1997-98 has proven to be a banner year for the Virginia State Bar because of the national attention it has received through its members, and for the programs it has been honored to host. Besides boasting three Virginia State Bar members as representatives on the ABA's board of governors this year (Robert Grey, William Rakes, and Tracy Giles), VSB member and former governor L. Douglas Wilder was awarded a Spirit of Excellence by the ABA's Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession. Among his many achievements, the award cited the Governor for the many "firsts" he has achieved in his career of distinguished public service: the first elected African-American governor in the nation, first African-American lieutenant governor, and first African-American state senator in Virginia after Reconstruction.
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Standing from left: VSB President Ed Lowry, Robert Grey, Governor Wilder, VSB President-elect W. Scott Street, III and the VSB Executive Director Tom Edmonds.Seated: YLC board member & ABA delegate O'Kelley McWilliams, and former YLC president Sharon Moon. |
The Virginia State Bar was honored to host, along with the Virginia Bar Association, the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents Annual Meeting this past September. Approximately 128 current, former, and future bar presidents and executive directors from 17 states throughout the South participated in this event held in Colonial Williamsburg. The program featured a panel discussion on teaching and learning professionalism, a visit to the National Center for State Courts, a demonstration of "Courtroom 21 at the College of William and Mary's School of Law, and a reenactment of a colonial trial at the Courthouse of 1770 and conversation with a reenactor of Thomas Jefferson at the Colonial Capitol. By all accounts from the attendees, the meeting proved to be a highly successful event. Virginia previously hosted the Southern Conference in 1973 and 1979, and will likely serve as host again around 2015.
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| A colonial re-enactor at the Courthouse of 1776. | VSB President Ed Lowry. | From left: John Whitfield president of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Bar Association, Prof. John Levy, Gordon F. Rainey, Jr. of Hunton & Williams, Attorney General Mark Earley. |
Lastly, the bar was pleased to bestow some honors of its own this year. Recipients of the 1997-98 Lewis Powell Pro Bono Award, which was given in May at ceremonies held at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, included a single individual, a law firm, and a local bar association. The individual was law professor John Levy from the College of William and Mary's School the Law; the law firm, Hunton and Williams; and the local bar, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Bar Association. All three were honored for their outstanding contributions to increasing access to the legal system in their communities.
