Maryland Bar
Bulletin
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Bar Bulletin |
June, 2004 |
Helfrich Installed as MSBA President
By Janet
Stidman Eveleth
 |
|
CORNELIUS D. HELFRICH
111th President of the
Maryland State Bar Association |
Cornelius D. Helfrich will be installed as
President of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) on June 19, 2004,
during the Association’s Annual Meeting in Ocean City, Maryland. A solo
practitioner from Harford County, Helfrich is an outstanding leader in
Maryland’s legal community widely recognized for his commitment to
professionalism, dedication to public service and devotion to the practice
of law. He is the first President from Harford County since 1900.
As MSBA’s top leader, Helfrich will serve a
12-month term and will be joined by newly-elected officers:
President-Elect J. Michael Conroy, Jr., President of the Montgomery County
law firm of Conroy, Ballman & Dameron, Chtd., Treasurer Edward J. Gilliss,
County Attorney for Baltimore County, and Secretary Alison L. Asti,
Interim Executive Director of the Maryland Stadium Authority. Working with
this leadership team, Helfrich will lead this “vibrant and thriving
association” and its 20,500 members for the next year.
As President, one of Helfrich’s primary
goals is to promote MSBA’s true mission. He is concerned that “we
sometimes lose sight of our real goal.” While he emphasizes that one of
MSBA’s main thrusts is “helping lawyers,” he sees our underlying mission
as “helping our lawyer members with the public – their clients. One of our
primary purposes is to facilitate our attorney members’ ability to render
quality services to clients at reasonable prices.” As President, Helfrich
hopes to communicate our mission as “benefiting the public.”
He also hopes to focus on equal access to
justice and the public’s confidence in the legal system. “If more people
have access and can get into court, then they will feel they have received
justice,” Helfrich says. “This will enhance the public’s confidence in our
justice system as well as its perception of better access to the legal
system.”
The new President wants to encourage all MSBA members to actively
participate in their Association. “I would like to make everyone feel as
though they are included in our thought process and, where possible,
involve them in the formulation of these processes,” Helfrich explains.
“For years, we have tried to broaden our power base and in terms of gender
we have been successful. While we have made strides in racial diversity
and leadership, we have further to go.” To examine MSBA’s future
direction, the new President will convene a long-range planning conference
to begin plotting the Association’s course over the next decade.
Helfrich is honored to serve as President and believes it is very
important for MSBA to have a true solo practitioner as its leader. “Almost
two-thirds of our members are solo and small firm practitioners,” he
emphasizes. He hopes his service as a solo state bar president will be an
“inspiration” to solo members of MSBA.
“I want them to know that they can succeed as a solo and as an active
member of MSBA and also be President,” Helfrich says. “I want to bring
this to the forefront.” He is concerned that many solo and small firm MSBA
members are under the “misperception that larger firms run much of the
Association.” He hopes his leadership “will dispel this perceived image”
harbored by too many.
“Today, it is especially tough for solo and small firm practitioners,”
Helfrich notes. “They look at things differently and often lack the
mentorship and camaraderie found in larger firms. They are out there on
their own. So they look to MSBA for support. Solos in particular are a
tight community, covering almost all areas of practice and most do not get
much help unless they seek it out. This is why many solos turn to MSBA,
for support.”
To this end, Helfrich will “champion the special interests of solo and
small firm practitioners and encourage their active involvement in MSBA
while continuing to promote and oversee the Association’s array of member
services and benefits that cater to the needs of all MSBA members. In
particular, he applauds the Association’s Lawyer Assistance Program and
its Leadership Academy as “excellent” MSBA outreach efforts.
One of MSBA’s most important roles is its function as the voice of
Maryland lawyers. The new President believes this is a “most difficult
task and one that MSBA fulfills quite well. “Our attorney members have
diverse interests, ideas and thoughts, yet we are able to develop a
cohesive message that reflects our members’ views most of the time,”
Helfrich says. Additionally, he believes MSBA’s greatest strength lies in
its members and its staff. “The core competency found in MSBA’s staff is
unparalleled in any state.”
A graduate of the Wharton School of Finance & Commerce at the University
of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland School of Law, Helfrich
received an LLM from George Washington University’s National Law Center.
He served as an instructor at the Harford Community College for 10 years,
has completed MICPEL’s 80-Hour Mediation Course and continues to serve as
a faculty member for MSBA’s Professionalism Course.
Helfrich has been a solo practitioner for over 30 years. He served as an
Assistant State’s Attorney in Howard County and Baltimore City and was
affiliated with the law firm of Byron, Moylan & Urner in Hagerstown. In
1991, Helfrich was appointed a Standing Equity Master for the Circuit
Court for Harford County, and he currently balances this strenuous
caseload with his busy solo practice. He is admitted to practice before
the Court of Appeals of Maryland, the Federal District Court, Maryland,
and the United States Supreme Court.
Helfrich served as MSBA’s Secretary and most recently as its
President-Elect. In addition to serving on MSBA’s Board of Governors and
its Executive Committee, he was very active in the Association’s General
Practice and Law Practice Management Sections and is now quite involved in
the Solo and Small Firm Practice Section. He is the recipient of the
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service’s 1989 Pro Bono Award for Outstanding
Service and the Solo and Small Firm Section’s esteemed David Hjortsberg
Award recognizing outstanding civility and professionalism in a solo
attorney.
In the greater legal community, Helfrich is quite active in the American
Bar Association (ABA) and is involved with the ABA’s Economics and Law
Practice and General Practice Sections. A past President of the Harford
County Bar Association, he serves on MICPEL’s Board of Trustees and the
Harford County Bar Foundation’s Board of Directors. He is involved in a
long list of community organizations, too.
Helfrich is looking forward to the challenges that await him and will
enjoy his time as MSBA President. He has always been happy as a solo
practitioner, enjoying the balance that emanates from his life. “People
can look at me and know that one can have a life outside of the law. I
became a solo so I could spend time with my family, be involved in Bar and
community activities and do it all,” he smiles. He hopes to be remembered
as a President who “did a good job, gave 110 percent and tried to treat
everyone fairly.”
