Williamsport―The Pennsylvania Bar Association has selected Julieanne E. Steinbacher, Esquire, CELA* and founding shareholder of Steinbacher and Stahl, to receive a 2015 Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Special Achievement Award. Steinbacher & Stahl is an elder care law firm based in Williamsport, PA. In an announcement from the Board of Governors, Attorney Steinbacher was commended for her commitment to the PBA Quality of Life/Balance Committee. According to the PBA, the Quality of Life/Balance Committee is focused on developing programs to help attorneys find balance between their professional and personal life. The presentation acknowledged Steinbacher’s dedication, her contributions, and her efforts on behalf of the PBA. Attorney Steinbacher was first named as chairperson of this committee in 2012, and has been renamed as chair in the subsequent years. When asked about her interest in the Quality of Life/Balance Committee, Steinbacher replied, “The very nature of the legal profession can easily tempt an attorney to spend too many hours working…Causing stress to health and intruding on personal and family time that would help relieve stress and provide a distraction from work. If permitted, the demands and timelines of the job can easily and frequently rule over an attorneys personal life balance.” She said that the committee is working to identify issues that could adversely affect a lawyer’s ability to balance their work life and private life. Also, to develop solutions and to find ways to make those solutions or recommendations available to members of the Bar. Professional educational programs and activities that raise awareness of identified threats to work/life balance are offered. These provide an opportunity for participating attorneys to adopt effective management strategies before they feel overwhelmed. Recent committee work has focused on issues related to: The influence technology has on productivity and practice management; the downside of must- have communication systems which create a deluge of daily information that must be processed; time and energy management; and the ethics and demands that are associated with professionalism.
The Special Achievement Award was presented to Attorney Steinbacher on May 8, 2015 in Philadelphia, at the PBA House of Delegates Annual meeting.
*Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation