HCBA Lawyer magazine No. 37, Issue 2 | Page 6

E D I T O R’ S M E S S A G E M a r k F. B a s e m a n – H a r r i s, H u n t & D e r r, P. A.

BenchBarandhonestLies

ifyouhavenevergone [ toBenchBar ], please, gonextyear. you’ llbehappyyoudid.
This is the second issue of Lawyer magazine published under my Editorship. 1 Thank you for looking at it.
Seeing firsthand how this magazine gets put together has been an eye-opening experience. When I accepted this position, I had no sense of the amount of work that goes into publishing every issue. I am sincerely impressed— and somewhat bewildered— by the dedication, time and attention to detail that so many commit to this project. It is nothing short of amazing.
That said, the fact that the magazine isn’ t haphazardly thrown together at the last minute can create problems.
For one, I’ m writing this article on September 28th for the November / December issue, and part of what I’ m supposed to do is discuss big HCBA events that happened in the recent past. This means I need to write about the October 22, 2026, HCBA Bench Bar Conference. So, effectively, I’ m being asked to reflect fondly on my experience at an event that will not happen for another three weeks. How will I pull it off? By lying.
On October 22, 2026, the HCBA presented the 29th Annual Bench Bar Conference, and what a
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