CBABC’S Member Services Activities Frank Kraemer (VOL. 18, NO. 6)

I am writing in response to the request in your December 2006 BarTalk article for input as to whether the Branch should continue providing member services activities.

For my part, the short answer is yes.

I find it strange to learn that some members of the Bar are surprised and frustrated to learn that sometimes better prices are available for suppliers such as hotels and car rentals. I would expect that lawyers, being people who have the ability to “read the rules,” would not take basic steps to find the best deal if that was their concern.

Over Christmas, I knew that my spouse and I would need a hotel near the Toronto airport. Being a bit cost conscious (some might even suggest miserly), I checked to see whether any hotels were on the CBA/CBABC’s list of preferred suppliers, and sure enough, there were some. I checked the hotels’ websites as well as a travel consolidator’s website to determine the best price available without the CBA discount and then phoned the hotels to see what the CBA member price was. It turned out that the web price was actually cheaper than the CBA rate, so I booked our room through the web – there being no hard feelings on my part as I have some appreciation of how the industry works and did my homework. I should say, though, that on other occasions I have found the CBA rate to be substantially cheaper than other rates.

As to other suppliers, I recently purchased life insurance for my spouse through the CBA program – at a very substantial discount to what was available from other sources. I have also used a number of other services over the years and have been very satisfied.

The availability (and lately expansion of) member services discounts are one of the key reasons I keep renewing my CBA membership. Please pass on my gratitude for the hard work being done in this area to the B.C. member services staff.

Tanya J. Rothe
General Counsel and Director of Intellectual Property
D-Wave Systems Inc.

This article was published in the April 2007 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2007, all rights reserved.