President’s Page, 0518 ALBJ, 79 The Alabama Lawyer 160 (2018)

• Position: Vol. 79 3 Pg. 160

President’s Page

Vol. 79 No. 3 Pg. 160

Alabama Bar Lawyer

May, 2018

Augusta S. Dowd barpresident@alabar.org, (205) 323-1888

What’s up with the Annual Meeting This Year?

We find ourselves in May and my presidency, despite my best efforts to retain the magic of this year for longer than my approved tenure, is drawing to a close. The next time i write to you, i will be sporting a “Past President” ribbon on my bar name tag. The adage about time flying when you are having fun certainly applies to my year as your state bar president. i remain eternally grateful for the privilege and opportunity.

Your bar staff, supported by lawyers across the state, is currently focused on the programming and logistics surrounding our upcoming annual meeting. This year’s meeting will be June 27-30 at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. The earlier timing of this year’s annual meeting means that my presidency will end several weeks ahead of its one-year mark–a quirk of calendaring that I’ve been assured is nothing personal. I will leave office knowing that our bar is in great hands with incoming President Sam Irby at the helm.

So, what’s up with the annual meeting? our goals for this year’s meeting are for our members to “get Away. get informed. get Ahead.” and we’ve been developing an agenda that delivers all of those! in response to feedback received about past annual meetings– what has worked, and what you would like to see done differently in the future–we have endeavored to provide a wider variety of CLE programming, as well as multiple networking and fellowship opportunities, family events and occasions to recognize and celebrate all that our bar and its lawyers are doing so well. The aim is that the annual meeting will enable you to “get Away” from the office for a few days, “get informed” by earning an entire year’s worth of CLE credit (and then some!) and “get Ahead” by networking with our members, as well as reengaging with friends and loved ones and, hopefully, enjoying a bit of rest and recreation in a beautiful place.

I am excited to share some of the program and activity highlights with you. Joe Borg, director of the Alabama securities commission, will start off the Thursday morning plenary session with a fascinating discussion about how lawyers with the best of intentions can be duped by others into running afoul of Alabama’s Securities Laws. He will be sharing with us...