PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF BAR EXECUTIVES

 

General Business Meeting

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Nittany Lion Inn

 

President:                     Diane Krivoniak                       (Westmoreland)

 

Vice President: Susan Kenny                            (Monroe)

 

Members:                     Al Azen                                    (IOLTA)

                                    Becky Morganthal                    (Cumberland)

                                    Elizabeth Price              (Delaware)

                                    Nancy Paul                               (Montgomery)

                                    Evelyn Sullivan              (Lancaster)

                                    Susan Kost                               (Schuylkill)

                                    Cindy Van Laeys                      (York)

                                    Dena Woelfling             (Lebanon)

                                    Don Morgan                             (Dauphin)

                                    Jason Morrison             (Lackawanna)

                                    Kathy Sabol                             (Washington)

                                    Mary Beth Leeson                    (Northampton)

                                    Barry Simpson              (PBA)

                                    C. Dale McClain                      (PBA President)

                                    Nevin Mindlin                           (PBA)

                                    Jessica Engel                            (Lycoming)

                                    Elizabeth Kramer                      (PBA)

                                    Bruce Fleischer             (Center)

                                    Deanna Mindler                        (Bucks)

                                    Wendy Hoffman                       (Chester)

                                    Bob Cagna                               (USI Affinity)

                                    Sandy Niespodzianski               (USI Affinity)

                                    Shelly Lawson                          (USI Affinity)

                                    Steve Chaloult                          (USI Affinity)

                                    Debra Arner                             (Mercer)

                                    Janis Hackett                            (Butler)

                                    Sandra Smith                            (Erie)

                                    JoEllen Pastore             (Lawrence)

                                    Carolyn Seibert-Drager            (Franklin)

 

President Krivoniak called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.

 

WELCOME

 

President Krivoniak welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Introductions of the following new members were made:

Jason Morrison – Lackawanna

Deanna Mindler- Bucks

Janis Hackett-Butler

Also present was Steve Chaloult-VP of Professional Sales, USI Affinity

 

C. DALE MCCLAIN

 

PBA President C. Dale McClain gave the following remarks.  He thanked all of the Bar Executives for attending the CCBL as he feels it is a very important event.  He mentioned his priorities this year with PBA membership- recruiting new members, maintaining old memberships and highlighting the benefits of PBA membership. 

President McClain also encouraged grass roots connections to local state representative to build personal relationships and to ensure the lawyer’s interests are protected.  The Day on the Hill will be May 4, 2009 and he encouraged all to attend.

The lists of dropped memberships will be sent out to counties soon and Pres. McClain will ask the Zone Governors or County Bar Presidents to make phone calls to those on the list. \

 

 

MICHELLE DAWSON

 

CCBL President Michelle Dawson gave the following report.  She stated the role of the Bar Executive and PABE is vital to the success of the CCBL and she thanked everyone for their participation.

 

REVIEW OF THE NOVEMBER 2008 MINUTES

 

Susan Kenny move to accept the minutes.  Becky Morganthal seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

                                   

There was no treasurer’s report available.  President Krivoniak stated she would email the report to everyone.

 

REPORTS

 

CLE BOARD-Ms. Krivoniak reported the CLE Provider Conference will be held May 15, 2009 at the Harrisburg Hilton.

 

UNCLAIMED PROPERTY-Brad Simpson and Chris Kazlauskas from Mansi Media were present to update the group on the 2009 publication of Unclaimed Property.  The ads will run beginning in Mid-March and conclude by the end of June.  The appropriations will be the same as 2008 and the number of names and pages will be same as well.  Ev Sullivan expressed concern that Mansi Media may expect discounts from the legal journals when no other agencies are given discounts.  The representatives from Mansi Media assured everyone that they will work with the legal journals with regard to pricing.  Nancy Paul asked if the counties could typeset their own ads.  Mansi Media reported that is possible however, the ad would still have to be approved by the Treasury.  In order to make the formatting go easier, Mansi Media will be sending a questionnaire to all legal journals requesting imaging and sizing questions.  Any suggestions on formatting would be greatly appreciated.

 

PABE RETREAT

 

Ev Sullivan reported that at the November 2008 meeting, it was decided to combine the PABE Retreat with the NABE Small Bar Conference to be held in Philadelphia on June 26 and 27, 2009.  She reported she has held a number of rooms at the conference rate for the PABE on Wednesday June 24 and Thursday June 25, 2009.  She also reported that she would be able to engage speaker Paul Gilbert who spoke at the ABA Conference in NYC last August 2008. He could speak on the role of the Bar Executive in the leadership of Bar Association. As he would already be in the area and his speaking fee would be paid for by another organization, if we engaged him, the PABE would only have to pay transportation and hotel charges not to exceed $1000.  Discussion followed. 

 

Susan Kenny moved to begin the PABE Retreat on Thursday at 1PM with the speaker Paul Gilbert to be followed by a PABE group dinner.  The PABE would pay expenses not to exceed $1000 for Paul Gilbert.  Kathy Sabol seconded.  President Krivoniak asked for a hand vote.  14 were in favor, 4 against.  The motion passed. 

 

Ev said she would release the rooms for Wednesday night.  Kathy Sabol and Diane Krivoniak would work on getting sponsors to help pay for the cost of the retreat.  Registrations fee and other costs would be determined as the details of the retreat are finalized.

 

JUDICIAL EVALUATIONS

 

Carolyn Seibert-Dragger had some questions on what other counties are doing for judicial evaluations. More discussion on this would follow on the listserve.

 

Carolyn also asked if any bar associations were feeling the effects of the Luzerne County problems and if so what were they doing about it.  Barry Simpson reported the PBA has not made a public statement, although there have been three local counties who have made statements.  Barry indicated he would ask his communications department to send out the press releases that have gone out on the subject via the listserve.

 

LEGISLATIVE REPORT

 

Nevin Mindlin reviewed several bills that might be of interest to the group.  He reported that the legal journals still have good support despite attempt to move the notices to the internet.  He reminded everyone of the May 4 and the Day on the Hill.

 

PBI

 

Barry Simpson reported that no replacement has yet been chosen to replace Roger Meilton but he feels a decision will be made soon.

PBA

 

Barry Simpson reported the YLD program Roles for Heroes is going well.  Incite is being upgraded to include more content with improved functionality. The Annual Meeting will be held June 2-4, 2009 in Pittsburgh.  The dinner will be held on June 3, 2009. The PBA will not be doing a Public Relations campaign this year but the materials are available from Marcy Mallory if anyone is interest in doing their own radio campaign. Mr. Simpson reported it is likely for a dues increase of approximately $10-$13.  PBA membership is a little behind 2008 but that could because all unit counties have not submitted their dues. The National Mock Trial 2010 is still recruiting sponsors.  They have received pledges of $250000 so far. The Statewide Mock Trial finals will be held March 27-28, 2009 and if any bar executives are interested in being scorekeepers, please contact the PBA.

There have been a number of applications for grants from the PA Bar Insurance Trust.  At this time, there are no funds to give out.  As the money comes in, the approved applications will be reconsidered.  Additional applications will continue to be accepted.

 

IOLTA

 

Al Azen reported the IOLTA accounts are now have unlimited insurance.

 

CONFERENCE OF COUNTY BAR JOURNALS

 

Liz Price reported she has copies of the CCBJ bylaws which she can distribute.  She also noted that the conference has a money market account containing approximately $2000.

 

PABE WEBSITE

 

President Krivoniak reported that all communications from the PABE listserve exchanges are archived on the PABE website so if you have missed something or need to look back at some discussions, you can find them on the PABE website.

 

OTHER BUSINESS

 

Susan Kenny made a suggestion that before cancelling any rooms reserved by county bars for events such as the CCBL or the Annual Meeting, the county should send out a notice to the PABE listserve or perhaps contact Janelle at the PBA.  Many county bar associations and the PBA are looking for rooms just before the event. 

 

NEXT PABE MEETING

 

The next PABE meeting will be held at the PBA Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 3, 2009.  It will be held in the afternoon at a time later to be determined.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Being no further business, the meeting was called to order.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Susan L. Kenny

Vice President, PABE