HSBA Bar Elections and Bar Convention
Just last week, the 50th State welcomed home our perennial part-time residents from our sister 49th State. The first surviving kolea returned to their island refuge, after enduring their challenging annual non-stop flight of over 3,000 miles from western Alaska. In the next few months, they will enjoy the respite of our Hawaiian autumn and winter, a time to celebrate their journey and enjoy the remainder of the year.
As we move into the final months of 2018, we can also say that the year thus far has also been a challenging one for the HSBA. We now enter that part of the year where we reassess where we have been, and where we would like to be next year.
We started the year with an official--albeit mistaken--alarm of the imminence of nuclear annihilation. We faced the very real prospect of significant budgetary cutbacks affecting the delivery of legal services to the public. We saw the best of our membership respond admirably as a result of the natural disasters suffered by the residents of Kauai and the Big Island. And then, a welcome interlude: the overwhelmingly successful Annual Bar Dinner and Fundraiser, in which we, bench and bar, celebrated together in fellowship and musical tribute, to all the wonderful programs that will benefit from our participation and its proceeds.
In the coming weeks, at least four very important events are on the horizon. The deadline to vote for the HSBA representative to the Judicial Selection Commission is October 1, 2018. The current composition of the JSC, including lawyers and laypersons, has earned our gratitude for successfully accomplishing the extraordinarily difficult task of vetting the many outstanding applicants for judicial office. Aside from being an attorney of superior judgment and fairness, our elected representative must be willing to sacrifice the long, uncompensated hours that are necessary to review, evaluate and compare the relative credentials of all candidates for judicial office. In addition, the HSBA representative must be able to spend lengthy, close collaboration with fellow members of the JSC, in the robust interchange that is inevitable to meet the requirement of naming a finite number of finalists from so many qualified applicants.
The deadline to vote for the 2019 HSBA Officers and Board of Directors is October 31, 2018, as is the deadline for voting in the election for the Senior Counsel Division (SCD) Officer and Board elections. It should be noted that the deadline for voting for the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Officer and Board Nominees is a week earlier, October 24, 2018. These elections are crucial in defining the priorities of our bar association, and setting the direction we will take in the coming years.
On Saturday, October 6, 2018 the Hawaii Women Lawyers Foundation (HWLF) will hold its 28th Annual Gala Fundraiser at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom. The theme for this year is “We Love Rock ‘n Roll,” billed as a spin on the music that evolved during the late 1940s and early 1950s. For those of us who were war babies and nurtured on the great music of the era (some fervently believe that the music really died after the 1950s), it will be an event not to be missed. Every year, the HWLF puts on a show that is comparable to the very best off-Broadway. Be there or be square.
The Hawaii State Bar Convention will be held on November 2, 2018, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. at the Hawaii Convention Center. CLE sessions involving informative and entertaining presentations are scheduled for the morning and afternoon sessions, with the HSBA Annual Meeting and Lunch being held between the two sessions. During the noon session, numerous awards will be presented, and the induction of the 2019 HSBA, YLD, and SCD Presidents-elect will be held.
These and all our events, and our own existence, would not be possible without your continuing support and Aloha.
Thank you for always being there, and for staying the course.
- Howard K.K. Luke, HSBA President