CHAIR’s Message

By Terrence S. Welch

Terrence S. Welch is Chair of the Section and practices law with the Richardson, Texas office of Brown & Hofmeister, LLP.

As you read this, the Section’s Spring Meeting in Anchorage will have concluded and even though I am writing this article a month in advance of that meeting, I no doubt can say (and will say) with confidence that a good time was had by all. A special thanks to all of those Section members and Alaska attorneys who made this a truly unforgettable experience for all of us. We appreciate you!

As my year as Section Chair draws to an end, it would be inappropriate for me not to thank all the wonderful folks who have been so kind to me as I fumbled through the year. It was a somewhat unusual year since we did not have a Fall Meeting due to the costs and related travel expenses that were necessary for everyone to come to Alaska in June. Nevertheless, the last six months will have been packed—the ABA Midyear Meeting in Salt Lake City, our Section’s Spring Meeting in Anchorage, and our upcoming ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago in early August. While those meetings have been (or will be) valuable, it has been the people that have made them an incredible amount of fun: incoming Chair Tom Roberts (a scholar who unfortunately is burdened by his ACC affiliation!), Immediate Past Chair Patty Salkin (a great friend and one of the hardest workers the Section has ever had), Vice Chair Ed Sullivan (a brilliant guy whose dry wit I appreciate), Secretary Ben Griffith (a fellow Southerner, although not a Texan, and somebody who knows everybody in the world), Delegates Sholem Friedman (“our man downtown” with the ABA with his keen insights) and Carol Dinkins (one of the nicest persons you will ever meet and who knows the ABA inside and out), and a host of others. If I start listing them all, I no doubt will leave someone out and would not want to offend them. I also want to thank several folks who now serve the Section in different ways, but have done a fantastic job over the years and for whom I will always feel a special affection: Jim Baird, Mary Massaron Ross, Dan Curtin, Larry Ethridge, Fred Leonhardt, and Charlie Olson, to name but a few. My biggest thanks, however, go to Jackie Baker and Leigh Stewart for all they do, not just at meetings or Section functions, but every day, all day long, as they watch over the Section and its activities. Rest assured the Section is in great hands—and with upcoming Section and ABA meetings in Boston, San Diego, Honolulu, Madison, New Orleans, and San Juan, you are guaranteed to have a great place to visit, a phenomenal educational experience, and a lot of great and extremely talented attorneys to spend some time with (pardon that preposition at the end)!

Next time you’re in Dallas, please give me a call. We will be happy to show you a good time in God’s Country, and maybe after the 2005 college football season, we can all celebrate the Texas Longhorns winning another National Championship!

See you in Chicago in August! Hook ’em!