The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2014 Gavel Magazine

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE know. I think local bars are the heartbeat of the legal profession in North Dakota. They foster the interaction between attorneys in the region, which is central to the collegiality of the profession. They enable new attorneys to meet on an informal basis with other attorneys in the region, including older, experienced attorneys, as well as the local judiciary, and interact in a way that not only is instructive, but also leads to a much smoother justice system. Planning for the 2015 Annual Meeting in Bismarck is underway. If you have any suggestions for that gathering, please let me know. At this stage, everything is on the table. JACK MCDONALD President, SBAND I’d like to thank the lawyers of the State Bar Association of North Dakota for choosing to elect some new, young blood, to head the state’s 2,664 licensed attorneys for 2014-2015. Many years ago I was proud to say I knew most of the lawyers in the state. This is certainly not the case anymore, but I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during the coming year. Please feel free to email, text or – for those of us troglodytes who still actually phone people – give me a call with any suggestions you have regarding the services SBAND can provide you or, services you think SBAND can discard. When I finally wrested the president’s gavel from now past-president Nancy Morris at the superb June SBAND Annual Meeting, I said one of my goals as president would be to revitalize local bar associations. I really meant that. If you’d like to have me speak to a meeting of your local bar association, just let me 2 THE GAVEL This is a remarkable time in the state’s judiciary, and I’m proud to be a part of it. There are now 47 district court judgeships across the state and roughly 20 percent have been filled by new judges by appointment or election in the last 18 months. By North Dakota standards, this is an amazing change of personnel, and in a way reflects the unprecedented changes the state is experiencing with the Bakken Boom and our rapidly expanding population. This will bring the need for even more court personnel, from judges to clerks of court personnel and other positions, in the coming years and means the judiciary will be seeking additional judgeships and personnel in the 2015 Legislative Assembly. Getting this done will be a chore. One of the perks of being president is to attend the investiture of new judges and present them with an inscribed gavel on behalf of SBAND. It was a pleasure on July 18 to present an SBAND gavel to the state’s newest – and youngest – district court judge, the Hon. Stacy Louser, Minot, who joins the North Central Judicial District panel of judges to help with that district’s everincreasing case load. Judicial investitures are one of those rare legal proceedings that I call happiness events; i.e. everyone involved is happy and proud to participate. I think the only other legal proceedings that matches investitures in universal happiness status are adoptions. Well, there also may be some divorces that fall into this category also, but I’m not quite ready to grant them this status as yet, despite unrelenting pressure from exin-laws. Judge Louser takes her place as the state’s 45th district judge. Number 46, Judge Jerod Tufte, will be invested sometime in August to assume the position formerly held by now retired Judge John T. Paulson, Valley City. The 47th judgeship, in Bismarck, will likely be filled by gubernatorial appointment by the time you read this article. The 2015 Legislative Assembly holds its Organizational Session December 1-3, to select its leaders and committees, and to generally get itself ready to start operating on its official start January 6. Every attorney in North Dakota can play a vital role in the legislative process by taking the time now – and I really really mean now – to meet your local legislators or legislative candidates and talk to them about the needs of the state’s judiciary in the upcoming session. SBAND can lobby 24 hours a day at the session, but nothing has more impact on legislators than contacts and input from their constituents…and that’s you. Please take the time now to make connections with your legislators. Again, many thanks for allowing me the privilege of serving as your president for the next year. With your support and cooperation we can together make this a great year to be a lawyer in North Dakota.

The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2014 Gavel Magazine | Page 2