With spring serving as the season for renewal and growth, it marks an ideal time to call attention to three exciting developments in our legal community that promise to re-establish and broaden connections that we enjoy with one another as lawyers in Oakland County.
A Line for Lawyers is Now Back
First, it’s exciting to report to our membership that attorneys once again can move more quickly through security at the Oakland County courthouse thanks to the return of a lawyers’ line at the north entrance.
Effective immediately, lawyers at the north entrance can use a separate line to the left that feeds into the main security line.
This feeder line should significantly shorten the time it takes lawyers with bar cards (along with smartphones and briefcases and bankers boxes and multiple court obligations) to get on with their work.
It has been literally years since lawyers at Oakland County’s main courthouse have been afforded the courtesy of being able to proceed more expeditiously into the building where we perform duties as officers of the court.
We all owe a great deal of thanks to the Oakland County bench in general and to Chief Circuit Judge Nanci J. Grant in particular for the re-establishment of a security system that allows us to get to court, check in with clerks, meet our clients and practice law in a smooth and professional manner.
The lack of any expedited security process for bar members at the courthouse had been a source of frustration heard by leaders at the Oakland County Bar Association for a number of years, particularly when courtesies extended to lawyers are evident at other courthouses in which we find ourselves throughout the state and around the country.
These concerns were shared with the bench, and Judge Grant worked with Captain Clay Jansson of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, who oversees the Court Services Unit, and Oakland County Circuit Court Administrator Kevin Oeffner to provide this renewed benefit to the bar.
We remain hopeful that resources may become available in the future to allow for an entirely separate security line that can be used by lawyers to further expedite entrance into court.
In the meantime, the new lawyers’ line now in place not only provides an immediate enhancement for those practicing law in Oakland County, but also serves as a testament to the positive and respectful relationship that the bar and bench often enjoy here.
A New OCBA Website Will Soon Debut
A second new development worth celebrating is the forthcoming arrival of a redesigned OCBA website that will greatly enhance members’ communications with the organization and with one another.
The new site, which will start appearing on browsers at the beginning of the summer, will look better, navigate more easily, contain fresh content, and create improved means for interaction among OCBA members.
The new www.ocba.org will usher in an era of enhanced communication among OCBA members seeking to interact with one another about their committee work, volunteering in the community, practice areas and professional development.
The redesigned website will be integrated with new back-end software – known as an “association management system” – that is already up and running at the OCBA, greatly enhancing our staff ‘s ability to manage information regarding our membership and to organize registration and attendance for events and other activities.
When the website debuts, OCBA members will for the first time be able to go online to update their own contact information and practice areas, register and pay for events, review committee agendas and materials, and sign up for volunteer and other opportunities. Thanks to the website’s interactivity, we will be able to see on a daily basis what bar activities our fellow OCBA members are engaged in or signing up for, spurring our own interests in additional participation in our community.
The website also will help the OCBA move forward with all aspects of its current strategic plan, particularly goals of serving as a point of community access to the legal system and ensuring an infrastructure that enables us to serve members, the profession and the community.
As with the new lawyers’ line, sincere thanks are owed to others for the new website and back-end software: in this case, credit goes to our more than 300 sustaining members.
The OCBA’s sustaining members graciously support our organization each year with an additional $100 in annual dues, which are set aside to improve technology when needed.
The OCBA’s new website and its critically important integration with improved association management software are the direct result of financial support given by sustaining members.
The many innovative features of the website arriving in a matter of weeks also are the result of hundreds of hours of time volunteered by OCBA board members, committee members and other leaders within our bar who have been committed to this project launched by then-OCBA President Judith Cunningham more than two years ago.
Much more information about the new website will be shared with members in the coming weeks by e-blast and otherwise. But the enthusiasm about the many ways in which the site will improve connections within our community is already widely felt among those involved with the project, particularly our hardworking staff.
A Taste of Diversity is Set for October 1
Finally, the “Taste of Diversity” event now being planned by our Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee promises to be another transformative event for the OCBA – a broader and better celebration of the important role diversity plays in effectively practicing law and administering justice.
The strolling dinner, which will be held on October 1 at The Bird and The Bread restaurant in Birmingham from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., will further our continuing efforts to be a welcoming and inclusive bar that celebrates and embraces the critical role of diversity in making all of us better legal professionals.
To that end, the OCBA is actively encouraging affinity bars to participate fully in this event by joining us on the forthcoming invitations and sharing literature about their own organizations at the dinner. The time when bar associations functioned as separate silos clearly has passed, particularly when undertaking important matters of common interest such as striving to have bars and benches filled with people having a wide diversity of backgrounds and experiences.
The October 1 event also will give the OCBA an opportunity to present and highlight two awards – the Leon Hubbard Community Service Award, and the new Michael K. Lee Memorial Award Recognizing Diversity, named in recognition of our beloved board member and consummate bar leader who passed suddenly last November. Nominations for each of these awards may be submitted to the OCBA until June 30, 2015.
The steps forward being taken by the Taste of Diversity event are the result of the vision and efforts of our Diversity Committee, particularly Chair Lawrence Garcia, Vice-Chair Vicki King, and OCBA Executive Director Terri Gilbert. Sincere thanks also go to OCBA Member Services/Development Coordinator Katie Tillinger.
Each of the three developments that I’ve highlighted this month – the lawyers’ line, the website and the Taste of Diversity event – are tangible signs of a bar that is striving to go to the next level in service and programming to the profession, the membership and the community. With the products of hard work at the OCBA evident in so many respects at this time of year, it’s worth pausing to smell the roses.
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Thomas H. Howlett, of The Googasian Firm PC, is the 82nd president of the Oakland County Bar Association. Share your thoughts about the OCBA or anything else: direct line 248-502-0862; or e-mail thowlett@googasian.com.
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