, the association’s policy-making body; and will serve as chair of the PBA Solo and Small Firm Section.
Austin served on the PBA Board of Governors from 2009 until 2012 as the zone governor for Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties. She is a member of the PBA House of Delegates, the association’s policy-making body. She also is a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the continuing legal education arm of the PBA.
She served as the treasurer of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession. Austin is a former PBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Zone Three co-chair and former chair of the YLD Public Service Announcement Committee and Young Lawyers Network Project. She is a past chair of the PBA Bylaws Committee and a past co-vice chair of the PBA Planning Committee. She is a member of the PBA Membership Development Committee and the PBA Labor & Employment Law Section. She is a life fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation.
Austin was president of the York County Bar Association (YCBA) in 2006. She is a former chair of the YCBA Young Lawyers Section and former treasurer and board member of the York County Bar Foundation. She also is a member of numerous YCBA and Foundation committees.
She is a Pennsylvania delegate to the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates and has been active in the ABA Young Lawyers Division and the ABA Labor and Employment Law, General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Practice and Tort Trial and Insurance Practice sections along with various ABA committees. She is a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Austin is a past president of the Middle District Bankruptcy Bar Association and is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. She is an adjunct professor at the Widener School of Law in Harrisburg. She was honored as a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” in employment and labor law in 2009 and 2012 through 2017. She was named a Central Pennsylvania Business Journal ‘Woman of Influence” in 2015.
She served on the board of directors of the Community First Fund. She is former president of and solicitor for the York Spanish American Center. She also served on the board of directors of the York Symphony Orchestra and the Rotary Club of York. She is a former president of Leadership York.
Austin is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William & Mary. She and her husband, Jeffrey Schlaline, reside in York.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 27,000 lawyers who are members of the association.