by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Bar Association President Reginald Luster has some advice for his successor: get ready to run.
Thursday’s JBA meeting at the Omni Hotel will mark the last time Luster hammers down the gavel as president. He’ll hand over the reins to President-elect Alan Pickert during the meeting.
Recalling the start to his own one-year term, Luster said Pickert should be ready to hit the ground running. The extra hours and planning make the president’s job a marathon, but the first four months are a sprint, said Luster.
“I would advise him to spend his summer planning and then get ready to run the 100-meter dash,” said Luster.
“Serving as president is a great honor and also a great challenge. It’s very time consuming.”
Luster’s term as president certainly kept him running. He estimated he devoted about 25 hours per week to his duties at the JBA. The time commitment swelled to 30 hours a week as the May 19 annual dinner and meeting at Deerwood Country Club approached.
Pickert joked about his strategy for dealing with the time crunch.
“I’m going to convince Reggie to become the Bar’s first two-term president,” he said.
Pickert said he counts on support from his family and from the other attorneys at Terrell Hogan to help him balance the workload.
For Luster, being able to meet his commitments to the JBA and to his private practice and clients also required help from family and his partners and staff at Luster and Davis, P.A.
“It requires preparation from yourself, the fellow attorneys at your firm and your family,” he said. “It was only through their support that I was able meet the financial goals at my practice.”
Luster’s strategy for burning the candle at both ends? “I did my best not to go to trial,” he said.
The demands of the presidency can become even more of a weight when added to the burden of trial preparation, said Luster. Fortunately, all three cases that Luster had slated for trial in the past year were settled instead.
The hard work paid off. Luster said the JBA meetings he presided over attracted record attendance.
“That tells me that we’re serving the interests of the lawyers,” said Luster. “We’re bringing in speakers that they want to hear and they’re talking about things important to the Bar.”
One of the issues that will continue to interest the Bar under Pickert’s leadership will be the stalled construction on the proposed new County Courthouse. Luster said a special Bar committee would continue to monitor the City’s progress. He said Jacksonville’s legal community needed an adequately-sized building.
“We’re going to keep our eye on the location. It obviously will be moved off the river,” said Luster. “But we want to make sure that the City builds a facility that, when it opens, is not already at capacity.”
Pickert should find plenty of support from Duval County’s judges as he advocates for a quality Courthouse. Chief Judge Don Moran has been vocal about the County’s need for a new building.
Pickert envisions judges becoming more active members of the Bar during his term. He pointed to several areas of common interest, and said a closer relationship would be of mutual benefit when confronting political challenges to the state’s legal community.
“It’s unfortunate that people get caught up in whether you vote for Amendment Three or Amendment Four,” said Pickert, referring to the political battle between lawyers and doctors leading up to the last election. “That’s such a small part of what lawyers do. But you don’t see people on corners waving signs that say ‘Legal aid for the homeless.’ ”
The board members will also take office at the Thursday meeting. The newly-elected board members include Holland and Knight attorney Daniel Bean; Tammy Dawson Butler of Driver, McAfee and Griggs; Camerlengo and Brockwell partner Joseph Camerlengo; Braxton Gillam of Milam, Howard, Nicandri, Dees and Gillam; and Cheryl Worman of Rogers Towers.
“We have an excellent group,” said Pickert. “That’s one of the things the Bar really has going for it.”