by James Moseley Jr.
One of the highlights of every year is the Annual Meeting. While some business relating to elections is conducted at this meeting, most of us attend because of the memorable speeches. Unfortunately, with some of these speeches in the past, I have been trying to forget them and wish they were not so memorable. Nonetheless, it is certainly a highlight of the year.
This year we will hold the Annual Meeting on Thursday, May 27 at the Omni. Cocktails will begin at 5 p.m. and dinner will begin at 6 p.m. Brad Johnson has agreed to act as emcee with the usual suspects providing their two cents worth on the current crop of nominees and comments about things which occurred during the past year. This promises to be a well-attended event and I do hope you will send your reservations in very soon.
Most of you will recall that in the past, the Annual Meeting was held directly after our golf tournament. Due to the fact that our normal venue, Deerwood Country Club, is undergoing extensive renovation, we have had to move our golf tournament to another location.
The best location for this year’s golf tournament was Windsor Parke Golf Club. Unfortunately, Windsor Parke does not have the facilities to hold the number of people that usually attend our Annual Meeting. Also, we have received several requests from our members to have the Annual Meeting downtown at night, rather than at a country club out in the suburbs.
For these reasons, we have decided to hold the Annual Meeting downtown the week after the golf tournament. The golf tournament will be held at Windsor Parke from noon to 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. I hope that you can attend both events.
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This year we have a group of well-qualified candidates running for the Jacksonville Bar Board of Governors. The winners of the election will be announced at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting. We have several options for voting this year. You can vote at the Annual Meeting on May 27 from 4-6 p.m. In the event you are unable to attend the Annual Meeting, you will have several other opportunities to cast your vote. You may cast your vote at the golf tournament on May 20 from noon to 5 p.m. You may also cast your vote in Room 220 at the Duval County Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., beginning May 13 and concluding May 26. Finally, you can vote at The Jacksonville Bar Association office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 13 to May 26. Please give these candidates your serious consideration and cast your vote at one of the above locations.
Law Week
This year’s Law Week celebration was a huge success in large part due to the hard work of the Law Week Committee, which was chaired this year by Jennifer Watson. Many of our members do not realize the many programs the Law Week Committee sponsors during this time of year. In fact, “Law Week” is several weeks consisting of different programs in the schools, in the courts and with the general public. These programs consist of having a Mayoral Proclamation, a Naturalization Ceremony, school contests, and other activities for our community. Law Week always culminates in our Law Week Luncheon. Our Law Week Committee has worked hard all year long to ensure that Law Week was a success. On behalf of the Bar Association, I want to thank them for their hard work.
Literacy Speakers Bureau
The first engagement of the Literacy Speakers Bureau was held last week at the downtown Kiwanis Club of Jacksonville. Our panel consisted of Judge Karen Cole, Dr. Edward C. “Pete” Taylor, Ph.D., and myself. The 30-minute program addressed the problems of literacy and possible solutions. The program was well received and we entertained many questions afterwards. Other programs with the Literacy Speakers Bureau will be held at other community organizations in the coming months. If you know of any other organization that would like to have the Literacy Speakers Bureau appear and present their program, please let me know. Also, if you would like to participate in this program, please feel free to call me as well.
Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy Seminar
Last month at the Radisson Hotel, our Bar Association sponsored the Third Annual Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy Seminar. Over 80 people attended the seminar. The second annual Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy Award was presented to longtime Jacksonville Bar member, Bill Maness. This seminar could not have been a success without the hard work and dedication of Robert Spohrer and Michael Freed who gave countless hours of their time to make this seminar a success. This is one of the more successful seminars held in our area and continues to be well attended. We appreciate the hard work of Bob and Michael in making this program the success that it is.