From the Desk of the Executive Director

Ihope you are having a wonderful Summer! Whether you love the heat (or hate anything over 85 degrees like me) this season is known for being a time of enjoyment. Whether it is outdoor events, vacations, long weekends, time at the beach (or shore for all my born and raised Southeast PA people), Summer is a time for a little bit of respite from this crazy lifestyle of ours. With that in mind, we will do our best here at the Chester County Bar Association not to bother you too much until after Labor Day! We will still have a smattering of CLEs, and one or two events, but ultimately, we will be in full on planning mode so we can hit the ground running on September 6th with a packed Fall Schedule. One thing we will be doing at the height of Summer is a Chester County Bar Foundation night at the Philadelphia Phillies Game. The Phillies were kind enough to donate 100 tickets in the 109 section right off the first base line, so that we could use them to raise some money for the good works of the Bar Foundation. For just $25 per ticket, you can catch this great 6:05 P.M. game with your friends and family while still enjoying the collegiality with your fellow Bar members. If you would like to attend, you can buy your tickets via our website or call the office, and someone can walk you through your purchase. Please keep in mind we only have 100 tickets, so it is first come, first served. Speaking of the Bar Foundation, I want to thank everyone who contributed to our Key Gala, which was held in May. The night was entirely about supporting our Foundation as it seeks to raise money to support local charities like the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, Legal Aid, and the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County just to name a few. Through our members’ generosity and the record-setting support of our Sponsor Partners, we raised the most money in the history of this event with a gross take of over $87,000! Now, back to looking at what I hope will be a beautiful and eventful Fall for our Association. Not only do we hope to have plenty of interesting CLEs for you in September, October, and November, but we will also have a plethora of exciting (and mainly free) happy hours during those months as well. We will be celebrating Membership Appreciation Week in October, as well as Pro Bono Week. Plus, we are planning our best Veteran’s Day Ceremony yet for Friday, November 11th, so mark your calendars now. As you may have noticed already from the cover of this magazine, the big crowning jewel of our Fall Season will be our Bench Bar Conference in Alexandria, Virginia. I

Chester County Bar Association Executive Director Matt Holliday

know hearing Virginia can sound scary as you may be thinking you are in for a four-hour car ride. I assure you; the President and I have gone down twice to check things out and both times we have made it from West Chester to Alexandria in under two and a half hours. This beautiful “city” stole my heart within moments of arriving. Picture a larger, more historic West Chester right on the Potomac River with amazing views (including of the United States Capitol Dome), and tons of awesome restaurants, bars, and shops. We have worked very hard to make this one of the most affordable Bench Bars to attend in a long time, so it is my hope that you will make every effort to join us September 29th through October 1st for this keystone event. As always, thank you for being part of our Chester County Bar Association community. Through your support we are blessed with the opportunity to make this little corner of the world a much better place.