Soon after I realized my CBA Presidency coincided with our 150th anniversary, I was hooked on CBA history. Writing now for the last Report during this anniversary year, I am thrilled and relieved that our anniversary celebration worked out so well.
I started this bar year with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement, because the more we planned, the more we rediscovered the rich history of the CBA and were preparing a year of interesting historical programming. Trepidation twofold, because in the previous two years, the pandemic had dealt a crushing blow to the Bar Association’s primary function of bringing attorneys together, and, because the virus was notoriously unpredictable. As I said in my first brief, Covid had behaved like a bad horror movie — just when you thought you were safe, the monster appears again. As I write in October, I am hoping that when you read this in November, our luck will have held up through the entire year.
The year has unfolded as we had hoped, starting with the first tenuous resumptions of in-person meetings, which has flowered into the return of “normal.” Just as Lisa and her team quickly adapted to the early pandemic’s all-virtual world, they have shifted gracefully to a hybrid world. The CBA invested heavily in technology during the pandemic, which allows us to connect with members in more ways than ever before.
I hope you have availed yourself of the CBA’s many anniversary offerings. It’s not too late. The place to start is the interactive timeline at www.cincybar.org/timeline. The timeline walks you through the decades from Reconstruction to the present, with links to additional historical documentation and programming. Also, be on the lookout for any number of CLE offerings, as we move into the reporting cycle — including our continuing historical series, Cincinnati’s Landmark Legal Cases. Next up in that series on November 17 is a closer look at the City of Cincinnati v. Contemporary Arts Center, aka the Mapplethorpe case, that rocked the city in 1990. Check out our entire CLE list for the rest of the calendar year on pages 10-11.
Our biggest planning dilemma of the year was the Annual Meeting. In a leap of faith, we bet that attorneys would be ready to come to a large in-person dinner by summertime. You were, and the Gala was a universal success, including lots of selfies on the Merry Go Round. I could tell you were ready to be together again in person when I tried to interrupt your socializing in order to call the meeting to order. The highlight of the evening for me was Dean Williams’ acceptance of the prestigious Themis Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Cincinnati Bar Association, for extraordinary service to law and the community. She called the CBA out for its racist refusal to admit Judge McClain until 1950. (If you want to learn more about Judge McClain check out our memorial podcast at cincybar.org/timeline, featuring Ken Parker, Judge Black and Judge Hopkins). Dean Williams, thank you. You will be missed.
In 1961, the CBA and others founded the Cincinnati Bar Foundation. The CBF is the charitable arm of the CBA. There is so much need in the community. Understood. And there are plenty of worthwhile programs competing for your contributions. Understood. But the CBF is the lawyers’ foundation. It is not a big foundation, but the Foundation Board examines every grant applicant with an eye to the most innovative programs from a lawyer’s perspective. By providing funding for organizations like Volunteer Lawyers Project, the effect of seed money from the CBF is multiplied ten times over through the agency’s use of volunteers. Read testimonials from attorney members Jessica Ramos of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, Caitlin Burgess of the Hamilton County Youth Court, and Sarah Breedlove of ProKids on page 14 and see for yourself why Investing for Justice is so critical for our community.
As we close out the 150th anniversary calendar year, we look ahead to the next 150 years, starting with 2023. Cheers to the future.
Richey is a mediator with Thompson Hine and the 2022-2023 CBA president.