The
Honorable Hassan Ali El-Amin,
Past President 2007-2008
The historic 2008 presidential election is
over 
and Barack Obama will soon take office as the 44th President
of the United States—the
first African-American to become what many call “the leader of
the free world.” President-elect Obama represents, embodies great
change. For us in the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association, we will undergo
a changing of the guard when President-elect Sharon
Y. Christmas-DeBerry becomes president of our Association on December 1, 2008, following
the Annual Meeting. Change is in the air: our Annual Banquet is over,
Daylight Savings Time has expired, fall has set in and we’re
preparing for our winter season’s activities: the annual Christmas/Holiday
Party, the January planning meeting, the Black History Month programs
of February.
We will be holding elections for next year’s officers on Thursday,
November 20, 2008 at the Annual Meeting. Only two members have been
nominated for the four available posts (president-elect, treasurer,
corresponding secretary and recording secretary), which means additional
nominations must come from the floor. The failure of more members to “step
up” to take over the important positions that keep our organization
running is both disappointing and symptomatic. Disappointing because
given the visibility and prestige of this Association, it would seem
that member attorneys would be scrambling to serve in office; symptomatic
because more and more of us seem to be too caught up in the struggle
for survival—earning a living, raising children, paying bills,
juggling commitments—and consequently have less time to “volunteer” for
service in a professional association. Indeed, every volunteer organization
I belong to or with which I’m familiar is having problems attracting
and/or retaining members committed enough to serve in leadership or
administrative roles. This is a shame, especially when we consider
that long-term members and their families are now thinking enough of
JFB to designate this organization as a beneficiary when a loved one
passes on. This tells us that on a very real level, JFB is becoming
an important, institutional part of a growing number of peoples’ lives.
In contrast, the short, one-year term of office
called for in our By-laws basically forces change. However, to ensure
some continuity in the leadership of our Association, the current
president serves on the board of directors as the immediate past
president, while a new president-elect takes his/her turn as the “right arm” of
the incoming president. Our founders must have wanted the organization
to maintain “fluidity”. New, fresh personnel will mean
new ideas and initiatives that hopefully will be embraced.
Designing and launching any major initiative
during a one-year term is quite a challenge. In January 2008 I announced
my plan to initiate a modernized lawyer referral service to give
the public better access to, and to generate more business for, our
member practitioners. Thanks largely to the hard work of Newsletter
editor Joel Braithwaite and Board member Holly
Reed, this initiative
has materialized in the form of The Bourne Pages, an online find-a-lawyer
service that debuted at our October meeting. Free for the first year
(‘08-’09)
to all paid-up members, this service will enable anyone with access
to a computer to find, connect with and retain, JFB member participants
who advertise their legal services. At press time only a few members
have enrolled, but expansion should be swift as business cards and
flyers advertising the service are distributed and radio spots aired.
To sneak a peak, go online to www.bournepages.com and
see how you might benefit from this service.
Perhaps the hallmark of the past year has
been the larger, enlivened monthly meetings. Our experiment with
a new format—hot hors d’oeuvres,
cash bar and table seating at local restaurants, instead of rows of
chairs pointing to a teacher’s desk in a community center classroom—has
resulted in a doubling, tripling of meeting attendance over previous
years. (Michael Ron Worthy suggested both the idea and the sites for
these up-tempo meetings.) Add to the social atmosphere the quality
of the continuing legal education programs (“CLE’s) staged
by the Honorable Michele Hotten, assisted by Greg
Wells, and we can
say that meetings been informative as well as enjoyable. Thanks to Judge
Hotten and Greg, we’ve seen and heard from, up close and
personal, such legal luminaries as Bill Lightfoot,
Victor Long, Prince George’s County Attorney Stephanie Anderson, our own William
Snoddy, and the inimitable, indominatable Billy
Murphy, Jr. If you’ve
not been there, you’ve missed out! The food, the camaraderie,
the fellowship, the networking à la Frankie Bourne—there
is nothing quite like it, and we look forward to more of it in the
coming months.
To everyone who has helped make this past
year a memorable, productive and enjoyable one for our Association,
I offer my heartfelt thanks and congratulations. Thank you for the
privilege of serving you. Please, let’s give our incoming president,
the very brave and highly capable Sharon DeBerry--and the officers
who serve along with her-- our support and encouragement in this
great year of change, 2009. I look forward to seeing you at our events!
Hon. Hassan Ali El-Amin
