OCBA UPDATE: What have we been up to lately?

By Judith K. Cunningham Happy New Year! I hope that all of our OCBA family had a happy and healthy holiday season, that you're keeping your New Year's resolutions, and are looking forward to a prosperous 2013. This year brings some changes to our judiciary in Oakland County. My heartfelt congratulations to new judges Circuit Judge Karen D. McDonald, Royal Oak District Judge Derek Meinecke, and Southfield District Judge Debra Nance. As this issue of LACHES goes to press, the OCBA is working with the newly elected judges on their investiture ceremonies. We are honored to be part of these celebratory events to officially welcome new members of the bench. At the end of last year we said goodbye to four longstanding jurists in our county: Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick, Troy District Judge Dennis Drury, Royal Oak District Judge Daniel Sawicki, and Southfield District Judge Susan Moiseev. The OCBA was also pleased to attend or play a part in their retirement parties and programs. We wish the retired judges the very best - always. We've been doing a lot more than planning judicial investitures and attending retirement parties. I want to use this column to bring you up to date on some of our other activities. We are currently in the third year of our Strategic Plan adopted on April 1, 2010. At the OCBA Annual Meeting last June, I introduced a couple of programs I envisioned to complement our plan and further the metaphorical concept of our bar as a "safe harbor" for its members. My thoughts were to extend that safe harbor at both ends of the chronological career spectrum - at the law school/student stage on the early end, and for the senior attorney status in later career stages. First, the law student project, our "Incubator Program," was launched late last summer when we invited all of the law schools in Michigan to partner with the OCBA to recruit second-year law students to become student members. I am so pleased to be able to report to you that all five of Michigan's law schools - Cooley, Wayne State University, MSU College of Law, U of D Mercy, and the University of Michigan - are participating in the Incubator program. Executive Director Lisa Stadig Elliot and I have enjoyed working with the deans and associate deans who met with us and helped to identify and screen students for our program. We targeted and sought out second-year students who live or hope to work in Oakland County. We determined to recruit no more than 10 students from each school, and we ultimately identified 44 prospective new OCBA student members through these efforts. A student membership costs $25.00, but for this program the membership fees are generously being paid by seasoned attorneys, many of whom are past presidents of the OCBA but all of whom have graciously agreed to sponsor a student. In addition to paying the dues, our members have also volunteered to serve as an occasional resource for the student they've sponsored - someone the student can turn to for help with a résumé, an interview, or possibly an internship, a clerking job or the like. From personal experience I have done this for law students throughout my career, and I want to instill this teaching and nurturing focus within our bar association. In short, I hope the Incubator will initiate future lawyers into our fold early on in their careers and at the same time promote and further our relationships with the law schools serving our community. On November 29, we hosted a reception for our new student members and their sponsors as a prequel to the New Lawyers Committee Novemberfest event in Ferndale. The reception was well attended and a resounding success. It exceeded my expectations in terms of the dynamics, the chemistry and the camaraderie evidenced between our new student members and our sponsoring attorneys. And we encouraged everyone to stay for Novemberfest so we could celebrate the season and support the New Lawyers Committee raise funds for their chosen charitable organization this year, the Boys and Girls Club of South Oakland County. My heartfelt thanks to OCBA past presidents George Googasian and Judge Wendy Potts, who helped pitch the program at last year's Past Presidents Dinner. Most of our past presidents agreed to sponsor a student as did every other attorney I have asked. The generosity of our members continually amazes me. Thank you all. At the other end of the career spectrum - the later stages of one's career - I also envisioned a program for our "Lawyers Of a Certain Age," which has come to be known as our LOCA program. (Loca is the Spanish word for a little-bit-crazy woman. Guilty as charged.) You may be surprised to learn that 27 percent of our OCBA membership is 60 years old and older. Our board of directors was surprised at this growing - and perhaps graying - of our membership, but that's what our demographics reveal. I convened a focus group to develop a strategy for addressing the needs of our LOCAs with two general thoughts in mind: First, how can the OCBA serve this segment of our membership? And second, how can our LOCA attorneys continue to stay engaged, involved and purposeful in service to the OCBA? The Honorable Edward Sosnick has generously agreed to serve as my co-chair for the focus group and I am pleased to report that we have also engaged the services of the State Bar of Michigan to assist with a planning session aimed at this segment of our membership. Anne Vrooman of the SBM has graciously agreed to facilitate a workshop in late January to which approximately 25-30 OCBA members will be invited to hopefully chart a course for our LOCAs. Judge Sosnick and I have grouped the areas of concern into three primary components: (1) a social component - opportunities for staying connected and social networking; (2) a practice component that might involve issues such as part-time or second careers, winding down a practice, retirement planning, etc.; (3) and a special skills component - where can our LOCAs help to fill gaps for the OCBA on projects, events and the community at large? These and other ideas will be explored at the late-January planning session. I also want to mention a few other projects currently in the works; hopefully by the time this column is published, they'll be well on their way or completed. For almost two years our Circuit Court Committee has been developing a "Circuit Court Judge Questionnaire" and "Pet Peeve" survey. The questionnaire will give our members the "lay of the land" in the various circuit judges' courtrooms on many issues: scheduling and status conferences, ADR processes, motion practice, discovery, pre-trials and trials. The "Pet Peeve" survey has a veritable laundry list of behaviors that would certainly irritate me (e.g., chewing gum in court, excessive use of cologne, etc.), but perhaps the judges are more tolerant than I am? My thanks to Director Jim Parks for ushering this through our Circuit Court Committee and seeing it to completion. Also, Chief Circuit Judge Nanci Grant has lent her endorsement and support by nudging her colleagues to complete the survey. She wisely realized that the survey will likely result in reduced phone calls and questions to her chambers and staff. So thank you to Judge Grant for her e-mail nudges! We intend to have the questionnaires and "Pet Peeve" surveys posted and updated on the OCBA website. So please watch for it this year. Speaking of our website, I have appointed a workgroup to identify, recommend and facilitate improvements to the OCBA's website. Director Tom Howlett and members Karen Safran, Barry Malone and Bradley Benn have graciously agreed to help with this effort. We hope to improve many facets of our website, not only to make it more user-friendly and interactive, but also to promote valuable member and community programs. If you have suggestions for improving our website, please let me, Lisa or one of the workgroup members know your thoughts. We welcome and appreciate your ideas for improvements. As you can see, there's a lot going on at the OCBA. I've only touched on a few programs and projects here. As we move through the new year, I'll keep you updated. Until next month... ---------------- Oakland County Corporation Counsel Judith K. Cunningham is the 80th president of the Oakland County Bar Association. Published: Tue, Jan 8, 2013

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