PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE
One Last Thing
T his issue of The Atlanta Lawyer is set to publish exactly one week before the end of my term as President of the Atlanta Bar Association , and so it is likely my last opportunity to speak to you as the President of the organization , ( I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief ). As with any officer track of an organization like ours , I will move to the Immediate Past President role for one last year on the Board before rolling off altogether . To some that can be a scary proposition to have spent so much time and energy for the Association only to hand it off to others to run . Yet , for me , there is no fear or reprehension because the teams of those who will remain in leadership are so strong , I know the organization will continue to flourish .
CHRISTINA M . BAUGH Barnes & Thornburg LLP cbaugh @ btlaw . com
At the risk of sounding cliché , I really did nothing all these years , it was always the team of amazing volunteers and staff around me that were worthy of the praise . I would ask that you take a moment and look at your surrounding volunteers - those on the Board of Directors , the Foundation , Section leadership , the CLE Board , the Membership Committee , the Innovation Study Group , and so many more . All of these people volunteer their time . Not one of them gets direct compensation for the work they do for the Association , and yet each one will likely be able to tell you some form of consideration or reward they get for the time spent ( and the time spent away from their profession that does pay them , and time away from their families , friends , pets , hobbies , and more ). Whether done for a sense of community , to repay what others have done before them , to change the direction of the profession , or for any number of other reasons , I am personally aware of the sacrifices made to fill these roles , of the effort that goes into doing them well , and I wanted to take this last moment to say a heartfelt thank you .
It is my hope for this Association that the leaders continue to evaluate what it means to be a Bar Association . “ Coming out ” of the pandemic was a good excuse to re-evaluate much of what the Association used to do for programing and decide whether it made sense to continue to offer the same , or whether changes needed to be made , either because the programing was no longer needed , expectations had shifted , accessibility needed improvement , or other considerations . At our very first Board of Directors meeting this year , I had the Board members evaluate each signature program and consider whether the
4 May 2022