Crabtree-Ireland Appointed Chair of the Conference of California Bar Associations

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 13, 2014) --- Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief operating officer and general counsel, was installed as chair of the Conference of California Bar Associations on Saturday during the organization’s annual gathering, taking place in San Diego.

Crabtree-Ireland will lead the CCBA (formerly known as the State Bar Conference of Delegates) for the next year. The CCBA is made up of delegates from California’s county, local, specialty, and minority bar associations and provides a forum for California lawyers to work together to improve the law and address legal issues of importance in the state. Each year, the conference brings together hundreds of delegates from participating bar associations for the annual Conference of Delegates. This year’s conference took place at the Grand Hyatt San Diego in conjunction with the State Bar of California’s Annual Meeting.

“It is truly an honor to lead the Conference of California Bar Associations and to work with its amazing officers, board, and delegates to improve the law and the administration of justice in California. CCBA’s work serving as an educational resource for the profession and the public and promoting professional excellence and respect for the law is incredibly important to the people of California,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

In his position at SAG-AFTRA, Crabtree-Ireland is chief operating officer and general counsel of the world’s largest entertainment and media artists union, representing actors, recording artists and news and entertainment broadcasters, among others. SAG-AFTRA was formed in March, 2012, by the merger of the former Screen Actors Guild and the former American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In that role, he is responsible for operational oversight and organizational accountability, as well as all legal affairs and strategy, and oversight of the organization’s legal, government affairs and public policy, international affairs, EEO/diversity, governance, and professional representatives departments. He also oversees the legal aspects of collective bargaining and contract enforcement for all SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreements.

Crabtree-Ireland serves as co-chair of the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund , a trustee of the SAG-Producers Pension and Health Plans, a multiemployer health and pension trust fund with assets in excess of $3 billion, and as a member of the boards of SoundExchange, the and the SAG-AFTRA & Industry Sound Recordings Distribution Fund.

On behalf of SAG-AFTRA, he serves as a delegate to the International Federation of Actors (FIA), and was a participant on FIA’s delegation to the 2012 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference on Protection of Audiovisual Performances that led to the successful conclusion of the WIPO Beijing Treaty.

A leading advocate for LGBT equality in the entertainment industry, Crabtree-Ireland is the co-founder of the SAG-AFTRA LGBT Committee and the convener of FIA’s working group on LGBT equality. He conceived and championed the first-ever academic study of LGBT employment discrimination in the entertainment industry, commissioned by the SAG- Producers Industry Advancement and Cooperative Fund and conducted by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. He is lifetime member and a past Co-President of the Lesbian & Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and recipient of its Co-Presidents’ Award. In 2010, Duncan was named to Power UP’s list of “Ten Amazing Gay Men in Showbiz.”

Crabtree-Ireland serves as a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the chair of its Audit Committee and is a member of its Labor and Employment Law Section Executive Committee. In 2011, LACBA honored him with the Charles R. English Spirit Award and this summer with LACBA’s Samuel L. Williams Outstanding Trustee Award.

He is also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Southern California Law School, focusing on international law. Previously, Crabtree-Ireland served as Screen Actors Guild's deputy national executive director and general counsel, and as a deputy district attorney for the County of Los Angeles.

Crabtree-Ireland received his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service with a concentration in international relations, law, and organization from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of Barristers.