President's Corner

by Patricia C. Hannigan, Esquire

Our Bar Association is experiencing growing pains. When our numbers were smaller, communication was easier. Now it's almost impossible to know what every Section and Committee is up to, and in fact impossible to know all of our brethren and "sistren" personally. I think it is ever more true that communication is key as we get larger and (hopefully) more diverse. Indeed, the more diverse we become as a group, the less likely it is that we will all agree on any given issue. "Diverse" opinions are a natural outgrowth of differing perspectives brought to bear on the same issue. Life is complex and smart people of good will can come to quite different conclusions when confronted with the same problem. I think we all have a tendency to assume "if someone else does not agree with me, it must be because s/he doesn't understand my point of view, so let me restate it yet one more time, louder." It is only through contact and communication (and sometimes confrontation) with people of different perspectives that we broaden our own analytical understanding, such that we can reach a consensus that actually reflects a deeper expression of what we meant all along.

As a pragmatic matter, recognizing that there are ever more points of view in our ever-growing bar, the Executive Committee of our Bar Association has recently amended the Association's by-laws in a way both to streamline the process by which diverse voices within the bar can be heard and to ensure communication across the Bar.* See the summary of the changes on page 14. It is hoped the new procedures will permit all voices to be heard, and will contribute to informed public discourse, without being unduly confusing. There have been some misunderstandings in the past, between sections with different positions on a given matter, and between the Executive Committee and newer members of the bar, with new ideas and priorities but unfamiliar with our earlier near-byzantine procedures for speaking out. Hopefully the streamlined communication promoted by the amended by-laws will go a long way toward avoiding such problems. (As an aside, I heard recently that when the first transatlantic cable was laid, its promoters declared the occasion for all war had evaporated, in light of the availability of instant communication. I'm not that sanguinely optimistic, but I do agree that communication can be critically important in minimizing differences and misunderstandings.) Special thanks to Mike Parkowski, Charlie McDowell and their committees for a lot of thoughtful, detailed, patient work to develop the new by-laws.

Also to improve communication among us, I have asked each member of the Executive Committee to serve as a liaison with one or more Sections, and I expect to continue the practice of asking Section chairs to make annual reports to the Executive Committee. By the time this issue of IN RE: reaches you, I will have met with all Section chairs, and will have asked them to routinely forward minutes of their meetings to the Executive Committee member assigned to their Section. We will publish the Executive Committee agenda on the Bar Association website - http://www.dsba.org — before each meeting. And every member of the Bar Association is always invited to Executive Committee meetings if you really want to know what we're up to. (I know, for most of us that ranks right up there with hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.) We will also continue the practice of summarizing minutes of Executive Committee meetings in IN RE:, thanks to Secretary Matt Denn.

I close with a query, offered respectfully, but perhaps to be considered heretical by some: as more diverse voices join our chorus, should thought be given to open election of Bar Association officers? I have to admit that, personally, I have been most grateful for the three year "grooming" process built into our by-laws for filling the president's job. But are we asking too much of our Nominating Committee, whose members labor mightily to promote and ensure the diversity of the Executive Committee, as our numbers grow? I invite your comments, and hope to consider this issue further in next month's President's Corner.

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* The proposed amendments were published in the July/August issue of IN RE:. The action taken on them at the Executive Committee's August meeting is reported elsewhere in this issue. Copies of the amended by-laws have been sent to all Section chairs and more are available from the DSBA.

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