I have this service ethic that drives me to do things that
help others. It seems to be part of me and I cannot shake it. So, once again,
it seems that I am Hoo’s in charge of something.
On Thursday, June 20, I took the oath of office as President
of the Kentucky Bar Association for 2013-2014. It is a position I sought. I
wasn’t sure I would get there, but somehow I did. I sought the position because
I think I can make a positive difference in the professional lives of my
brothers and sisters at the Kentucky Bar. I have my chance.
I have been told that I am pretty good at things that do not
pay. Yes, it is volunteer work for the KY Court of Justice. I am beginning year
9 on the KBA Board of Governors – 6 as a Governor, 1 as Vice President and 1 as
President-Elect. I have two to go, as the Immediate Past President has duties,
too. As President I will preside at the 7 regular board meetings and executive
committee meetings and at any special meeting, will attend all of the KY Law
Update sessions around the Commonwealth, and will be the ‘face’ of the
profession for a while. I will set the agenda for the year, appoint committee
chairs and members, and arrange for the 2014 annual convention to be held in
Covington next June. The duties seem endless, but the quality of the KBA staff makes
it all manageable. The KBA staff is simply awesome and make allthe volunteers look good.
Many have asked ‘what is the KBA and what does it do?’ Fair questions.
Even some attorneys are not sure. Kentucky’s
Constitution makes the Court of Justice the Commonwealth’s 3rd
branch of government, co-equal with the executive and legislative branches, and
imposes the duty of running this branch on the Supreme Court (SCOKY). A portion
of these duties have been assigned to the Court’s agency, known as the KBA. SCOKY
has issued Rules that establish the KBA and regulate the practice of law. Rule
3.025 states:
The
mission and purpose of the association is to maintain a proper discipline of
the
members
of the bar in accordance with these rules and with the principles of the legal
profession
as a
public calling, to initiate and supervise, with the approval of the court,
appropriate means to
insure
a continuing high standard of professional competence on the part of the
members of the
bar,
and to bear a substantial and continuing responsibility for promoting the
efficiency and
improvement
of the judicial system.
Everything the KBA does falls under this Rule. Subsequent
Rules flesh out details of the mission. The first duty the rule mentions is discipline.
The KBA is like an umbrella under which the entire system of disciplinary prosecution
falls. One arm of the KBA is the Office of Bar Counsel – the prosecutor.
Another arm is the Inquiry Commission -
the grand jury. A third arm is the group of hearing officers – the trial
judges. The fourth arm is the Board of Governors – the appellate court. The
ultimate decision-maker is the Court itself, as only SCOKY has the authority to
issue discipline. By the time an attorney’s case gets to the Court for
resolution, there have been several layers of filters and due process hearings.
The Board of Governors consists of 2 elected representatives
of the 7 SCOKY districts. (14) The 4 officers (VP, Pres.Elect, President,
Immediate Past Pres.) and the 4 lay members appointed by the Court for discipline
cases make the total 22, but since the Past President handles only consensual
discipline (‘plea bargains’) 21 people hear appeals from hearing officer
decisions and default cases. Since the Board
has this judicial function, its members are not made aware of any discipline
case before it is formally presented to the Board. This is why Board members
cannot answer constituent questions about individual cases. The President,
therefore, becomes the presiding judge in appeals and defaults that come before
the board.
The professional competence aspect of the mission is carried
out by the Continuing Legal Education Commission, another arm of the KBA. The
annual convention, the regional seminars, the on-line offerings are all efforts
to carry out the mission. The Ethics Committee works on and issues advisory
opinions on ethics issues of general importance and its Hotline advises
individual attorneys on prospective actions. The KY Lawyers Assistance Program
(KYLAP) provides completely confidential help to attorneys facing problems with
drugs, alcohol and mental illness. The Board provides free computerized legal
research for its members. The Board has administrative responsibilities to
approve department heads, and sets the budgets of all aspects of KBA
operations. The Executive Director, the Chief Bar Counsel and all other
managers serve at the pleasure of the Board.
The efficiency and improvement aspects of the KBA mission
are illustrated by the KBA effort to address inadequate court funding. The KY
Bar Foundation and the IOLTA (interest on lawyers trust accounts) commission
raise money to give to justice-related organizations such as legal aid and law
schools. The KBA publishes a magazine, issues newsletters, and conducts
elections for judicial nominating committees. The KBA has committees on diversity
in the profession, and on domestic violence and children, and legislation. Leadership
and SCOKY work together on issues of immediate concern to the Court and justice
system.
The President of the Kentucky Bar Association has
substantial and ongoing responsibility for all this and more for a year. It is
a big job. I believe the President also has the responsibility of using the ‘bully
pulpit’ to set the tone, set the agenda and influence the conversation among
members of the Kentucky Bar. What follows, delivered at this year’s Convention
in Louisville, was my first attempt.
"Mr. Chief Justice, members of the Supreme Court, members of the Kentucky Court of Justice, Judge Heyburn, Judge Russell and members of the Federal judiciary, my brothers and sisters of the Kentucky Bar, friends and family:
I am proud
to be a Kentucky Attorney and proud to be an officer of our Court of Justice.
Collectively, Kentucky attorneys are the most outstanding group of people I
have encountered. You routinely stand up to be counted. You take on difficult
or unpopular causes with professionalism. You seek help when needed, and always
offer assistance to those who seek it. You are leaders in your communities, in
your churches and civic organizations and you teach your children well. Our
Commonwealth depends on us to be as good as we can be, and, day after day,
Kentucky attorneys rise to the occasion. Kentucky attorneys serve. I am blessed to be among you.
So, tonight,
let us celebrate being Kentucky attorneys! Let’s take a minute to feel good
about who we are, what we do, and the service we provide. Let’s acknowledge and
give thanks for our many blessings.
It is an
honor and privilege to be here with you tonight, and I am humbled by the
opportunity to serve as your President for the next year. I know that I have
been blessed. In taking the seat at the head of the table, I am standing on the
shoulders of so many great people who set examples for me, who offered me
guidance and assistance, and who became lasting friends and revered colleagues
in the process. Some are here – some are not – but I remember and thank them
all. I extend hearty thanks and congratulations to Doug Myers and Maggie Keene,
who have replaced the pavement on the road before me and removed the potholes.
Kudos to Bruce Davis and Buzz English for solid, professional leadership. Great men such as Bob Hobson, Bob Turley, Dick
Roberts and Jack Ballantine who schooled me as a rookie on the KBA Ethics
committee. Great women such as Marcia Ridings, Beverly Storm, Jane Dyche and my
classmate at the UK College of Law, Judge Jennifer Coffman – all fearless
trailblazers for women in this profession. Joe Savage and the late Bill Moore,
teaching litigation skills at UK, and my professors like Bob Lawson and Bill
Fortune who showed us all what real lawyers were like. Governors such as
Charlie Moore, Mike O’Connell, John Rosenberg, Bo Fugazzi, Margo Grubbs, Will
Wilhoit and Jim Harris (who will always tell you “Roll Tide!”) who all provided
lessons in professionalism, humility, humor, common sense and friendship. And
to our President-Elect, Big Bill Johnson, who I am honored to work with, we all
are at your beck and call when needed.
Many of you
know that it is likely be an imposter speaking to you now if the University of
Virginia was not mentioned. I am a son of Mr. Jefferson’s University, try to be
one of its Honor Men, and am a loyal Wahoo. I bleed orange and blue. Not sure
how I got there, know I could not get in these days. But, I received another
blessing in 1970. Believe it or not, the School of Engineering and Applied
Science was an awesome training ground for this attorney, as competence (Rule
1.1), diligence (Rule 1.3) and communication (Rule 1.4) were demanded in my
exacting civil engineering discipline. Plus, my late fluid mechanics and
engineering economics Professor, Charles Echols, also happened to be an
attorney licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and really opened my eyes to
many possibilities.
Life is an
educational journey and I have been fortunate to have so many great schools and
teachers. I thank them all. The greatest teachers in my life have been my
parents, my sister, my 2 children and, now, my 3 grandchildren.
I Believe
that down deep, in our heart of hearts, Kentucky lawyers want to help people,
to assist them in difficult times, and to make our communities a little better.
To do this, we train, study, attend CLE sessions, watch and listen. The result
is a bar that does its best to provide excellent legal services for fair and
reasonable compensation. The KBA exists
to assist all of us in this endeavor and to fulfill its mission as set forth by
SCOKY. To maintain a proper discipline among members of the bar in accordance
with the Supreme Court Rules and the principles of the legal profession. To
initiate and supervise appropriate means to ensure a continuing high standard
of professional competence. To bear a substantial and continuing responsibility
for promoting the efficiency and improvement of the judicial system.
I think your
bar association is in good shape. The BOG, at least during my 8 years, has been
a hard-working bunch of talented volunteers and has faced and addressed several
crises. I told Steve Smith upon replacing me on the Board that we rarely meet
on Saturdays – wrong! We spend money miserly, are doing more with less, embrace
and implement technology as quickly as possible. We are trying to provide
quality services within our means. Everyone knows that certain costs are out of
our control – retirement, health care, utility charges – but all discretionary
costs are under constant scrutiny. Our by-laws and internal policies have been
reviewed, revised and brought into today’s world. Any appearances of
impropriety – imaginary or real – between OBC and BOG have been addressed and
resolved. We have sought and obtained significant changes to the Rules of the
Supreme Court which have modernized our discipline system and addressed the
rapid changes we face. The Board’s Rules Committee has been real busy in the
past few years. We volunteer for duty and work hard.
The KBA
staff – your KBA staff, is beyond compare. Period. (applause)
Here is more
reason to celebrate tonight - 78/17000=
0.5% with active discipline charges. 1% serving disciplinary suspensions.
Only 4 discipline trials conducted in last 12 months. We do the right things
and follow the rules.
There are
many challenges that await your KBA. Budgetary pressures come from all sides. A
few lawyers do not take their licenses seriously enough to defend themselves -
Curious - 22 default cases brought to BOG for consideration in the last 12
months. 21 attorneys have been disbarred in the last 2 years – so there are
still a few folks who make real bad decisions. The suicide problem rears its
ugly head in every corner of our Commonwealth and must be addressed.
We are much
more than wage earners, than legal technicians, than paper pushers. We are the
stewards of our profession, our justice system, and in many ways, stewards of the
quality of life in our communities. We are our home town’s sentinels, our brother
and sister’s keepers and have a duty to help, even if just to observe and
report. We can save lives and prevent bad decisions if we just do the right
thing. So – if you see something, say something.
In his
remarks upon assuming this very office, my good friend Buzz English coined a
few phrases that struck a chord with me. With his permission, I will again
stand on his shoulders:
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky lawyer will take a call from someone with a Family or
personal crisis, and take some of the burden as her own. We are compassionate.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky attorney will be making a decision to seek public office –
as city council member, county commissioner, Mayor, Judge-Executive, member of
the General assembly, Judge of the Court of Justice, or another position of
service and public trust. We are committed.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky attorney will take an ‘after-hours’ phone call from a jail
from a person who was just arrested and needs help. Another Kentucky attorney,
serving as a Commonwealth’s Attorney, will take a late night call from a police
officer seeking guidance in a tragic circumstance. We are duty-bound.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky lawyer, serving as a judge, will be called upon to review a
warrant request and will insure that the Constitutional requirements are
satisfied. We are professional.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky attorney will consider whether or not to lend her talents in
service to a community organization such as a church, a Lions Club, a
site-based council, a soup kitchen. Our communities matter to us.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky lawyer, serving as an adjunct professor at Chase, Brandeis
or UK, is deep in preparations for the class that will be taught next semester
to try to help the next generation become Kentucky attorneys and, like me, to
learn so much from the exceedingly bright students. We care about the future of
our profession.
Somewhere,
tonight, a Kentucky attorney will be deep in preparations for a trial, a
hearing, an arbitration, a mediation, in a sincere and professional effort to
obtain the best possible result for the client, ignoring more pleasurable
activities. We are diligent and thorough.
Somewhere,
tonight, an abused, dependent or neglected child in our Commonwealth will turn
to our Court of Justice and Kentucky lawyers for protection and relief. We
serve.
Somewhere,
tonight, an attorney is burning the midnight oil crafting an agreement that
will assist 2 young, unmarried people co-parent their child. It is a legal aid
case where this volunteer lawyer is providing pro bono service. We are
competent.
The list
goes on forever, and the ‘Party never ends.’ The Kentucky lawyer will answer
the call, do the right thing, and make our Commonwealth a little better day by
day, case by case.
Service is our ethic, professionalism is our calling, and
honor is our duty.
One last
thing – U of L has had a unprecedented athletic year – Sugar Bowl champs,
National Champs, National runners-up, and now the College World Series. We have
experienced 2 years of U of L Brandeis
alums at the helm of this organization– its time to share the wealth, don’t you
think? GO BIG BLUE!
Thank you
for your support and your kind consideration.
