Wow, I can’t believe my year as yourpresident is almost over. It hasbeen a great ride. This year we made a difference.The American Bar Association

tried to shove down our throats a nationwidelawyer-referral service, ABA Law Connect poweredby Rocket Lawyer, and we said, “No.” We alsoput together a coalition of 40 state and local barassociations, and we all said, “No.” The PBAbecame a national leader in opposition to theABA Law Connect program, and it has now beenreported in the national media that the ABA hasabandoned the program due to state and localbar association opposition. We will see. We have successfully lobbied against the salestax on legal services and that issue appears to beoff the table. We have continued to partner withlocal bar associations to preserve legal journals.So far, so good. The members of the PBA owe abig thank-you to Fred Cabell, director of legisla-tive affairs, and his staff for the great job his teamdoes on a daily basis for all lawyers in Pennsylvania. The PBA continues to be a leader on diversityissues among our sister states. Our bar associationwas the first state bar on the East Coast to hire adiversity officer. Last fall we hosted a diversity retreat in Lancaster, bringing together PBA andminority affinity bar association leaders. Almostall of the affinity bar associations from across thestate were represented. We exchanged ideas andmoved that diversity ball up the hill. The PBAMinority Bar Committee successfully planned, or-ganized and held the PBA’s 28th Annual MinorityAttorney Conference in Philadelphia, where wehad a record turnout on March 17-18. The PBADiversity Team continues to do an amazing jobpromoting diversity across the state and being diversity ambassadors for the PBA. Under thegreat leadership of our diversity officer, Trent Hargrove, we have put together a working groupto plan what will be the first Pennsylvania Minor-ity and Women Law Firm Business DevelopmentForum. We hope to hold the forum in the fall. This January the PBA Midyear Meeting in St.Maarten was terrific and one of the largestmidyear meetings ever. Wendy Loranzo and theMeetings Department staff did a wonderful job.The facilities were perfect. The weather was great.

The two outdoor dinners were very well plannedand the food was second to none. I also thankDick McCoy, PBI executive director, and his stafffor organizing first-class CLE programming forthe meeting. And a shout-out to my MontgomeryBar Association family, more than 50 membersof which attended the meeting. Thank you foryour support! On March 31, the PBA hosted the Law PolicyForum in Pittsburgh. The subject of the forumwas mass incarceration, a provocative discussionof the legal, constitutional and social issues. The program moderator was Marie Gottschalk,Ph.D., a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. The keynote speakerwas John Wetzel, secretary of the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Corrections. Professors from all of Pennsylvania’s law schools participated in thesix-hour program. The dialogue was amazing.Thank you, Susan Etter, PBA education/specialprojects coordinator, for doing all of the heavylifting to make this event happen.

• • • • •

What a year this has been. I have had a blast serving as your president and it has been the professional highlight of my career. Thank you for this great, great honor. I have met with 50 of the 64 local bar association leaders. We havelistened. We have learned. Every day this year we all worked hard to make the PBA better and to support all of our great local bar associations. We hope that we have improved your professionaland personal lives through the many programsand services provided by the PBA. There are a lot of people to thank and, unfortunately, there is just not enough space to thank everyone who has made this year so enjoyable. But a special thank-you to ExecutiveDirector Barry Simpson and Deputy ExecutiveDirector Fran O’Rourke. We have spent a lot of time together this year, and I admire your leadership and your deep devotion to the PBA.But most of all I cherish your friendships. I could not have served as PBA president with-out the sacrifice and support of my partners,George, Paul, Andy, Bob and Justin. I promisethat the billable hours will be back soon.

A Year of Making a Difference

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The Pennsylvania Lawyer 2 May/June 2016

PBA PresidentWilliam H. Pugh V

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Better to List ‘Decisive Issues’ at Start of Opinions

Judge [Victor P.] Stabile makes some good pointsin [the interview] article [“Advice on Legal Writingand Advocacy,” March/April 2016 issue] aboutwriting appellate briefs, or anything else for thatmatter. Tell people at the start of the brief or letter or other expository writing “what [they] arelooking at … before getting into its substance.”Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Superior Court,

on which Judge Stabile sits, honors this rule mostlyin its breach. It is my experience that one has toread almost the entire opinion before learning whatthe decisive issues in the case are, instead of beingtold in the first paragraph or two.But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself at

www.pacourts.us/courts/superior-court/court-opinions/Default.aspx.

Donald MarritzGettysburg

The Pennsylvania Lawyer 10 May/June 2016

LETTERS

The Importance of Dinner with Family

Heading into my 40th year at the bar, Daniel F.Monahan’s list of “Top 10 Rules for a SuccessfulLegal Career” [in the January/February 2016 issue]brought back some nice memories, and reaffirmedmy beliefs. One of the “rules” that stood out forme was #7 — “Always be home for dinner withyour family.” While in this profession we know the“always” cannot occur each and every night, I al-ways committed to being home for dinner, even ifit meant going back to the office at night. It is soeasy to skip this important “meeting,” yet the pricewill be paid later if ignored. The dissolution of thefamily unit is one of the primary reasons our soci-ety is having so many dysfunctional issues today,and I was glad to see Mr. Monahan include thisvery important rule in his list. A short but very im-portant article for everyone to read. Thank you.

Nicholas Noel IIIEaston

Finally, I thank the love of my life, mywife, Mary. You are beautiful and brilliant.Thank you for your wise counsel, supportand love. You are the best! I made two promises during last May’sHouse of Delegates meeting. One promisewas that we were going to have fun. Theother promise was that this was going to be a year of short speeches and tall drinks. I hope that I have delivered on both prom-ises. Cheers! ⚖

William H. Pugh V PBA President

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from page 2

The email address for letters to the editor of The Pennsylvania Lawyer magazine is

editor@pabar.org. Letters by mail should besent to the Pennsylvania Bar Association,Attn. Editor, 100 South Street, P.O. Box 186,

Harrisburg, Pa. 17108-0186.

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