The Atlanta Lawyer June/July 2014 | Page 4

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP From President Saylor’s Annual Meeting Address “ By Jacquelyn H. Saylor The Saylor Law Firm “I am so proud of the Atlanta Bar for its past accomplishments and am immensely excited for this year. Thank you in advance for your engagement and your leadership.” T o all Atlanta Bar Association Members, future members, judges, sponsors and guests -- I’m very excited and humbled to be here today as the new Atlanta Bar President and CEO, as our by-laws state. There’s a saying former bar presidents have, “There’s the year you plan and the year you have.” It’s a great risk to take this position in front of all of you and to assume the responsibility of this role. I am going to talk to you today about THE RISKS OF ENGAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP. On risk, William Faulkner said, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” The mission of the Atlanta Bar Association is “to promote professionalism and the fair administration of justice in our community and to provide programs and benefits which serve our diverse membership.” I know some of you are doing controversial and not so controversial pro bono work and I applaud you. If the Atlanta 4 THE ATLANTA LAWYER June/July 2014 Bar asks for your help to provide for the fair administration of justice, I hope you will step forward, even if you do not practice criminal law or have never been in a court room. You don’t have to be the perfect fit or to have the exact bar experience to volunteer and get involved. As stated earlier, part of the Atlanta Bar’s mission is to provide programs; while the “Big Bar” traditionally holds three to four bar wide programs a year, it is the Sections that provide a wide variety of programs on a consistent basis. Additionally, our programs are to serve our diverse membership. Women are part of that diverse membership and make up approximately a third of our membership. I hope we can provide programs and opportunities for women that will cause more women to know that The Atlanta Bar provides a different sort of opportunity to grow and network and influence others that cannot be gained elsewhere. Stay involved with those terrific affinity groups that I’ve been a member of and supported; bring us your experience, and join The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association