This year we have had wonderful CLE and professional development programming, dynamic section and networking
events and social gatherings, and an active membership
committee led by Eugenia Iredale and Gino Brogdon, Jr. We
addressed serious funding issues affecting the Fulton county
court system, established a Diversity and Inclusion committee (to foster and enhance diversity and inclusion within our
ranks), and held our Celebrating Service and Pro Bono Fair
(where Joe Bankoff gave inspiring words about the importance
of serving others). For the first time in years we brought back
our annual Leadership Awards Luncheon to a sold out crowd
in April when we honored Richard Deane and Marty Ellin. Our
Women in the Profession (“WIP”) section celebrated its 10th
Anniversary and we convened the annual “Presidents’ Summit” of local and minority bar associations. We raised funds
to provide scholarships to the children of injured or slain law
enforcement officers, we celebrated a revitalized Minority and
Diversity Clerkship program and we had a record number of
interns in our Summer Law Internship Program. Finally, our
Lawyer Referral and Information Service (“LRIS”) program
helped us achieve a historic year of giving by contributing
$200,000 towards the total of $250,000 in grants provided by
the Atlanta Bar Foundation to deserving pro bono organizations to serve the community.
all of us, is to leave things better than we found them and to
remain steadfast on the path of the relentless pursuit of the
cause of justice, wherever it takes us.
It has been my honor to lead our awesome association, to
serve you, and to, along with you, serve the community and
further the cause of justice. That is our duty and that is our
calling as lawyers. That is what I hope you take away from
this year—that the Atlanta Bar Association has pursued the
cause of justice and advanced the legacy of leadership through
service.
May we all continue to lead our profession and to serve as
a force for good in this community and beyond. Thank you.
Harold E. Franklin, Jr.
President, Atlanta Bar Association
I am thankful to members of the judiciary for their leadership
and service to the profession and to the rule of law. We salute
Judge T. Jackson Bedford, the recipient of the 2016 E. Logan
Bleckley Award of our Litigation Section, and Judge Herbert
Phipps, recipient of the Romae T. Powell Award of our Judicial
Section, for their outstanding leadership and contributions.
We also commemorate the late United States District Court
Judge Horace T. Ward for his indelible legacy of courageous
advocacy and leadership that played such a critical role in our
state by successfully challenging injustice and the barriers to
entry to higher education.
Finally, it gives me great pleasure to recognize our 2016
award recipients for our Annual Meeting, as each has given
so much of their time and talents this year to our profession,
our bar, and the communities we serve. They are as follows:
Charles T. Lester (Charles E. Watkins, Jr. Award); The Honorable Chief Judge Gail S. Tusan (Professionalism Award);
LRIS and the EJLE Committee (Distinguished Service Award);
and Ret. Police Chief Frank V. Rotondo and CNN News Anchor
Fredricka Whitfield (Liberty Bell Award).
Both my parents, Harold, Sr. and Bernice Franklin, were my
greatest role models and my mother in particular instilled in
me, through her volunteer and civic contributions, a profound
sense of duty to serve others. The challenge, I believe for
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association THE ATLANTA LAWYER
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