| Bar Bulletin |
June,
2003 |
| MSBA News |
|
Harry S. Johnson Installed As New President
By Janet
Stidman Eveleth
 Harry
S. Johnson was installed as the President of the Maryland State Bar
Association (MSBA)
on June 14, 2003, at the Association’s Annual Meeting in Ocean City, Maryland.
Johnson’s ascension to this top leadership role marks a milestone for the
Maryland State Bar Association as he is the first African-American to
serve as President of MSBA. A partner in the Baltimore law firm of
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, Johnson is recognized as an outstanding
leader in the legal community and is known for his commitment to public
service and his high standards of legal ethics and professionalism.
Johnson, who will
serve a twelve-month term, will be joined by newly elected MSBA officers:
President-Elect Cornelius Helfrich, a solo practitioner in Harford County;
Secretary J. Michael Conroy, Jr., a partner in the Gaithersburg
law firm of Conroy, Ballman & Dameron; and Treasurer Edward J. Gilliss,
County Attorney for Baltimore County. Working with this leadership team,
Johnson plans to reach out into the legal community and communicate with
all lawyers. “It is vital that all MSBA members feel they have a voice in
MSBA and that our Association serve as an effective membership tool,
disseminating information to make lawyers’ jobs easier, more efficient and
more satisfying,” Johnson says.
MSBA’s new leader
is proud to serve as President and looks forward to leading this dynamic
organization for the next year. “MSBA is a growing organization,” declares
Johnson. “We are fortunate that our membership continues to grow, but we
must constantly find new and different ways to stay in touch with our
members.”
“Communication is
essential,” he emphasizes. “The Association must communicate with its
members. MSBA is the voice of Maryland lawyers, so our Association must
constantly communicate with our members to accurately reflect member views
and represent member interests.”
Johnson’s year as
president will carry the theme “Back to the Future” as he focuses on three
key areas: history, leadership and integrity. Over the next 12 months, he
will look back at MSBA’s history to “see where we have been” so we may
determine “where we are going” as we chart MSBA’s future course. The new
President will also focus on “integrity in today’s practice of law” and
“lawyers as leaders in the legal profession and in the community.”
This year, MSBA’s
President plans to celebrate the Association’s rich history. “We should
constantly re-evaluate where we are in life,” states Johnson. “We need to
look back at our past to see where we have been. We will examine issues
our predecessors addressed, revisit traditions they honored and use MSBA’s
history as a foundation to guide us in our future.”
One way MSBA will
revisit the past is through the Association’s “re-invigorated Committee on
Minorities.” This Committee, which will be led by original co-chairs
Louise Michaux Gonzales and Stuart O. Simms, held a Minorities Conference
in 1987 where bar leaders discussed issues affecting minorities in the
legal profession and the court system. Johnson is reactivating this
Committee to ascertain “how far we have come over the course of 15 years.”
“Today, dynamics
have changed,” explains Johnson. “In 1987, African-Americans and women
were the minorities. Today, there are a number of different ethnic legal
groups, African-Americans have made advancements and women are much more
prominent in the profession. We must measure the overall progress of all
minorities and look at relevant issues today, including the role of our
specialty bar associations and their involvement with MSBA. We will look
back to look ahead.”
Johnson’s “Back to
the Future” perspective will also be presented in a special MSBA oral
history project. He hopes to illustrate how far MSBA has come by capturing
the thoughts, perspectives and reflections of MSBA’s 24 living past
presidents to preserve the Association’s history for posterity. “This
videotape will honor presidents who have served MSBA in a meaningful way,”
notes Johnson. “It will share their words and wisdom, unveil many of the
issues MSBA faced then and faces now, and retain our history.”
MSBA’s top leader
became involved in MSBA when he joined the Association and the Young
Lawyers Section in 1980. He has served several terms on MSBA’s Executive
Committee and Board of Governors, chaired the Planning Committee and
co-chaired the Special Committee on Minorities in the Legal Profession. He
has served on the Budget and Finance, Judicial Appointments, Membership
and Lawyer Dispute Resolution Committees, plus the Special Committees on
Continuing Legal Education and Governance. Johnson is an MSBA Leadership
Academy mentor and served as MSBA Treasurer for three years. He most
recently served as the Association’s President-Elect.
MSBA’s President
has been with the Baltimore
law firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston ever since he was admitted to the
Maryland Bar in 1979. A graduate of the University of Maryland School of
Law, Johnson immediately joined Whiteford as an associate and was named a
partner in 1986. He has handled numerous product liability cases,
including a major manufacturer in a product liability class action
involving over 10,000 plaintiffs and one involving over 350 breast implant
cases, represented physicians and medical providers in medical negligence
litigation, and litigated numerous product manufacturers’ personal injury
cases.
He is very
committed to and supportive of Maryland’s legal community. Johnson is a
faculty member of MICPEL, a member of the Court’s Standing Committee on
Rules of Practice and Procedure and a participant in the MSBA Trial by
Jury Program at the Maryland State Fair. He served on the Governor’s
Commission on the Death Penalty. He remains involved in the Maryland Trial
Lawyers’ Association and the Bar Association of Baltimore City.
Johnson also takes
his civic responsibilities quite seriously and is involved in a long list
of community organizations and charitable activities. In the greater
community, the Bar President’s activities include chairing the Maryland
Human Relations Commission for Baltimore County, serving on the Board of
the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and founding the Second Generation
Scholarship Fund for the University
of Maryland.
He has also served as a Board member for the Greater Baltimore Committee’s
Economic Development Council, the Community College of Baltimore
Foundation and the UMBC Alumni Association.
This year Johnson,
who has dedicated his professional career to volunteer leadership roles in Maryland’s
legal profession and in the greater community, hopes to foster a
commitment to leadership in other Maryland lawyers.
“Lawyers should be leaders in the community,” he explains. “Leadership
enhances our image as a profession and helps us all as individual
lawyers.” In particular, Johnson is troubled over the declining number of
lawyer legislators and would like to see more attorneys seek this elected
office.
Finally, MSBA’s new
leader would like to see integrity enhanced in the legal profession. “At
one time, a lawyer was a person of his or her word,” Johnson observes. “It
was indeed a high compliment to say an attorney had integrity and that he
or she could be taken at his or her word because their word meant
something. Today, people don’t trust one another. We need to restore
integrity, which in turn will enhance the image of lawyers.”
MSBA’s President is
proud that “MSBA is one of the top state bar associations in the country,
often recognized for its outstanding leadership and innovative bar
programs.” He credits a very dedicated volunteer attorney leadership and
“our stable staff” with MSBA’s ongoing effectiveness as an organization.
“The staff is truly the strength of MSBA,” Johnson adds. “Our volunteer
attorney leadership has great confidence in the staff, which efficiently
implements the policies set by the Board of Governors.”
“We need to
maintain our momentum, find better ways to communicate with and reach out
to all of our members and local and specialty bar associations,” Johnson
continues. “We should constantly seek new programs of interest to lawyers
and engage those Maryland
lawyers who think MSBA is not the place for them. I hope that the fact
that I can become president will encourage others to actively seek and
gain leadership roles in MSBA and in the broader community. “Our members
have so much talent to contribute.”
MSBA’s President
looks forward to the challenges that await him this year and hopes to be
remembered as “a person who encouraged lawyers to take on their true
calling to be leaders in the profession and in society.” Johnson hopes
MSBA members will “think about all of the changes that have taken place in
people’s lives over the years and remember that they were made because of
lawyers. Lawyers stepped up, answered the call, served as leaders and made
a difference in people’s lives.”
“When the public
sees lawyers out in the community, volunteering and serving as leaders, it
enhances the image of lawyers and the legal profession,” Johnson says. He
believes that if lawyers answer the call to leadership this year and focus
on integrity, he will have made a difference as MSBA President.
|
