Bar Leadership Conference

     Four members of the LLA attended the recent Conference of County Bar Leaders annual seminar in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Gary Weber and Jack Humphrey attended as representatives of the LLA. Julieanne E. Steinbacher attended the Young Lawyer's Division New Admittee Conference, that took place simultaneously. Bill Carlucci, future PBA President, also participated in most of the programs.
 
     As always, all who attended were overwhelmed with ideas for improving the organization. The annual seminar provides opportunities to meet with bar leaders from across the state, from the county and state level, and to hear new approaches for the operation of a bar organization that well serves its members. Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin provided a bit of humor to the gathered group at lunch as he comically related a recent conversation with the Chief Justice.
 
     The session topics ran the gamut: a roundtable session with the PBA President, preparing to be bar president, best projects, preserving bar history, latest on county legal reporters status, technology, and much more. One project of note was the Wilkes Barre Bar's billboard project to improve the image of the profession. Of course, the Wilkes Barre Bar is funded by bail forfeitures, and was the recent beneficiary of a $1 million "gift" from a drug dealer. While the LLA may not be able to afford to do all of the projects that some of the larger bars can undertake to perform, the CCBL seminar has always motivated our leadership to work for improvements to LLA services, and the 2003 session was no exception.