Founded in 1934, the Palo Alto Area Bar Association offers membership to attorneys and associated professionals who live, work, or are otherwise interested in the practice of law in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.  PAABA is unique in that it straddles two counties and two bar associations. PAABA was formed to provide a more personal and more responsive professional association for attorneys in the mid-Peninsula.

PAABA’s goals are expressed on both the “macro” and “micro” levels. The macro picture includes PAABA’s Lawyer Referral Service, which provides legal assistance to a diverse clientele (presently in the process of re-certification with the State Bar), and continuing legal education for attorneys. On the micro level, PAABA’s aim is to enrich and interact with the local communities. As an example, for over ten years PAABA has conducted a golf tournament at Stanford which benefits the organizations that provide pro bono legal services to the residents of East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park.

In addition, PAABA attorneys hold Community Law Night, a free drop in legal clinic open to anyone from Palo Alto and the surrounding communities. Palo Alto attorneys also participate in the award-winning Lawyers in the Classroom and Lawyers in the Library programs.

PAABA is unique and distinguished from other county bar associations in its twin aims of local service and attorney camaraderie.