Maryland Bar
Bulletin
Publications :
Bar Bulletin |
August, 2004 |
Leadership Academy Wins National Acclaim
~MSBA's mentoring project honored~
By Janet Stidman
Eveleth
MSBA’s Leadership Academy [see
also "Tomorrow's Leaders" article], a mentoring program that offers
young attorneys leadership skills, recently won national acclaim. Last
month, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) honored
MSBA’s Leadership Academy as “an innovative Association skills training
project that propels America forward” and elected it to ASAE’s 2004
Associations Advance America Honor Roll. ASAE’s annual Associations
Advance America awards program recognizes association activities that
have a powerful impact on everyday life yet often go unnoticed by the
public.
Through Associations
Advance America, ASAE showcases association programs that add real
value to society and play a vital role in helping the nation adapt to
complex and changing times. MSBA’s Leadership Academy was honored as a
perfect example of achieving this goal. This successful mentoring program
was created to promote and strengthen diversity within the MSBA’s
volunteer leadership and the greater legal community.
“The Leadership Academy is
an awesome program,” proclaims MSBA President Neil Helfrich, “and we are
only just beginning to see the results of years of hard work by the
committee, its chairs, the mentors and especially the class members. On
behalf of the Association, I thank the volunteer members for taking the
time to do such a great job. We and the profession are all the better for
your commitment.” The Leadership Academy Committee’s prominent co-chairs
have included Judges Charles Day, Toni Clarke and Marielsa Bernard, the
late Edward Shea, Tracey Skinner and current co-chairs Kathleen Chapman
and Alison Leonard Leach.
In 1996, MSBA created the
Leadership Academy to offer leadership training skills to young attorneys
and prepare them as effective future leaders of the legal profession.
Through this young attorney mentoring program, a team of prominent
volunteer attorneys and judges serve as mentors and guide the young
attorneys in leadership training. This comprehensive leadership and
professional development effort focuses on everything from communication
skills, public speaking, managing an organization and interviewing skills
to meeting planning and fiscal management.
To date, 132 Fellows have
graduated from MSBA’s Leadership Academy. Interested attorneys undergo a
competitive application process and the 15 successful “Fellows” meet
regularly with their Committee of “mentors,” who guide them in the
leadership learning process. The mentors offer guidance on an individual
basis and the group meets monthly to engage in a formal program or general
discussion.
Through this 12-month,
“team-building” experience, the Fellows attend numerous MSBA events,
establish mentoring relationships with volunteer bar leaders and hone
their leadership and communication skills. This intensive training
program, which has strong ties to the state’s minority bar associations,
includes educational sessions, guest appearances by prominent judges and
attorneys and interaction with community and MSBA leaders. Every Academy
class also plans and implements a public service program geared to help
people in a law-related area.
The Leadership Academy was
the brainchild of MSBA’s Immediate Past President Harry S. Johnson and was
officially introduced in 1996 by then-MSBA President Robert T. Gonzales.
The program has been enthusiastically supported by all MSBA presidents
since then, as well as MSBA’s staff. “Creating and supporting the
Leadership Academy is an affirmative action of the MSBA which goes much
farther than just stating that we are an open and inclusive organization,”
states Paul V. Carlin, MSBA Executive Director. “This effort has benefited
all who have been involved with it.”
Many MSBA Leadership
Academy graduates have advanced to key leadership roles in MSBA and in
community organizations. They are giving back to the community by
volunteering to help people involved in various organizations. Thanks to
the Academy, they are now promising leaders of the future, fulfilling
ASAE’s goal of propelling the nation forward by advancing American
society. Thus, it is fitting that the Leadership Academy now graces ASAE’s
esteemed Associations Advance America Honor Roll.
