by Tatiana Salvador
The end of The Jacksonville Bar Association’s 2003-04 membership year is fast approaching, and for the Young Lawyers’ Section that can mean only one thing — YLS Board of Governors elections.
As one of the outgoing members of the board, I want to encourage any and all young lawyers to get involved in your bar association, not only by joining the various committees and sections offered every year by the JBA, but also through board involvement. For the 2004-05 membership year, there are three board positions up for election on the YLS Board of Governors. The requirements for being a YLS board member are: 1) you are a young lawyer, that is, under the age of 36 years or have practiced law for less than five years; 2) you are able to attend the monthly board meetings held the second Monday of the month; 3) you have the desire to become active in and committed to The Jacksonville Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Section, and 4) you can differentiate between the two Troy Smiths currently on the board.
As a member of the YLS board, you have the opportunity to plan and participate in a variety of projects that benefit our community, such as the Holidays in January project for foster children, the Special Olympics Athletic Games, Teen Court, and new for this year, the golf tournament/fund-raiser for daniel, Florida’s oldest child-serving agency. The “Tee it up for daniel” fund-raiser, chaired by the indomitable Kevin Cook, is already scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. This event will certainly involve every member of the board, so if you like to play golf, or just watch and laugh at those who try, consider running for the YLS board.
Additionally, as a YLS board member you can promote the respect, dignity and civility among members of our profession through events like Breakfast with the Judiciary and the “Afternoon in the Courthouse” program for new lawyers. Lastly, you can forge great new friendships and connections through the YLS’s famous, or dare I say infamous, happy hours and social functions.
If you are interested in running for a position on the YLS board, please contact YLS board president Ray Driver at 301-1267 or via e-mail at [email protected], no later than June 23, 2004.
Voting for the YLS board positions and the announcement of the election results will take place at the YLS Annual Luncheon, scheduled for noon on Wednesday, July 7 at the Omni. All young lawyers and summer associates are invited to attend. Our guest speaker at the luncheon will be the Honorable Justice Raul Cantero of the Florida Supreme Court. In addition to hearing from the justice, the new YLS Board officers will be installed.
If you are interested in attending this event, your luncheon reservations must be made in writing to the Bar office either via e-mail to [email protected] or via fax at 399-4854 by 5p.m. July 2.