by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
For the past decade and a half, 15 different attorneys have served as president of the Jacksonville Bar Association. However, every one of them has relied on and leaned heavily on one person — Diane Gill. Friday, Gill officially stepped down as the executive director of the Bar and will move to Athens, Ga. this week.
“I will be working remotely until they find someone,” said Gill, who was first hired in September 1992. Prior to that, Gill was the executive director of the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation in Macon, Ga.
Over the 15 years, the Bar and its administrative staff have grown. Gill inherited a 1,200-member Bar and an office with two other staff members — a receptionist and a lawyer referral coordinator. Today, there are nearly 2,000 members of the JBA and the office has six full-time staff members that help coordinate everything from the monthly luncheons to newsletters to Law Week.
“The Bar is doing more,” said Gill of the growth. “It’s more visible on the national level. We have won four national and three state awards since I’ve been here.”
Gill’s replacement hasn’t been found yet. She said about 25 resumes have been submitted and the search committee will take resumes until Wednesday. The search committee consists of Bar President Kelly Mathis, Bar President-elect Caroline Emery and Bar Board of Governors member Dan Bean who’s an attorney with Holland & Knight. Gill said she has no input on her replacement.
Gill may be leaving Jacksonville, but she isn’t retiring completely. In fact, she may be as busy as ever. She and her husband have bought a franchise of a local remodeling company and plan to start work in Athens. She has also been doing some international consulting work and plans to continue to expand that business.
Florida Bar and former Jacksonville Bar President Hank Coxe said Gill’s name came up at a recent meeting of The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors in Miami.
“The greatest testament to Diane is that a number of people came up to me and said, what is Jacksonville going to do now?” said Coxe, who presented Gill with a framed commendation from The Florida Bar for work with both Bars the past 15 years.
Gill said the job was fun, trying at times, extremely frustrating at times and a learning experience. Having dealt with lawyers for 15 years, how much law did she learn?
“Not enough, but enough to stay out of trouble,” she said. “I learned how to call Hank Coxe.”
Friday, the Bar presidents gave Gill a farewell luncheon at the Hyatt and also presented her with a few gifts: a Coach briefcase, a gift certificate to a spa in Athens and a T-shirt from attorney Joe Milton, which was given to her by Alan Pickert. Gill is an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan and the T-shirt marks the recent national titles won by the University of Florida in basketball and football.
”Joe figured you would never see a Georgia shirt with the words ‘national championship’ on it again,” said Pickert.