President’s Page, 0720 ALBJ, Vol. 81 No. 4 Pg. 256 (July, 2020)
| Author | Christina D. Crow |
| Position | Vol. 81 4 Pg. 256 |
Christina D. Crow
A Year in the Life of a bar President
When I was originally planning my final “President’s Page” for The Alabama Lawyer, I had envisioned this as a funny, engaging article that would detail all the adventures I have had in my year as state bar president. and, to be sure, there have been plenty of adventures this year. I made it to all four corners of the state with visits to our bar members in Jackson county, Houston county, mobile and Florence, and many places in between. I had the pleasure of welcoming hundreds of new admittees to our Alabama state bar. I brought greetings to the Alabama Lawyers association and met inspirational figures who were on the front lines of the civil rights movement. I have been blessed to get to know a lot of new people, from the members of our appellate courts to the members of the smallest circuits in the state. I thought that by the end of my term as president I would be able to use the words of Johnny cash, “I’ve been everywhere, man.”
In spite of the carefully-laid plans and programming we had lined up for the rest of my term as your bar president, the coronavirus had other ideas. What we had envisioned for the spring and summer fell apart. When Things Fall Apart author Pema chodron reminds us that: Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. it’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
As my plans fell apart for the end of my term, I grieved the loss of the presidency I planned. but, as I was grieving the loss of what I had planned, I continued serving the presidency I had.
And what a spring it was! With the help of the amazing staff at the Alabama state bar and the support of our members across the state, we continued to serve our members and the people of Alabama. over the course of march, April and may, we: • Presented 11 webinars on managing during the pandemic, working remotely, keeping the courts open, wellness during stressful times and more;
• Held our first ever virtual board of bar commissioners...
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