President’s Page, 0917 ALBJ, 78 The Alabama Lawyer 332 (2017)
| Author | Augusta S. Dowd, J. |
Augusta S. Dowd, J.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
I have long been a fan of Bob Dylan’s famous song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (reflecting, perhaps, how old I find myself to be these days). Dylan’s words certainly resonate with me about the place the Alabama State Bar and our profession find themselves as this issue goes to press in the summer of 2017.
I am deeply honored to have the privilege of leading the state bar this year. We are in transition on many fronts, making this an exciting time to be involved with the bar. The first transition, of course, is our annual change from one president to the next. Immediate Past President Cole Portis did an outstanding job as president. We are all grateful for his passionate and member-focused leadership, and we will miss his consistent presence and guiding hand around the state bar. I suspect his family and his partners at Beasley Allen are delighted to have more of his attention going forward, and we are all grateful for their respective sacrifices in supporting him through his presidential year. Thank you, Cole!
I know many members of our bar, and I look forward to meeting many more of you over the course of the next year. By way of personal background, I was born and raised in Birmingham, leaving only to spend a few years in Tennessee for undergraduate (Sewanee) and law school (Vanderbilt). My husband, David Dowd III, and I met in law school, and we have both built our professional careers in Birmingham. David, who practices at Burr Forman, and I are blessed to have three wonderful children: Bevan (31, San Francisco), Grace (29, New York City) and David IV (27, Washington, D.C.). One might observe that our children grew to adulthood and got as far away from us as possible . . . kind of hard to argue with that hypothesis, but cell phones are truly a great invention. The Dowd family history definitely reflects the changing landscape of professionals with families over the past several decades: as a private practitioner, I have worked full-time, part-time, no time, part-time and back to full-time as David and I navigated our professional and family lives and priorities together.
Come gather ’round people / Wherever you roam / And admit that the waters / Around you have grown / And accept it that soon / You’ll be drenched to the bone / If your time to you is worth savin’ / Then you better start...
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