President's Page, 0920 ALBJ, Vol. 81 No. 5 Pg. 328 (September, 2020)
| Position | Vol. 81 5 Pg. 328 |
Robert G. Methvin, Jr.
rgm@mtattorneys.com
Simply Because...for Many Reasons
I am honored to serve as the 145th president of the Alabama State Bar.
As I sit here writing this article at the end of July, it hit me again that the traditional way all of us have become accustomed to practicing law has been turned on its head. Lawyers and judges are still adjusting to Zoom for virtual hearings and meetings. In-person contact has been severely limited with our clients and each other. Lawyers are learning the virtual process of notarizing documents. Jury trials are suspended until at least September 14 (hopefully, jury trials have resumed by the time you read this article). Many lawyers who once chastised other lawyers for working remotely are now finding that they actually like working that way. New phrases have entered our lexicon such as "social distancing"and "sheltering in place." I was the first, and hopefully will forever hold the distinction as the only, Alabama State Bar President installed at a virtual annual meeting. These are just a few of the changes we are seeing, and like it or not, change is here to stay for a while in our profession. However, not all change is bad.
As some of you may know, I grew up in Eufaula. I have held a number of jobs since age 12, but one of the most memorable was as a disc jockey on the local radio station (WULA) circa 1983. Shockingly, the FCC gave me a license at 15. In those days, the DJ was the person on the radio who chose the songs to play and then actually "spun the tunes." More importantly, the DJ was in charge of playing the prerecorded commercials advertising the goods and services offered by local businesses. The station manager made most of our commercials, but I will never forget one of them for a local retailer (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). It went something like this: "John's furniture store is a fine furniture store, simply because... for many reasons. So, come shop with us at John's, your hometown furniture store." I always thought it was odd that the commercial did not list any of the "many reasons" that John's was a fine furniture store. Apparently, John's Furniture felt the public should simply trust that it was a fine store and leave it at that, with no further details necessary. While strange, there was something about it that stuck with me.
Eventually I moved on from my DJ career. I got married and now have a wonderful wife (Lee) and three incredible daughters (Hope, 19; Kate, 16; and Laine, 11), As you parents know, parenting 101 dictates that you lay down the rules for children to follow. Often children...
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