president’s Message
Thank You for the opportunity to serve
by Lynn M. Roberson
Swift Currie McGhee & Hiers LLP
t
his will be my last President’s message prior to our
annual meeting on May 22 when I will pass the gavel
to your incoming president, Wade Watson. Wade
will be outstanding as he has worked long and hard for this
great opportunity. He will be as humbled as I have been
at the wonderful opportunities the presidency presents for
leadership, meetings (LOTS of meetings!), and working with
the best lawyers in the state who are so generous with their
time and give blood, sweat and tears for the betterment of
the profession we all love.
This month’s Atlanta Lawyer cover is a collage of photographs
from the LawJam over the past few years. LawJam is a
wonderful opportunity for some of the bar’s lawyers with
musical talent to showcase their creativity and entertain
us in the process. LawJam also serves a terrific purpose
in raising money for the Atlanta Bar Foundation’s pro bono
and charitable activities. I urge you all to come and to be
hosts if you can. Bring a younger lawyer with you. In fact,
bring all your summer clerks! They will enjoy it and you will
become much more hip in their eyes!
As I look back over my year as your president, I am so
grateful for this time to serve and to my firm for supporting
me during this year of service. I am grateful to my spouse,
who thoroughly enjoyed his year as first gentleman, but is
probably ready to get back to normal. I am grateful to the
bar board and committee members who gave so unselfishly
of their time in service to others. A bar president is only as
successful as the bar members who do all the real work of
the organization. Finally, I must thank the bar staff – those
people who work long and hard day after day behind the
scenes to make us all look good. We all know that without
them, the bar cannot function.
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My mother grew up on small ranches and farms in northern
California. Her first dress was bartered by her mother for
four coyote pelts.
My father was born very poor in Alabama and quit school in
the eighth grade to ride the rails and live in the hobo jungles
during the depression. He then pursued boxing where he
had some success, but he found a home when he joined the
Army Air Corps and went to war. He fought valiantly in the
Pacific and barely survived more than one close encounter.
He returned stateside to his wife, but was never the same.
He suffered most of his adult life from undiagnosed PTSD.
He did not live to see me sworn in as President of the Atlanta
Bar, but he surely would have been proud! ■
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And I am grateful to my parents who brought me to a place
where I could rise to the occasion and serve as bar president.
In just one generation, they brought us from poverty to
prosperity through their strong emphasis on education and
hard work.
4
THE ATLANTA LAWYER
May 2013
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association