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14 B. Rep. 1 (1985-1986)

handle is hein.barjournals/breport0014 and id is 1 raw text is: a ________ _______L *n Ofica P*icton * teDitic f o *m i Br 'Augd-.Sept.1985, Vo )=. 4o. Pro Bono Lawyers Cited for Special Service, P.A.R.T. Program Initiated A new feature of the Bar's 1985 Annual Meeting Assembly involved special recog- nition to eight individual lawyers who have given extraordinary service as volunteer attorneys with the Bar's pro bono program. Pro bono awards will become a rgular feature at future annual meetings. Recognized in 1985 were the following attorneys: * A. Baltazar Baca, partner with Glomb, Hanten and Baca, who has handled a wide variety of civil cases and case evaluations for the pro bono pro- gram. As an officer of the Hispanic Bar, he actively assists with long-range plan- ning regarding public interest matters. * Rufus Beatty Jr., solo practitioner, regularly has accepted pro bono cases, and consistently rates high praise frm his clients, who express their'personal satis- faction with his work- * Cathy A. Costantino, associate with Steptoe and Johnson, has provided many hours to the D.C. Superior Court Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect to protect the interests of abused or neglected children and their parents. She also represents several Neighborhood Legal Service Program clients ina major con- sumer fraud case. * J. Patrick Hickey, partner with Shaw, Pittman, Potts and Trowbridge, and former Executive Director of the D.C. Public Defender Service, has been handling a prisoners' rights class action for more than ten years. His efforts have resulted in the closing of a century-old facility and improved medical and mental health care at Lorton Reformatory. Continued on page 3 With Leading the Nation, Serving the Community as its theme, more than 1,000 members converged June 13 on the Capital Hilton Hotel for the thirteenth an- nual meeting of the Bar's membership. Frederick B. Abramson of Sachs, Greene- baum & Tayler, assumed the Bar's presi- dency at the end of the day, and the lunch- eon was keynoted by U.S. Court of Ap- peals Judge Abner J. Mikva. Breakfast Kick-Off The meeting began for the second straight year with a breakfast, under- written in part by the Bar's insurance ad- ministrator, Administration Associates, Inc. Howard University law profesor J. Clay Smith moderated a panel that dis- cussed Community Concerns About the Criminal Justice System. Other speakers on the panel were Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Colum- bia Timothy J. Reardon III and Cheryl M. Long, Director of the Public Defender Service. For the first time, the Bar in- vited a number of community leaders out- side the Bar for an .exchange of view- points on this important topic. Throughout the day'sevents the Bar's multi-talented membership was on display through a diverse series of well-attended, thoughtful seminars-all offered to the membership free of charge. Sponsorship of the seminars principally emerges from the Bar's active division members, who offered such topics as improving negotia- tion skills, tax law developments, and an overview of future directions for the U.S. Supreme Court. Also offered was a look Bar's IOLTA Program Receives Grant Court Sets Late 1985 Start The D.C. Bar's newly-authorized In- terest on Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) program-which will begin operation later in the year-has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation. The grant will permit the Bar to receive a matching grant from. the Legal Services Corporation to defray expenses involved with starting the program. Earlier this year the D.C. Court of Ap- Peals approved a petition from the Bar's Board of Governors to amend the Canon of Ethics and permit the institution of an IOLTA program in this jurisdiction. A * Bar committee, chaired by Sheldon Cohen, had surveyed the local bar and determined that enough funds could be collected to make such a program feasi- ble. IOLTA funds are nominal funds col- lected from clients for short periods of time, which would not otherwise collect interest. When deposited in central bank accounts the sums can earn substantial in- terest, which will support legal service programs in the District of Columbia. IOLTA programs currently operate in 37 states. The voluntary/opt-out program will be implemented in November of this year. Before the program is actually started in the District of Columbia, members will receive the option of opt- ing out of participation; otherwise they will be included. U Frederick B. Abramson accepts congratulations from Marna S. Tucker at June 13 at opportunities for pro bono service, sponsored by the D.C. Bar Office of Public Service Activities, and a presentation on litigators and the press, sponsored by the Women's Bar Association. Luncheon Address Judge Abner J. Mikva provided an in- teresting address to the luncheon crowd in the Presidential Ballroom. The former Illinois representative decried the use of pplitical litmus tests in judicial selection in a speech laced with wit and an occa- sional brickbat at political extremists of both the left and the right. He argued that today's litmus test interferes with a jurist's ability to judge fairly in later cases and illustrated his point with interesting historical examples. Insisting that judges can hardly be divorced from the real' world, he argued that the judge's function i* to protect minority rights from majori- ty passions. Prior to the keynote address Bar Presi- dent Marna S. Tucker presented U.S. Dis- trict Court for the District of Columbia Judge Thomas A. Flannery a certificate of appreciation for his service to the Bar and community. Flannery recently an- nounced his retirement to senior status on the court. Other jurists to retire or take senior status since the last meeting were honored in absentia: Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and D.C. Superior Court jurists, John F. Doyle, Timothy J. Mur- phy, and James A. Washington, Jr. Afternoon Activities and Assembly All eighteen divisions of the Bar were on hand at an open house, which thy shared with voluntary bars in the city, to meet prospective members and discuss their programs and activities. Seminars were also a part of the afternoon program. At 4:30 the official business meeting of the Bar began under the gavel of Ms. Tucker. A special announcement was made of a new pro bono recruitment ef- fort and recognition conferred on at- torneys and firms who have made special contributions to the Bar's pro bono pro- gram. (See Accompanying StoRy page 1.) Division, Bar Awards The Award for Exceptional Performance on a Bar Project was a tie between the Digest of the Decisions of the Rental Housing Commission and the work of the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) Committee. The former was a Continued on page 2 Bar Report * Aug./Sept. 1985 * I Frederick B. Abramson Becomes Bar's New President at June 13 Annual Meeting 1 Annual Meeting.

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