Executive Director's News

• Publication year: 2016
• Pages: 5
• Citation: Vol. 42 No. 2 Pg. 5

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S NEWS Vol. 42 No. 2 Pg. 5 Vermont Bar Journal Summer, 2016

Therese M. Corsones, Esq., J.

The "President's Column" normally appears in this space, but, don't worry, it will appear again soon! I'm only pinch-hitting for this edition due to unusual timing in the VBA Board officer hierarchy. Because former Board President Jennifer Emens-Butler (very thankfully!) has stepped in as the new VBA Director of Education and Communication following Kevin Ryan's departure to assume ED responsibilities in the Monroe County Bar Association, Mike Kennedy has assumed the role of Interim Board President until he passes the gavel to himself as Incoming President at the Annual Meeting on October 14^th. I'm sure that writing the President's Column is what Mike looks forward to most!

I wanted to take this chance to first of all thank everyone for such a warm welcome. I had the pleasure of working with our world class VBA staff while serving on the VBA Board several years ago, but have even more appreciation for them now that I see what they accomplish so expertly day to day. I was invited to attend the Connecticut Bar Association Annual Meeting recently, and visited with the CBA staff there. That meeting had 1,000 lawyers in attendance, with a wide variety of CLE's, exhibitors and presentations similar to what we enjoy at our annual meetings. I commented on how smoothly everything was running and asked how many staff the CBA has. "Only 18!" was the response, which I thought reflected very well regarding the VBA staff of "only 6!", accomplishing similar tasks to the same high levels here in Vermont.

My starting in mid-May near the CLE crunch time for those lawyers up for license renewal, gave me the chance to see firsthand how the VBA staff is able to do what they do so well when it comes to our all-important CLE presentations. The staff works with the incredible number of attorneys who give so generously of their time and talents presenting CLE seminars. Whether it was VBA Environmental Law Section Chair, Gerry Tarrant, organizing a day-long Environmental Law program, or Family Law Section Chair, Penny Benelli, and Dispute Resolution Chair, Emily Gould, coordinating a day-long Family Law Day, or Dan Richardson (who isn't even a section chair!) organizing a day-long Agricultural Law Day program, or Bar Counsel, Mike Kennedy, organizing the most entertaining ethics presentations anywhere on the planet, we are very lucky to have so many fellow...