D.C. Bar Inaugurates Keenan, Bestows Honors at Annual Dinner
Kim
Michele Keenan was sworn in as the 38th president of the D.C. Bar at
its Annual Business Meeting and Awards Dinner on June 25, which also
featured the presentation of awards to outstanding individuals and programs.
In her inaugural address at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Keenan thanked friends and family who were in attendance as well as the legal community and outlined her goals for the coming year. “My theme for this Bar year is reinventing leadership. To me, reinventing leadership is injecting the culture of leadership into everything we do, finding ways to encourage leadership, cultivate our members, and create new members … I want to challenge us to reach out and find new people to get involved, because that’s what makes the Bar special.”
Keenan also said she intends to continue working on the creation of a strategic plan for the Bar that her predecessor Robert J. Spagnoletti began during his presidency.
Keenan’s inauguration also marked the transition to president-elect of Ronald S. Flagg, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP. Flagg, the firm-wide chair of Sidley Austin’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law, will serve as president-elect for one year before becoming president.
The evening also included an awards presentation. This year’s recipients were David W. DeBruin of Jenner & Block LLP (Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year), Jones Day (Law Firm Pro Bono Award), the 10th Annual Youth Law Fair (Best Section Community Outreach Project), the Health Law Section (Best Section), and the D.C. Bar Building Committee (Best Bar Project).
The Frederick B. Abramson Award went to the Tax Sale Redemption Project, a partnership of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, which helps individuals redeem their real property that has been sold by the District because of unpaid taxes.
The William J. Brennan Jr. Award—the Bar’s highest honor—went to Patricia Mullahy Fugere, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and a longtime advocate.
Upon accepting the award, Fugere related a story about one of her children asking why God couldn’t work a miracle and place an apartment building down on an empty corner so the homeless people would have a place to live. Fugere’s response: “We all have to be instruments of those miracles.
“We who are part of this privileged profession of the law have it within our ability to aid in making these miracles. We need only to look to Justice Brennan for inspiration in this regard. Just ask the Tennessee voter whose ballot counts fully, the welfare recipient who is able to pay the rent because her benefits were kept intact while she appealed her termination, or ask the federally convicted criminal who was ultimately released about the miracles that Justice Brennan was able to work in their lives,” she said.
Earlier
in the evening the Presidents’ Reception was held to honor Keenan
and raise money for the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program. At the reception,
Pro Bono Committee Chair H. Guy Collier Jr. spoke about the increased
demand for services the Pro Bono Program has experienced this year.
He said the program’s monthly Saturday walk-in clinic has served
a record number of people. Collier also said that in the coming year
the program intends to expand its consumer law resource center by bringing
in more law firms and opening it on more days of the week, and making
it possible for users to finish interviews online and generate pleadings
ready for filing.—K.A.
Flagg Joins Keenan on New Leadership Team
Ronald S. Flagg, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, was sworn in as D.C.
Bar president-elect for the 2009–2010 term on June 25, the same
day Kim M. Keenan of The Keenan Firm took her oath of office as the
Bar’s new president.
After his term expires, Flagg will go on to become president of the Bar, and will continue in office a third year as immediate past president.
“I am thrilled and honored to be elected president-elect. The Bar faces a wide range of important issues affecting our members and our community. I look forward to working on these issues with Kim Keenan, the Board of Governors, section leaders, and the Bar’s professional staff,” he said.
Flagg, the firm-wide chair of Sidley Austin’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law, is a current member of the Bar’s Board of Governors. He formerly served as a member and later chair of the Bar’s Pro Bono Committee as well as a member of the Bar’s 2008 Dues Ceiling Committee.
He is credited with helping develop and roll out the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program’s Graduate Fellowship Program, under which incoming law firm associates in the District spend the first 10 weeks of their career working with legal services providers.
At Sidley Austin, Flagg’s expertise includes the practice of complex commercial and administrative litigation for professional firms and regulated industries. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Flagg also is actively involved in several other legal services organizations such as the National Veterans Legal Services Program, where he sits as board chair; the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly; and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
Also joining the Bar’s new leadership team are, as secretary, Meredith Fuchs of The George Washington University’s National Security Archive, and, as treasurer, R. Justin Smith of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Seated for three-year terms on the Bar’s Board of Governors are Johnine P. Barnes of Baker & Hostetler LLP; Paulette E. Chapman of Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot, L.L.P.; Lena Robins of Amgen; James W. Rubin of Hunton & Williams LLP; and Javier G. Salinas of Ernst & Young LLP.
Donald Michael Remy of Latham & Watkins LLP, Mark H. Tuohey III of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., and Amy Y. Yeung of WilmerHale LLP will serve in the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates for two-year terms. Yeung will occupy the seat reserved for delegates under the age of 35.
All newly elected officers, board members, and delegates were sworn in during the Bar’s Annual Business Meeting and Awards Dinner at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. For election results, see box below.—K.A.
D.C. BAR 2009 ELECTION RESULTS
(Winners in italic) President-Elect: Ronald S. Flagg,
4,114; Alfred F. Belcuore, 3,394. Secretary: Meredith Fuchs,
4,425; Paula M. Potoczak, 2,578. Treasurer: R. Justin Smith,
4,419; Thomas Mugavero, 2,440. Board of Governors: Lena Robins,
4,086; Johnine P. Barnes, 4,039; Paulette E. Chapman,
3,466; Javier G. Salinas, 3,242; James Rubin, 3,021; Stephen
I. Glover, 3,000; Tom Brunner, 2,776; Geoffrey M. Klineberg, 2,662;
David Deitch, 2,073; Ralph P. Albrecht, 2,025. ABA House of Delegates:
Mark H. Tuohey III, 3,756; Donald Michael Remy, 3,703;
Arthur D. Burger, 2,726; Patrick McGlone, 2,693. ABA House of Delegates
Under-35 Seat: Amy Yeung, 4,726; Todd R. Overman, 1,958.
34th Annual Judicial Conference Explores Role of Court Technology
On June 19 the District of Columbia Court of Appeals held its 34th Annual
Judicial Conference, which featured three plenary sessions, a multimedia
presentation, and a luncheon speech by U.S. Attorney General Eric H.
Holder Jr.
This year’s conference, held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, focused on how computers, science, and the Internet impact the administration of justice.
The plenary sessions tackled how the media shapes public perception of 21st-century justice, the ethical concerns surrounding the use of Internet and e-mail by practitioners and the courts in judicial proceedings, and whether the courts and juries are equipped to handle 21st-century issues.
Fredric Lederer, director of the Center for Legal and Court Technology at the William & Mary Law School, gave a presentation on courtroom technology by way of videoconference from the center’s McGlothlin Courtroom. The courtroom is considered the most technologically advanced in the world and represents the “courtroom of the future.”
During his speech, Holder said science and technology should be embraced as an opportunity to improve the delivery of justice.
“I would ask all of us involved in the administration of justice not to view technology as a burden or something that we should fear. We at the Justice Department embrace it as an opportunity to be more efficient, productive, and more fair as we carry out our responsibilities,” he said.
Additionally, a resolution was passed at the conference updating the standards for pro bono service that the conference adopted in 1980 and subsequently revised in 1997.
The resolution reiterated the expectation that all members of the Bar would take one court appointment or provide 50 hours of pro bono representation annually, but increased to $750 the monetary contribution that lawyers could instead make to a legal services provider if they are unable to undertake direct representation.
Lawyers licensed to practice law in the District have a responsibility under Rule 6.1 of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct to participate in pro bono service.
The Judicial Conference’s current guidelines are stated in Comment [5] of the rule.—K.A.
Legal ‘Legends’ Sullivan, Tigar Discuss Lives in the
Law
The D.C. Bar Law Practice Management Section held its fifth annual “Legends
in the Law” luncheon on June 11, featuring attorneys Brendan V.
Sullivan Jr. and Michael E. Tigar.
With nearly 40 years of litigation work, Sullivan, a senior partner at Williams & Connolly LLP, has defended some of the most controversial white-collar crime cases in recent years. His clients included former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, who was accused of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during background checks; Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal; and former Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens.
Tigar has served as an associate and partner at Williams & Connolly and as partner in his own firm, Tigar & Buffone. He has represented former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Oklahoma City bombing coconspirator Terry Lynn Nichols. He is also a professor of the practice of law at Duke University Law School and emeritus professor at the American University Washington College of Law.
The two “legends” talked about their careers in the law, including their biggest cases, and gave advice for the many young lawyers in attendance.
Law was not the first career choice for either Tigar, who thought about being a journalist or a history professor, or Sullivan, who thought he would be “the head of Procter and Gamble or something.”
Both men finally did decide to go to law school and wound up beginning their legal careers at Williams & Connolly around the same time, where they found that success meant working twice as hard as the next person, and that you have to make your own luck.
Sullivan said teamwork is very important while working at a firm, and he often tells young lawyers to stop competition amongst their peers and work together as a family.
“Litigation is a team sport,” said Tigar, echoing similar sentiments. “You have to have the opportunity to bounce your ideas off each other.”
Tigar also said that it is important for lawyers to find something in every case they take that they can believe in, something that makes them think, “I went to the office and served justice today.”
Sullivan and Tigar also discussed the down side to being a lawyer, namely the heavy work requirements.
“The problem with [practicing] law is that it is endless,” Sullivan said. “I don’t know if there is any other profession except law where you have this feeling that the work is never done … You live with it, take it with you, and that’s the nature of the beast.”
Former Law Practice Management Section cochair Jeffrey Berger moderated the program, which was cosponsored by all 21 sections of the D.C. Bar.—K.A.
Council for Court Excellence Elects DLA Piper’s Silbert as
President
The Council for Court Excellence has elected Earl J. Silbert as its
president for the 2009–2010 term during the council’s semiannual
board meeting on June 11. Silbert succeeded Rodney F. Page, who served
as president since 2005.
Silbert has been a partner at DLA Piper LLP since 1998; prior to that, he was a principal at Schwalb, Donnenfeld, Bray & Silbert, P.C. for almost 20 years. His career highlights include serving as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1974 to 1979, being the first prosecutor in the Watergate scandal during his term as assistant U.S. attorney, and working for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division.
A Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate, Silbert has served as president of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the National Association of Former United States Attorneys. He is a member of the D.C. Sentencing and Code Revision Commission.
On May 7 Silbert was honored by the council with its Justice Potter Stewart Award for his work to improve the justice system.—K.A.
D.C. Bar Announces Winners of 20th Annual Golf Tournament
The D.C. Bar Membership Committee hosted the 20th Annual D.C. Bar Golf
Tournament on June 15 at the Country Club of Fairfax in Virginia. The
tournament highlights the Member Benefits Program, which raises money
for non-dues-funded Bar services such as the Pro Bono Program.
First-place trophies went to the team of Jeff Beam, Alex Elmore, Peter Hill, and David L. Lowans.
Finishing in second place was the team of Adam Feld, Rich Feld, Josh Lerner, and Ken Lerner.
The team of Charley Billman, former D.C. Bar President George Jones Jr. of Sidley Austin LLP, Clay Smith, and Earl Wilkerson finished third.
Firm Advice, Inc. presented the three teams and winners of various skills contests with trophies during the tournament’s awards dinner, sponsored by GEICO.
Other sponsors included Avis Budget Group, Capital Reporting Company, FedEx, Forrest T. Jones & Company, Framing Success, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Linestanding.com, Northwestern Mutual, Samson Paper Company, Subscription Services Inc., and The Daily Washington Law Reporter. Lunch was sponsored by The McCammon Group, while the American Bar Association Retirement Funds sponsored the tournament gift.—K.A.
Avoid Late Fees! Pay Bar Dues by August 17
D.C. Bar members who have not paid their annual dues by August 17 will
be assessed a late fee of $30. Members whose Bar dues and/or late fee,
if applicable, are not received postmarked by September 30 automatically
will be suspended for nonpayment of dues and subject to additional reinstatement
fees.
Dues amounts are $224 for active members, $126 for inactive members, and $113 for judicial members. When paying dues, members also may join a section or renew their section memberships and make contributions to the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program.
Payments may be mailed to D.C. Bar Dues, c/o Suntrust Bank, PO Box 79834, Baltimore, MD 21279-0834, or submitted online at www.dcbar.org/paydues. For online payments, members will need their username and password, which automatically can be retrieved if their e-mail address matches what the Bar has on file. As an added convenience, the Bar now accepts American Express.
E-mail addresses can be checked by visiting www.dcbar.org, selecting the “Find a Member” button at the top right side of the page, and locating the individual record. If the e-mail address is incorrect, corrections may be sent to memberservices@dcbar.org.
Members are encouraged to confirm all of their personal information on the dues statement, including e-mail addresses.
Nine D.C. High School Seniors Earn Abramson Foundation Scholarships
On June 18 the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation honored nine
graduating students from public high schools across the District of
Columbia as its 2009 recipients of college scholarships.
The awardees, recognized during the foundation’s Scholarship Luncheon at Hotel Monaco Washington DC, will receive up to $10,000 in financial aid to help defray expenses at their four-year accredited college of choice. Since 1992 the foundation has raised more than $700,000 in scholarship grants to assist economically disadvantaged but academically deserving senior high school students in the District.
This year’s scholars are Sharnita Brice, Michelle Brown, Markeytta Harrison, Nico Hinkle, Martez Hurt, Jelani Johnson, Charniqua Lawson, Qi Ling Li, and Miya Upshur-Williams. Brown is also the 2009 recipient of The Cochran Firm, DC Scholarship Award, which is given to a student who plans on pursuing a career in law.
Scholarship Chair Addy Schmitt said that in reviewing students’ applications, the foundation board of directors always found themselves asking how these young people were able to “achieve so much despite the odds.”
“The answer we hear again and again: a mentor … someone who helps them see possibilities,” Schmitt said.
At the luncheon, two of the foundation’s 2008 awardees spoke about their experiences during their first year in college and offered advice to the new scholars. Shamaya Fenwick-Chisholm, now a sophomore at The George Washington University majoring in psychology, challenged the new batch of awardees to “keep your eyes on the prize and stay focused.” Frank Fleming, who majors in hospitality and tourism management at James Madison University, shared some tips on how to keep class schedules and priorities in order.
Three of the new scholars—Brown, Hinkle, and Hurt—will attend Florida A&M University. Brice will pursue business entrepreneurship, social work, and education at Towson University; Harrison plans to major in engineering at the University of Virginia; and Johnson will study engineering at the North Carolina A&T State University. Lawson will take up social work or pre-law at Clark Atlanta University; Li, who immigrated from China at 19 knowing no English and applied for 35 different college scholarships, will enroll at James Madison; and Upshur-Williams will pursue anthropology and writing at Sarah Lawrence College.
The foundation is named after the late Frederick B. Abramson, a distinguished member of the D.C. legal community who served as D.C. Bar president from 1985 to 1986.
For more information on the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation, visit www.abramsonfoundation.org.—F.H.
Something Old, Something New
The
Historic Courthouse in Judiciary Square marked its reopening with a
rededication ceremony on June 17, following a four-year-long process
to restore the District of Columbia landmark to its former glory and
to celebrate the courthouse’s newest tenant, the District of Columbia
Court of Appeals. The original structure was designed by George Hadfield
in 1820 and is one of the oldest public buildings in the city. Notable
historical figures who have argued in the courthouse include Daniel
Webster and Francis Scott Key.—K.A.
Bar Seeks Candidates for Committee, Board Vacancies
The D.C. Bar Board of Governors is seeking candidates for appointment
in the fall to 10 of the Bar’s standing committees, and to the
Board of Directors of the Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP).
The following Bar standing committees are recruiting members: Community Economic Development Pro Bono Project Advisory Committee, Continuing Legal Education Committee, Governance Integration Advisory Committee, Lawyer Assistance Committee, Membership Committee, Practice Management Service Committee, Pro Bono Committee, Publications Committee, Regulations/Rules/Board Procedures Committee, and Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee.
Additionally, the Bar is accepting candidate résumés for the seven-member Committee on Nominations and the Election Board. These bodies are appointed each year in accordance with the Bar’s bylaws and are responsible for nominating candidates for the Bar’s officer and Board of Governors positions for the next Bar election and for reviewing the vote counts. Any active member of the Bar who is not an officer or member of the Board of Governors and who has not served on the Committee on Nominations during the past three years is eligible to apply. Any active member is eligible to serve up to three consecutive years.
Leadership experience with voluntary bar associations or with the Bar’s sections is highly desirable.
Finally, the Board of Governors is also accepting résumés from D.C. Bar members who are interested in serving on the board of directors of the NLSP. Candidates must be licensed attorneys who are supportive of the Legal Services Corporation Act and have an interest in, and knowledge of, the delivery of quality legal services to the poor. The NLSP board is required to attempt to reflect the diversity of the NLSP client population in its recommendations to the Bar’s Board of Governors.
The following committees have positions designated for nonlawyer members:
