Welcome to the CPA Law Society of Ventura County

About 240 members and guests attended our Sixth Annual Scholarship Awards on February 27, 2009, one of our largest crowds ever. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Terry Schroeder, four-time Olympian in Water Polo (two-time Silver Medalist), and head coach of the surprising 2008 Olympic Silver Medal Water Polo squad in Beijing. Terry’s talk was inspirational, entertaining and a memorable experience. Terry followed a long line of great scholarship speakers, including most recently PBS legend Huell Howser and Mike Scioscia, Manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and former Los Angeles Dodger. The CPA/Law Society matched contributions by its members and provided $60,000 in scholarships to students from California State University Channel Islands, University of California Santa Barbara, the Pepperdine University College of Law, and the Ventura College of Law. Each of the 20 student recipients received $3,000 scholarships. That brings our total to approximately $180,000 in scholarships in the first six years of the program! Thanks to our great event sponsors, including our three lead sponsors Bank of America, Rabobank and Wells Fargo, and many, many others, we were able to pay for the event while retaining funds for this year's scholarships. Please see our Sixth Annual Awards page for more information on the event.

In addition to getting together with colleagues and learning something new, our meetings always include the opportunity to win very nice gift certificates and prizes. In 2009, the CPA/Law Society gave away thousands of dollars in door prizes to its attendees. The prizes continue to get even better, as we gave away at least 10-15 iPod's in 2009, and many other cool prizes. For instance, we have given away gift certificates to Chipotle, Trader Joe’s, Macaroni Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, 71 Palm, Jonathan's, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, BJ's, Pier 1, Green Thumb, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Borders, as well as many, many other fine establishments. Baskets n' Bows in Simi Valley has also been a gift sponsor for years, and provides monthly gift baskets for prizes.

We continue to participate in charitable activities in addition to the scholarships described above. We will donate $1,000 to the Ventura County Bar Association's Law Day 5K Run/Walk (benefiting the Volunteer Lawyers Services Program) again this year. In fact, we are one of the primary financial sponsors of that event each year. The CPA/Law Society is a committee of the Ventura County Bar Association.

We reduced most of our membership feels in 2010, and remain extremely reasonable. Due to the number of requests, we continue to offer affiliate memberships. An application is available on this website. CPA/Law Society members receive a $10 discount per regular meeting, and larger discounts and reservation priority at special meetings. Discounts are valid at all chapters. We are also offering a reduced cost student membership for the first time, which is valid throughout the student’s college career, and includes a $5 discount off of the already reduced student pricing at meetings. If you are not interested in membership but would like us to add you to our e-mail list for announcements of upcoming meetings, please e-mail Doug Kulper, and we will add your name.

HISTORY OF THE CPA/LAW SOCIETY

In the early 1990's, the CPA/Law Forum of Ventura County met for breakfast meetings on a monthly basis at the former Oxnard Hilton. The organization was formerly a franchise of the CPA/Law Forum, and owned by a local financial planner. The morning meetings typically included 6 to 10 professionals, mostly financial planners, discussing various topics of interest. During the 1990's, the control of the organization and, therefore, its officers, were financial planners from the local branch of a national financial planning firm.

In approximately 1993, the group decided to move to lunch meetings, and began meeting at the old Doubletree Hotel in Ventura. The group soon relocated to Ottavio's Italian Restaurant in Camarillo. The group experimented with numerous luncheon sites including China Dynasty, Acapulco, and El Torito, among others. Although the move to lunch meetings met with some success, and the meetings grew in size to between 15 and 30 attendees on average, the group had little success attracting CPAs, an integral part of the organization.

During 1999, the forum, which was struggling financially and otherwise, went dormant for the final several months of the year. In January 2000, Doug Kulper assumed responsibility as President of the organization, and eventually all other duties for the organization. The meetings were immediately moved to the Tower Club in Oxnard. In mid-2001, the Tower Club could no longer accommodate the size of the monthly meetings, and the meetings were relocated to its present venue at The Pierpont Inn.

In January 2002, faced with increasing franchise fee demands, Doug severed all ties with the CPA/Law Forum organization and renamed the group. Since that time, he has focused his efforts on expanding the group to the East County and Santa Barbara, maintaining a strong membership group, compiling an e-mail list of members and potential attendees, increasing monthly attendance, maintaining pleasant monthly accommodations, all while attempting to continue the tradition of informative and interesting meetings and service to the professions. Because of the Society's financial success, it began offering joint scholarships with its members to local colleges in 2003. In six years, the CPA/Law Society has awarded $180,000 in scholarships, and expects to award another $60,000 in 2010 alone. We currently provide scholarships to accounting students at UCSB, business students at CSUCI, and law students at Pepperdine University School of Law and the Ventura/Santa Barbara Colleges of Law.

In an effort to broaden the scope of the group, and provide more access to the meetings, the CPA/Law Society began an East County Chapter in January 2004. Longtime member, Scott Hansen, of Bank of America Private Banking, organized and led this subchapter of the parent organization. In 2005, CPA Maryellen Sebold, of Hemming Morse, took over as Chairperson and moved the meetings to the Westlake Village Inn. She has done a tremendous job growing the membership in the East County. Please see the separate web pages with information on the East County Chapter and upcoming events.

In addition, the CPA/Law Society of Santa Barbara was formed and began to meet 2005 at the La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara. Doug Kulper asked CPA Danna McGrew of Bartlett, Pringle & Wolf to spearhead the effort. She was joined by attorney Carrie Giovine of Hatch & Parent, attorney Michael Fauver of the Buynak Law Corporation, and financial planner Jeffrey Forster of the Forster Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Carrie moved from the area in 2007, and Jill Smith from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck joined the Board in her place. Attorney Marcus Kocmur of Archbald & Spray is also now on the Board. The Santa Barbara Chapter moved its meetings to the Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara, which has enhanced its success.

Between the Ventura, Westlake Village, and Santa Barbara Chapters, we expect to offer approximately 20 meetings in 2010, with over 20 hours of MCLE and CPE available. Participants will earn approximately 2,000 hours of credit this year. As you can see, we have grown considerably from those first breakfast meetings of 6 to 10 people!


		OVERVIEW OF THE CPA/LAW SOCIETY Our group continues to grow. Well over 2,000 professionals and others attended our meetings in Ventura and Westlake Village and Santa Barbara in 2009. In fact, we had about 200 of you attend nearly all of our meetings in Ventura last year. We continue to use our meeting site, "The Pierpont Inn" in Ventura, to accommodate our regular meetings, as well as the large Fundraiser and Scholarship Awards events. In addition, the East County (Westlake Village) Chapter, holds its meetings to the beautiful Westlake Village Inn. The Santa Barbara group continues to grow and began meeting at the Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara. About 240 members and guests attended our Sixth Annual Scholarship Awards on February 27, 2009, one of our largest crowds ever. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Terry Schroeder, four-time Olympian in Water Polo (two-time Silver Medalist), and head coach of the surprising 2008 Olympic Silver Medal Water Polo squad in Beijing. Terry’s talk was inspirational, entertaining and a memorable experience. Terry followed a long line of great scholarship speakers, including most recently PBS legend Huell Howser and Mike Scioscia, Manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and former Los Angeles Dodger. The CPA/Law Society matched contributions by its members and provided $60,000 in scholarships to students from California State University Channel Islands, University of California Santa Barbara, the Pepperdine University College of Law, and the Ventura College of Law. Each of the 20 student recipients received $3,000 scholarships. That brings our total to approximately $180,000 in scholarships in the first six years of the program! Thanks to our great event sponsors, including our three lead sponsors Bank of America, Rabobank and Wells Fargo, and many, many others, we were able to pay for the event while retaining funds for this year's scholarships. Please see our Sixth Annual Awards page for more information on the event. In addition to getting together with colleagues and learning something new, our meetings always include the opportunity to win very nice gift certificates and prizes. In 2009, the CPA/Law Society gave away thousands of dollars in door prizes to its attendees. The prizes continue to get even better, as we gave away at least 10-15 iPod's in 2009, and many other cool prizes. For instance, we have given away gift certificates to Chipotle, Trader Joe’s, Macaroni Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, 71 Palm, Jonathan's, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, BJ's, Pier 1, Green Thumb, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Borders, as well as many, many other fine establishments. Baskets n' Bows in Simi Valley has also been a gift sponsor for years, and provides monthly gift baskets for prizes. We continue to participate in charitable activities in addition to the scholarships described above. We will donate $1,000 to the Ventura County Bar Association's Law Day 5K Run/Walk (benefiting the Volunteer Lawyers Services Program) again this year. In fact, we are one of the primary financial sponsors of that event each year. The CPA/Law Society is a committee of the Ventura County Bar Association. We reduced most of our membership feels in 2010, and remain extremely reasonable. Due to the number of requests, we continue to offer affiliate memberships. An application is available on this website. CPA/Law Society members receive a $10 discount per regular meeting, and larger discounts and reservation priority at special meetings. Discounts are valid at all chapters. We are also offering a reduced cost student membership for the first time, which is valid throughout the student’s college career, and includes a $5 discount off of the already reduced student pricing at meetings. If you are not interested in membership but would like us to add you to our e-mail list for announcements of upcoming meetings, please e-mail Doug Kulper, and we will add your name. HISTORY OF THE CPA/LAW SOCIETY In the early 1990's, the CPA/Law Forum of Ventura County met for breakfast meetings on a monthly basis at the former Oxnard Hilton. The organization was formerly a franchise of the CPA/Law Forum, and owned by a local financial planner. The morning meetings typically included 6 to 10 professionals, mostly financial planners, discussing various topics of interest. During the 1990's, the control of the organization and, therefore, its officers, were financial planners from the local branch of a national financial planning firm. In approximately 1993, the group decided to move to lunch meetings, and began meeting at the old Doubletree Hotel in Ventura. The group soon relocated to Ottavio's Italian Restaurant in Camarillo. The group experimented with numerous luncheon sites including China Dynasty, Acapulco, and El Torito, among others. Although the move to lunch meetings met with some success, and the meetings grew in size to between 15 and 30 attendees on average, the group had little success attracting CPAs, an integral part of the organization. During 1999, the forum, which was struggling financially and otherwise, went dormant for the final several months of the year. In January 2000, Doug Kulper assumed responsibility as President of the organization, and eventually all other duties for the organization. The meetings were immediately moved to the Tower Club in Oxnard. In mid-2001, the Tower Club could no longer accommodate the size of the monthly meetings, and the meetings were relocated to its present venue at The Pierpont Inn. In January 2002, faced with increasing franchise fee demands, Doug severed all ties with the CPA/Law Forum organization and renamed the group. Since that time, he has focused his efforts on expanding the group to the East County and Santa Barbara, maintaining a strong membership group, compiling an e-mail list of members and potential attendees, increasing monthly attendance, maintaining pleasant monthly accommodations, all while attempting to continue the tradition of informative and interesting meetings and service to the professions. Because of the Society's financial success, it began offering joint scholarships with its members to local colleges in 2003. In six years, the CPA/Law Society has awarded $180,000 in scholarships, and expects to award another $60,000 in 2010 alone. We currently provide scholarships to accounting students at UCSB, business students at CSUCI, and law students at Pepperdine University School of Law and the Ventura/Santa Barbara Colleges of Law. In an effort to broaden the scope of the group, and provide more access to the meetings, the CPA/Law Society began an East County Chapter in January 2004. Longtime member, Scott Hansen, of Bank of America Private Banking, organized and led this subchapter of the parent organization. In 2005, CPA Maryellen Sebold, of Hemming Morse, took over as Chairperson and moved the meetings to the Westlake Village Inn. She has done a tremendous job growing the membership in the East County. Please see the separate web pages with information on the East County Chapter and upcoming events. In addition, the CPA/Law Society of Santa Barbara was formed and began to meet 2005 at the La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara. Doug Kulper asked CPA Danna McGrew of Bartlett, Pringle & Wolf to spearhead the effort. She was joined by attorney Carrie Giovine of Hatch & Parent, attorney Michael Fauver of the Buynak Law Corporation, and financial planner Jeffrey Forster of the Forster Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Carrie moved from the area in 2007, and Jill Smith from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck joined the Board in her place. Attorney Marcus Kocmur of Archbald & Spray is also now on the Board. The Santa Barbara Chapter moved its meetings to the Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara, which has enhanced its success. Between the Ventura, Westlake Village, and Santa Barbara Chapters, we expect to offer approximately 20 meetings in 2010, with over 20 hours of MCLE and CPE available. Participants will earn approximately 2,000 hours of credit this year. As you can see, we have grown considerably from those first breakfast meetings of 6 to 10 people!