Cross Section: North
By Frank Friesacher
Karen and I are signing off as your North Section Coordinators! Two years for me and (a record-setting) four years for Karen, it has been a great opportunity for us both to engage and work with our fabulous and diverse sections and their executives. We welcome aboard our replacements, Bonnie Bokenfohr and David Hiebert!
Volunteer! Volunteering with sections you attend is strongly encouraged. While you can do this year-round, getting involved at the start of the section year is especially beneficial to you and others! Check out the 2015-16 Section Handbook and contact the section chairs to find out how you can get active.
Input! Now is an excellent opportunity to pass on your ideas regarding topics and speakers, both for lunch meetings as well as for a future Alberta Law Conference! Contact any section executive member and pass on your valuable thoughts.
Portfolio! The Portfolio and Portfolio Plus packages are a great add-on investment to CBA membership, and include credits which can be used towards section enrollment, educational opportunities, conference registration and other CBA products. Go to www.cbamembership.org for more information.
Self-identify! While you are logged into your profile, take the time to update your contact information and member profile.
Register! Make sure that you renew your section membership when you renew your CBA National and Provincial memberships. This unfortunately gets skipped from time to time. Watch for regular e-mail reminders in the fall so you don’t miss out!
Workshop! The annual spring section executive workshop was held in May for both incoming and outgoing section executives. It was well-attended and we reviewed the steps and insights needed to run a smooth and stress-free section year, and create valuable content for our members. Succession planning was also a focal point.
Inns of Court! The 29th installment of this junior lawyer program was held in May, topic “Being an Effective and Efficient Barrister: Problems and Procrastination, Planning and Process”. Watch for the next opportunity to deepen your professionalism and advocacy skills in November.
It has been a pleasure and honour to serve. We wish you a warm and relaxing summer!
Cross Section: South
By Kate Bilson and Anthony Strawson
Summer is here! Long days of sunshine, a more relaxed pace, perhaps some much anticipated holidays – these are just a few things to celebrate during the warm and bright mid-year months. It is also a time to celebrate all the effort and energy that went into a great season of section activity during the 2014-15 year. Many of the sections not only developed a strong and interesting speaker series for their members, but they also created opportunities throughout the year for section members to socialize and give back to the community. All of these events were inspiring and provided a good reminder of the strength that can come to the profession when we are able to engage in a variety of activities together.
There is much to look forward to in the coming year as well. Section executives are already busy planning their meeting slates for 2015-16. In addition, there will be some new choices in the section list this coming year, including the new Diversity Section, which we hope will be of interest to everyone across the various sections regardless of your practice background. The section handbook will be available later this summer. Please take a look and see what appeals to you. The year ahead promises to be a great one! We are looking forward to some of the planned cross-section activity we have been hearing about and are excited to see sections work together to enhance their speaker offerings. If you are interested in volunteering for a section executive, please feel free to contact Linda Chapman, Section Registrar, or one of us. There is still some room to do so in a number of the sections.
August will be busy for the CBA Alberta Branch as the annual national CBA Legal Conference is coming to Calgary. Registrations are still being accepted and the agenda includes a wonderful range of CLE activities, social and networking opportunities, and an enriched focus on personal and professional development topics. Many of you have already stepped up to help out, but we encourage all of you to get involved. It is a great opportunity to show other CBA branches across Canada just what a special thing we have going on here in Alberta.
We also want to let you know that Anthony Strawson will be completing his role as Section Coordinator. “He has shown great care in carrying out the various duties of the role and it was a true privilege to serve alongside him,” says Kate. Anthony will be replaced by Sean Fitzgerald commencing in September.
Wishing all of you the best for a happy and safe summer season!