Broward County Bar Association dedicates new center to first executive director.

• Position: Florida

When the Broward County Bar Association's leadership decided to expand its headquarters into the adjacent property, naming the new meeting center was the easiest part.

The 1,800-square-foot Norma B. Howard Bar Center, which opened in December, was named for the association's first executive director, who retired 18 months ago after 32 years of service to the association. She died the following year.

"Her whole life was the Broward County Bar Association," President Donald Wich said. "She ran everything." Wich recalled Howard as a determined individual who valued loyalty and would go to great lengths to help those she considered under her tutelage.

"There is no question she was strong willed, but you always knew she was applying that to the betterment of the Bar," he said.

Bar members were shocked and saddened when Howard suffered a massive stroke during her retirement dinner in April 1996. She died the following March. "It was pretty natural that the meeting center would be named after her," BCBA Director Cindy White said.

White says she is impressed by Howard's devotion to the association, but has vowed, "I will not be here 32 years."

The opening of the renovated house represents the last stage of a project that began in 1992 when the bar bought the house, located six blocks south of the courthouse. Wich said the $300,000 renovation started last May, and that, besides offering much needed parking relief, The Florida Bar will lease space to offer videotape seminars.

Building Bridges

With the meeting center completed, White said bar leadership is turning its focus to increasing membership.

While the association roster lists more than 2,200 members, bar membership should be higher, she said, noting that nearly 5,800 lawyers practice in Broward.

"We should be the second...