The Florida Bar leaders from across the state will gather Thursday-Friday in Atlantic Beach at the “Leading, Learning, Linking” voluntary bar leaders conference.
About 120 bar members are expected to attend the conference.
It was developed to educate new bar leaders about the operations of The Florida Bar and the American Bar Association and to allow bar leaders from throughout the state to network.
It also offers workshops and seminars for voluntary bar officers and directors to assist in their operation and program development.
“Our main goal is training and we are excited to hold this event in Jacksonville in such a nice setting on the water,” said Suzanne Van Wyk, chairwoman of The Florida Bar Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee. The event is scheduled at One Ocean Resort Hotel & Spa.
The Jacksonville Bar Association volunteered to host the 2012 conference.
“It’s always good for our community to have the opportunity to host a statewide meeting of bar leaders. It does move around from year to year, but it is special when it is in our backyard,” said The JBA President Ray Driver of Driver McAfee.
“Any time Jacksonville can attract these types of organizational meetings, it’s wonderful. I think Jacksonville leadership needs to do whatever it can to attract exposure to this city and this is a great example of how to do that,” said Braxton Gillam, vice president of The JBA.
The program will offer sessions that include planning and hosting quality Continuing Legal Education programs; best practices and a roundtable discussion for staffed and nonstaffed bar associations; social marketing tools; recruiting and connecting with young lawyers; The Florida Bar’s Statewide Merit Retention Education Program; association branding; a specialty bar associations roundtable discussion; event planning; leadership opportunities beyond the local bar presidency; pro bono programming; and a discussion on the benefits and risks of creating a charitable foundation to support a professional association.
“Traditionally, bar meetings are held in Miami, Tampa and Orlando, so having the voluntary bar leaders conference here does bring an economic benefit to Jacksonville it doesn’t otherwise receive from the regular bar conventions,” said Jennifer Mansfield of Holland & Knight.
Mansfield will speak about social media at the conference.
“I’m very much looking forward to it. Media law is an evolving field, changes day by day, so there is always something new to talk about. People are really hungry for the information because it is such a fast-changing field,” said Mansfield.
Members of the legal community discovered the conference also attracts other organizations.
“This will be the first time the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association meeting will be held in conjunction with the voluntary bar leaders conference. It is a tremendous opportunity for us to compare notes, get ideas from one another and maximize our resources,” said Kathy Para of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and The JBA Pro Bono Committee chairwoman.
“The conference gives all of our voluntary bar leaders an opportunity to collaborate with other legal professionals who are working to improve our profession,” said Para.
Registration for the conference begins at 9 a.m. Thursday at One Ocean. For more information, call Maria Simmons Johnson at (800) 342-8060 or email at [email protected].
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