At the first D.W. Perkins Bar Association business meeting of the 2018-19 membership year, Zachary Faison, the new president and CEO of Edward Waters College, arrived as a guest and left as a member.
Faison has been in Jacksonville only 45 days and is getting to know the area and its leaders.
“It’s good to be among lawyers,” said Faison, an attorney who is the former general counsel and vice president of external affairs at Tuskegee University.
One of his goals for EWC’s curriculum is to develop a prelaw program.
“We have a long and proud history of producing law enforcement professionals. We want to help produce top-notch attorneys. We feel there’s a niche and a need in the community,” Faison said.
D.W. Perkins also has a slate of events and programs planned for the community and legal profession.
President Gregory Redmon said the association is working with local historians on a community remembrance project to identify progress made since the years between Reconstruction and World War II, when Duval County was the site of seven lynchings.
Plans for the next calendar year are underway as well.
Redmon said the Perkins Bar and the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association will join forces in January for a community service project yet to be determined.
Michelle Suskauer, president of The Florida Bar, will be invited to attend the Perkins Bar’s March meeting during Women’s History Month.
When the association meets Oct. 4, a panel discussion of the judicial nominating process is on the schedule.