HARRISBURG (Feb. 28, 2020) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Conference of County Bar Leaders (CCBL) has honored Victoria A. Connor, chief executive officer of the York County Bar Association (YCBA), with its 23rd annual Arthur J. Birdsall Award. The award was presented during the 54th Annual Seminar of the Conference of County Bar Leaders, Feb. 27 – 29, at The Hotel Hershey, Hershey.
The award is given to a county bar executive who demonstrates professional excellence, who is committed to the success of his or her bar association and who significantly enhances the stature of his or her bar association. It is named in honor of Arthur J. Birdsall, the PBA’s county bar services director who retired after nearly 40 years of support to local bar associations.
Since 2011, Connor has been leading the York County Bar Association and the professional needs of its 500-plus members. She has also dramatically advanced the mission and strategic goals of the York County Bar Foundation (YCBF) to address the needs of the community's vulnerable citizens whose lives intersect with the justice system.
Under Connor’s leadership, the YCBF has become the third largest bar foundation in the commonwealth and York’s largest private funder of law-related programs. In addition, member engagement in bar association activities has increased significantly and the foundation’s endowment funds have exceeded $4 million.
A frequent presenter at CCBL, Connor is an advocate for participation in local, state and national bar association activities, conferences and events, and she frequently encourages YCBA and YCBF board members, association members and Pennsylvania Association of Bar Executive colleagues to get involved.
Connor serves on the PBA Judicial Evaluation Commission. In 2014, she was named a York Federal Fellow by the York County Community Foundation. Her civic activities include serving as the current grants committee chair Women’s Giving Circle of the York County Community and past president of the Springdale Neighborhood Association, as well as board and committee membership with the American Red Cross, National and Pennsylvania associations of bar executives, Council of Foundations County Conference of Legal Journals, Leave A Legacy® York County, United Way of York County and the Uptown York Rotary Club.
The Conference of County Bar Leaders, whose membership includes leaders from county bar associations throughout the state and from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, organizes a yearly educational conference focusing on the exchange of innovative bar association projects and ideas and on the development of mutually-beneficial relationships among bar leaders that improve the legal profession.
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 of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state’s largest organized bar association.