GR Bar gets together for the holidays

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LEGAL NEWS PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA PRICE

by Cynthia Price
Legal News

Members of the Grand Rapids legal community seem to like each other’s company, and Wednesday night’s Holiday Mixer was no exception.

Over hundred guests relaxed in the spacious Imperial Ballroom at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, which is itself all decked out for the holidays with string after string of intense blue lights and glowing white snowflakes.

From corporate lawyers to solo practitioners, from newly-entering lawyers to those most seasoned, Grand Rapids Bar Association members came to share a cup of good cheer.

Many brought a donation for Kids’ Food Basket, the well-known local non-profit that prepares sack suppers for students (over 7,000 a day) to make sure that school lunch is not their last meal of the day. GRBA staffer Debbie Kurtz is shown below wheeling away the donations of non-perishable goods. KFB’s wish list includes cereals, peanut butter and zip-lock bags, but the non-profit, which runs largely on volunteer power, also welcomes donations — $1 means one child can receive one supper  (www.kidsfoodbasket.org).

The current GRBA President, Pat Geary of Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge, as well as several past presidents attended.    

Other current officers include Hon. Christopher P. Yates, 17th Circuit Court Judge (also see article below),  President-Elect; Elizabeth Joy Fossel of Varnum, Vice-President; Benjamin H. Hammond of Hilger Hammond, Secretary; and William M. Azkoul of Gruel Mills Nims and Pylman, Treasurer. The Immediate Past President is Tom Behm, also of the Gruel Mills firm.

The GRBA has had a good year, expanding civic education and member social opportunities as well as its  Continuing Legal Education offerings. There will be a CLE seminar/panel discussion on “No More Same Sex Marriage: Marriage is Marriage, Period.”  Jan. 7 at the University Club, and at the end of January, GRBA members mayhang out in Cancun with colleagues while they learn, in the Bar’s first “Destination CLE.”

The new series of “Side Bar” Mixers continues on Jan. 28. After that, on Feb. 18, will be the ever-popular Just Lips Celebrity Lip Sync at the Wealthy Theatre, which is held biennially to benefit the Justice Foundation of West Michigan.
 

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