by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Though he was absorbing most of the spotlight last week, Reginald Luster said the members of the Jacksonville Bar Association shared credit for his becoming the first black president of the 107-year-old organization.
“Many in our community have stated that this is a historical event,” he said. “If that is true, then you must know that you have made this history, and you should be commended.
“As for me, I never thought that my brief journey in life would have led me to this place in history.”
An estimated 200 judges, attorneys and friends attended the luncheon and installation of officers ceremony at the Omni.
At the head table were Jim Moseley Jr., outgoing president of the JBA; Alan Pickert, Luster; and the new members of the board of governors. They are Robert Devine, Ray Driver, Caroline Emery, Michael Freed and Courtney Grimm.
“This is an historic day for our bar,” said Moseley, adding that it was “unfortunate” so much time passed before the JBA elected an African-American president.
“But Reggie is a man who has dedicated himself to practicing law and to this association,” said Moseley. “This is, indeed, an important occasion for all the people of Jacksonville, and not just our bar association.”
The ceremony and the circumstances surrounding it, Luster said, could best be described by three words — honor, leadership and history.
He felt honored to have been chosen president and was honored that he and the board of governors “have been given the task of establishing an agenda that will build on past achievements and traditions.”
The influences that led to his election were felt at an early age.
“My parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts provided me, my siblings and my cousins with all the instruction, inspiration and words of wisdom a kid ever wanted growing up during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” he told his audience.
Luster’s first job after graduation from law school at Florida State University was with the firm of Mathews Osborne McNatt and Cobb, practicing insurance defense law. He was assigned to work with a partner and trial attorney, Harris Brown.
“Harris Brown taught me that, with proper trial preparation, you have no reason to fear your opponent nor the verdict the jury will return,” Luster said.
He also recalled how Jim Cobb, president of the JBA in 1969, walked from office to office each month, “encouraging the young associates to attend meetings and to participate in Bar activities.”
He became a partner in 1993.
When he told John McNatt Jr. the following year that he was leaving to become an assistant United States attorney in the Department of Justice, McNatt predicted, “Reggie, one day you will be the president of the Jacksonville Bar Association,” Luster said. “Little did I know his statement would become my destiny.”
In the coming year, Luster said, the JBA “should increase its membership by reclaiming its former members and extending invitations to those who have never been members.”
The association should also continue offering “comprehensive continuing legal education seminars.”
The JBA will continue to be faced with at least one contentious issue, he said: the changing design and ultimate cost of the new Duval County courthouse.
“I believe that because there exists a debate about the construction of the ... courthouse,” said Luster, “the Bar must not be moved by politics, but we must give comment based on our unique privilege of representing those taxpayers who will use the courthouse.”
Perhaps most important of all, Luster suggested, the members of the local bar “should live up to the lawyer’s oath of admission to The Florida Bar which states: ‘I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.’
“We should live up to the mission adopted by this Bar which provides that it is the goal of the Bar ‘to improve access to affordable legal services for all residents of Northeast Florida.’ ”