PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE
We are Lawyers Who Serve
Nicole G . Iannarone Georgia State University School of Law
Remarks delivered during Atlanta Bar Annual Meeting first Atlanta Bar event .
Thank you for trusting me to take the helm of this incredible organization . I understand this upcoming year is a year of a few firsts . One of those firsts is perhaps the first Hispanic president of the Atlanta Bar . It is the definitely the first Atlanta Bar annual meeting for my husband of 16 years , Matthew Page , and for my mother Lynn McCormick , who has traveled from South Texas to be here today . I ’ d like to thank them both for being here and for their support .
Another first is that we seem to have two law professors , both from Georgia State , serving in succession . Maggie Vath – I am so glad to have you as a colleague and a friend . We all thank you for your strong leadership and dedicated service .
I have thought deeply about my first Atlanta Bar meeting in 2003 . My first involvement in the Atlanta Bar came from the support from the lawyers at the law firm where I had the privilege of practicing for a decade – Bondurant Mixson & Elmore . The first visit , and maybe the second and third , to an Atlanta Bar event required an invitation and some support from my colleagues at the firm .
Fifteen years later , I , and you , are still here .
Lawyers ask all the time – why are you still involved in the bar ? I have been reflecting on that question , and for me it comes back to the Atlanta Bar ’ s motto .
Despite all of these firsts , they are not the firsts I want you to focus on today . Instead , I want you to think about the first Atlanta Bar event or meeting you attended . My former law students in attendance are now on edge as they know a statement like that usually follows with cold calling . I promise I will not call on anyone today , if you promise to call upon a memory of your
WE ARE LAWYERS WHO SERVE .
That seems like a very simple statement . In its simplicity , it describes all that we do at the Atlanta Bar . It describes what has kept me , and many of you here . Our motto will be the guiding focus of our next Atlanta Bar year .
4 June / July 2018