PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
LEADERSHIP THROUGH SERVICE
“
Advancing the Legacy
By Harold E. Franklin, Jr.
King & Spalding LLP
“In all the work that we do for the
bar and in all of our efforts this
year, it is my fervent desire that
we advance a legacy of service
and leadership in moving closer
towards a society with equal
justice for all.”
T
hank you so much to each one of you for being here today. I am so pleased and happy to be here and will tell
you that today is the first day I have been in Georgia in
the past month. I flew in last night from a trial that has been
going on in Florida and I return tonight. One of the traditions
that I’m aware of with the Atlanta Bar is that the Atlanta Business Chronicle prints an article about the incoming board
and incoming president, so I saw this article in my hand for
the first time when I walked in this morning not too long ago
and I looked at it and it says “Howard Franklin Takes Reins
at The Atlanta Bar”…so I think I need to check with our parliamentarian to see what our constitution says about this, but
I hope that I am still your president.
legal community. I would like to thank my much better half,
Cynthia Franklin, please stand up sweetie. This is who really
keeps things going because I’m gone so much, but Cynthia
is the love of my life, my much better half, my soulmate, my
greatest blessing and I am very blessed to have her in my
life. I would also like to acknowledge our children. I’m very
honored to have my brother Wendell Franklin and his family
here today. There are so many people to thank and it is
impossible to thank everyone but I must thank Terri Beck, our
outstanding and phenomenal executive director. My firm King
& Spalding is well represented here today. To my partners
and colleagues it means a great deal to have you all here and
I thank you for the firm’s longstanding support.
This is a great honor and I am very excited to be here with
you today and I am humbled by this responsibility and this
opportunity to help lead this fantastic and dynamic bar
association. I’d like to thank Professor Emanuel for kind
introduction of me and for her friendship, guidance and
mentoring of me over the years. Thank you also Justice
Benham for all you’ve done, not just for me, but for our entire
I am thankful to my parents. We had amazing parents and
my brother and I were very fortunate to have them as mentors
and role models and I’ll have to tell you that you heard a little
bit about my mother from professor Emanuel. My mother, the
late Bernice Franklin, was an incredible human being. She
was the most amazing, the most dedicated, the most talented
person that I have ever known in my life. She was noble, she
4 THE ATLANTA LAWYER
June/July 2015
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association