Executive Director’s Report, 0319 ALBJ, 80 The Alabama Lawyer 88 (2019)
| Author | Phillip W. McCallum |
| Position | Vol. 80 2 Pg. 88 |
Phillip W. McCallum
Volunteers Are the Backbone of the Bar Our state bar is a unified bar and, as such, presents a unique situation. The benefits of a unified bar enable our profession to carry out our regulatory obligations and public services. You're required to be a member in order to practice law, but how you choose to be involved after your admissions ceremony is ultimately your choice.
The fact is we need volunteer support-not only do the regulatory and licensing functions require strong support, but so do our programs that benefit the profession and the public. This year, we embarked on a new journey with the Leadership Forum. As we announced last fall, the Leadership Forum is taking a "strategic pause" to evaluate the program moving forward. The summits we are holding this spring are the brainchild of past alumni, who are volunteering their time to make the Leadership Forum continue to be the award-winning, innovative program that it has been for the last 15 years. A lot of the forum's success is due to Ed Patterson, who retired in January. We thank Ed for the time he spent molding many young legal minds over the years. We very much owe the future of the Leadership Forum to the alumni who have spent the last several months crafting the program that will push it to new heights. By the time you read this, we will have completed at least one summit in February and are looking forward to two more.
We also had longtime editor of The Alabama Lawyer, Greg Hawley, retire after eight years of dedicated service. Being the editor of a quality publication like The Alabama Lawyer requires a significant amount of time working with contributors, a graphic designer, the Editorial Board and our state bar director of publications, Margaret Murphy. Greg has directed the publication of more than 50 issues of the Lawyer, all while practicing law.
A little insight into the position of editor-it's basically a part-time, but unpaid, extra job. For each issue, Greg, like every editor before him, had to solicit...
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