Opening Statement

One final thank you

Time flies when you’re having fun. It is almost hard to believe that 2021 is over, as it feels like yesterday that Past-President Eden Bucher presented me with the Presidential Medallion more than 13 months ago at our Annual Membership meeting, which was held virtually for the first time in our history. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for putting your faith and trust in me as your president in 2021. I consider myself blessed to be part of this organization. Serving as the 88th president has been one of the great honors of my life.

I have no doubt that I could fill this entire issue with expressions of gratitude and examples of how so many of our talented members have offered invaluable help during my tenure. I’d be remiss if I didn’t start with Executive Director Kori Walter and Executive Director Emeritus Don Smith, both of whom are tremendous leaders of our organization. Due to their tireless dedication over the years, we are a Bar Association that is the envy of all other Bar Associations around the Commonwealth. I also want to thank all the people with whom I have served on the Board, all the way back to my time as president of the Young Lawyers Section. Each of you has treated me with so much kindness. You went above and beyond to take me under your collective wings, teaching me what this organization is about, and demonstrating what it means to represent the members of the Bar Association. Not to mention the critical role lawyers have as leaders in our community.

While 2021 started much like 2020, I am happy to report we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am a glass half-full kind of person, so I look at the change from inperson meetings to meetings via Zoom as an unexpected blessing. Virtual meetings allowed me to be at so many more committee and section meetings, and I was continually impressed with, and grateful for, the hard work of the sections and committees—you are the engine that moves our Association forward.

I’m proud of the way the Association adapted to provide value and services to our members. I had a goal of having at least 12 lunch and learn CLEs before the April CLE compliance period. We had over 20.

I also wanted to stress community engagement and community service. We expanded community service opportunities by developing partnerships with the Community Justice Project, Berks Connections/Pretrial Services, and other community leaders and organizations. For example, in the spring our members attended a training session and volunteered to assist members of our community applying to renew their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – or DACA – status. Then in the fall, our members stepped up again, attending another training session on the pardons process in Pennsylvania and volunteering to assist those seeking pardons. Also, I’m happy to say that we improved our infrastructure as we are in the process of moving to a new association management software system, which I am confident will make it easier than ever for our members to participate in events and CLE seminars and streamline our operations for staff. In conclusion, I want to congratulate Jim Smith on taking the reins as our 89th president. Our organization will unquestionably be in great hands with Jim. He is a natural-born leader, as well as a pragmatist and a problem solver. I and other members of our Board of Directors sought and valued Jim’s counsel on many key decisions this past year. I simply cannot thank Jim enough for his guidance, and I am extremely lucky to call him a friend. It has become a Berks County tradition during our Annual meeting to have all the past Bar presidents in attendance come forward for a passing of the gavel ceremony. The ceremony symbolizes that the incoming president “can always call upon the wisdom of experience of our Past Presidents.” It is my honor to join the distinguished ranks of Berks County Bar Association’s past presidents. And I can only hope that I can provide as much wisdom and insight as the 87 presidents who came before me.

I’m excited to see Jim flourish and lead our Bar Association boldly. Thank you for the tremendous faith you put in me. I am forever grateful.

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