CHAIRPERSON'S MESSAGE: ARE YOU A SUNSHINE PATRIOT?
by Douglass W. Dewing*
These
are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot
will, in this crisis,
shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves
the love and thanks of man and woman.
Thomas Paine, The Crisis, No. 1, December 23, 1776.
Membership in the Virginia State Bar is required; membership in the Real Property Section is not. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Estates and Property Section, which divided in 1978 to become the Trusts and Estates and the Real Property Sections. For half a century, real estate attorneys have served the public by helping each other. From this voluntary section have come pamphlets, newsletters, forms, seminar programs and other tools for the practitioner. More important, this voluntary association grew relationships that spanned beyond the firm and the locality.
As the deadline for this issue of the FEE SIMPLE approaches, the anniversary of 9/11 has just passed, hurricanes are battering Louisiana and heading for Texas, and gasoline prices are heading past $3 per gallon. These are trying times, but they are also a time for hope. Paine noted later in his pamphlet, "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph," and "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." In a side note, Paine quotes from his other famous pamphlet, Common Sense, stating "It is not in numbers, but in a union, that our great strength lies."
Against the backdrop of a nation in the eye of a major storm, practicing real estate law in Virginia continues much as it has for hundreds of years. Change, however, is in the air. Electronic indices and digitally imaged land records are a present reality. Electronic filing of documents is not far off in the future. Transactions are on a faster track, while local governments struggle to meet unmet needs for services - housing, transportation, and education - and to balance new service needs with the existing unmet or poorly met needs. National trends and regulations increasingly affect local practices.
Just as our e-mail inboxes may be so cluttered with spam that we cannot find a critical message, so may our minds and lives be cluttered in a blizzard of information and obligation overload. We can only do so much; there are only so many hours in a day. Much like individuals, an association can lose its way in the storm of demands upon its talents and time. In 2003, the Board surveyed our members, looking for information that would help the Board focus on meeting the needs of the members. Two perceptions were clearly apparent from the survey: our active membership is graying; and professional expertise is starting to reside with in-house counsel at the title company, rather than within the law firm setting.
If you did not complete the survey, it is posted on the website (http://www.vsb.org/sections/rp/newsletters.htm), or can be found in your hard copy of the November 2003 FEE SIMPLE. It is not too late. If you think we asked the wrong questions, set us straight - get us out of our "box" and on the right path. Tell us about the barriers between where you are and where you want to be. Tell us what is preventing you from meeting your personal or professional goals. Tell us what you need to succeed. To paraphrase former President Kennedy, ask not just what your Section can do for you, but also what you can do for the Section. What will make membership in this section your most valuable professional resource, a resource that you value not only because it benefits you and your practice, but because you can see your contribution joined with those of your peers to benefit all the people of the Commonwealth?
In this issue of the FEE SIMPLE, the Section continues to work from its strengths by providing articles of professional interest intended to help you be a better practitioner. Behind the scenes, members of the Section are working with Virginia CLE to prepare three continuing education programs: our 10th annual advanced program (scheduled for late February), our 24th annual program (scheduled for May), and a program for the Bar's annual meeting (in June). But we are also trying to expand the benefits of section membership. As a division of state government, the State Bar is limited in its ability to interact with the legislature. We are working more closely with the real property section of the Virginia Bar Association, leaning on their strength and expertise to monitor new legislation at the General Assembly, educate our legislators on real property issues, and alert our members to changes in this area. In order to spread the wealth of knowledge, we are investigating the addition of a discussion forum to our section website (http://www.vsb.org/sections/rp/index.htm, if you have not been, please visit). This issue also marks the announcement of an initiative toward law students - our first Legal Writing award. If the section is to celebrate its 100th anniversary, real estate as a practice area needs to attract and retain law students and young practitioners. There are a lot of cutting edge real estate topics yet to come, and the contest should help all of us keep current.
As Paine said over 200 years ago, our strength is not in numbers, but in union. We can all do many things, and do them well, but numbers help. "Many hands make light work" goes the truism, and if we ALL work toward our common goals, we will excel, and not only will the public benefit, but so will each of us. When the storm subsides, we will not suffer the symptoms reported by Paine . . . "to pass from the extremes of danger to safety - from the tumult of war to the tranquility of peace, though sweet in contemplation, requires a gradual composure of the senses to receive it. Even calmness has the power of stunning, when it opens too instantly upon us." The Crisis, No. 13, April 19, 1783. Join the ranks of the active membership of the section; what we can attain together will be nothing short of amazing.
* Douglass W. Dewing is Commercial Transactions Counsel and Virginia State Underwriting Counsel for LandAmerica - Lawyers Title in its Norfolk office and is Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Real Property Section of the Virginia State Bar.