President-Elect Candidates Grover, Montani Share Their Visions for the Bar
May 03, 2024
With voting in the 2024 D.C. Bar general and Communities elections now underway, D.C. Bar president-elect candidates Hardeep Grover and Sadina Montani made their pitch to Bar members by providing an overview of their respective platforms at a reception held on May 2.
In his speech, Grover, CapEx Legal principal attorney, reflected upon the Bar resources he accessed eight years ago when he founded his law firm, saying they were critical to his success. “I’m a member of five different bars, and the D.C. Bar goes above and beyond everyone else in all of the resources and programs that it offers. I want to make sure that these resources are available for the next generation of attorneys and Washingtonians,” he said.
If elected, Grover said he will focus on two primary areas: access to counsel and the next generation of legal practice. Referencing budget shortfalls in the pro bono sector, he also proposed solutions for increasing the financial independence of legal services providers to improve access to counsel.
“I’d like to explore programs that are all IRS-compliant, like creating intellectual properties that we can license out for royalties and have self-sustaining income going forward, so we don’t have to focus on grants as our primary source of income,” he said. “I’d also like to expand on DC Refers and other low bono programs to ensure that those who make just a little bit above the pro bono cutoff don’t fall through the cracks.”
Regarding his second area of focus, Grover emphasized the importance of training programs in “preparing the next generation of attorneys, the early career attorneys, for practice in a scenario where AI is a commonplace tool.”
Grover is a board member of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts and is a past president of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C. A graduate of the D.C. Bar’s John Payton Leadership Academy, he currently serves on the Pro Bono, Leadership Development, and Communities Committees at the Bar. He previously cochaired the D.C. Bar Arts, Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law Community and was a part of the 2020–2025 Strategic Planning Committee.
Montani, a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP and a past president of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, is also a graduate of the John Payton Leadership Academy. She has served as chair of the D.C. Bar Nominations Committee and as a member of the Leadership Development and Screening Committees.
Montani’s other volunteer work includes longtime service with the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center’s Nonprofit & Small Business Legal Assistance Programs; board membership at Ayuda, an organization providing legal assistance to low-income immigrants in the District; and board service for the Greater D.C. Diaper Bank, which she chaired from 2019 to 2022.
“As a practitioner, I am passionate about making sure that people get to go to work and be respected,” she said, adding that, as an employment lawyer, this means more than simply not experiencing harassment. “It’s making sure that there are fair and appropriate policies in place.”
Montani also talked about the most rewarding aspects of her practice. “Part of what I find incredibly gratifying, as a practitioner, is being able to sit across the table from folks who are telling a story that can be really challenging for them to tell,” she said. “One of my catch phrases is that ‘we can’t fix what we don’t know about.’”
Montani said she will leverage the rapport and confidence-building skills she worked hard to develop over the years to “help organizations make important change and make workplaces better for folks.”
As a leader, Montani said that her own experiences informed her interest in supporting law students and lawyers from underrepresented groups so they can find their footing in the profession. “I’ve been the beneficiary of some incredible mentoring over the years and, as a first-generation college student and lawyer, believe me, it was needed,” she said. “I am confident that I wouldn’t be standing here if it were not for those incredible mentors.”
For Montani, leadership is focused on people. “As I think about the future of the practice of law, I’m thinking about it from the people angle,” she said. “How can we better serve the people in our community who need important legal services? How can we support early career lawyers? How can we be more inclusive and supportive of diverse attorneys, attorneys from underrepresented groups, and first-generation attorneys as well?”
The D.C. Bar president-elect serves for one year before becoming president, and then continues in office a third year as immediate past president.
Voting in the D.C. Bar general and Communities elections is exclusively online and ends on June 4. For information on all of the candidates running for office, visit dcbar.org/vote.
