by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Bar Association President Kelly Mathis better get his billing done the first three days this week because Thursday and Friday are booked solid with his volunteer Bar obligations.
Mathis was sworn in as the Bar’s 103rd president in late June, succeeding Alan Pickert of Terrell Hogan. Although the Bar hasn’t met as a group since, Mathis says the past three months have been very busy behind the scenes. Thursday, the Bar meets for the first time under Mathis’ watch. Hank Coxe, former JBA president and current Florida Bar president is the guest speaker. Thursday’s lunch meeting is sandwiched in between plenty of other Bar president duties.
“I have a naturalization ceremony that morning and a swearing in ceremony for new attorneys that afternoon,” said Mathis. “Friday morning I have a meeting with HabiJax — one of our projects this year — and Friday afternoon I have a meeting with the Jacksonville Bar Foundation.”
Mathis has been working with the Bar’s Board of Governors and members of the Bar’s committees to formulate a plan for the year. Things Mathis has to consider include lining up guest speakers for the monthly meetings, out-of-office activities for Bar members and their families, assigning attorneys to committees and lining up a big name to speak at the Law Day luncheon.
“There’s a lot to do that you don’t realize. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” said Mathis. “This is the first official meeting of my tenure, but I have been busy since I was sworn in. Each week, it seems I get a little busier.”
One of Mathis’ first priorities was to hold a retreat for the Bar’s Board of Governors. The group recently spent a half day at Epping Forest Yacht Club mapping out the year’s activities, going over issues raised by Bar members and creating a plan to address those issues. Mathis also talked to the Board about ways to achieve his goal as president and that is to increase the collegiality among attorneys in an effort to raise professionalism.
“In light of that, I appointed a social committee and a chair. We are going to have a semi-formal event for lawyers and their spouses,” he said. “We are also going to have a family event, which we have not done in an awful long time. We are thinking about having something at the zoo or Metro Park. It might be in November.
Overseeing the Bar’s 20-something committees is another of Mathis’ tasks. Each year, lawyers are asked to submit preference sheets indicating which committee, or committees, they are interested in serving on. Mathis said the Bar’s attorneys are pretty good about committing to specific committees and usually don’t have to be assigned to one.
Law Day may be the highlight of the Bar president’s tenure and while it’s still several months off, Mathis said he’s already starting to look into speakers.
“Hustling up speakers is a major job,” he said. “We are trying to get well-known speakers. Right now, Florida Supreme Court Justice Fred Lewis and Mayor John Peyton have agreed to speak. I would love a member of the United States Supreme Court for Law Day. We’ve had one twice before, but that’s tough to secure. The big names are not easy to get.”