PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, FALL 2023
I am once again writing my message to the Women Lawyers in Bergen members and readership. I am wondering who is actually reading this? I rarely get a comment on my President’s Message and wonder if anyone is reading this Newsletter? This Newsletter is a beautiful work of art. It is an organized, quarterly report containing many valuable articles, reviews, information and advertising. But I fear it is not being read. Linda Spiegel works extremely hard producing this Newsletter but because it is not mailed out in hard copy, I fear that the readership has declined.
What is the solution to this problem? I strive as President of WLIB to spread our influence and this Newsletter is such a wonderful volume of information. If we were to send it by mail it would cost at least $5000 a year, which we don’t have. Anyone having any suggestions for how to solve this problem and who obviously is reading this Newsletter, please advise, as this quarterly piece of work is valuable and important.
I am making a change during my tenure as president in making the Annual Dinner in alternating years more of a Judicial Reception. This is partly because we are not electing officers and we need a draw and because we have a Supreme Court Justice as speaker this year. Therefore, I hope this continues into the future. Instead of having a separate Judicial Reception and Annual Dinner, in alternate years we can have a combination Judicial Reception and Annual Dinner.
We have many good CLE’s coming up. One will be by the mother/daughter team of Lynn Feldman and Erica Fields on the Sovereign Nation Movement. A very well written article was in last quarter’s Newsletter by them on that issue and it is a relevant topic today. There also will be other CLE’s coming up, one of which may be motivational speaker Debbie O’Connell, who happens to be our golf pro and a professional motivational speaker. She will be speaking at some point this winter on performance anxiety and the law profession. Mental health is an integral part of success in our profession, and she speaks on anxiety in all professions. We look forward to that. Furthermore, Debbie has been coaching us golfers for over a year now and we hope to continue this into the future as her skill level is tremendous and her teaching ability is working for us. The Annual Bergen County Bar Golf Outing was postponed from Spring to Fall and she is enabling us able to participate without embarrassing ourselves at that event.
The Susan Luciana Breast Cancer Rally, which we held last year on October 28th, will also be an alternate year event. I have too much on my plate to plan and execute that event this year and I know our board, Lynn Feldman, Erica Fields and our committee who have helped me tremendously regarding that, also agree. Therefore, we will plan for that event for next year and although I will not be president, I will, of course, be happy to spearhead that event. It will be outside the Bergen County Courthouse on the green and I hope to get substantial involvement by the county employees.
We will be looking for a new Secretary for the Women Lawyers in Bergen Board as my term ends in June 2024 and it’s never too early to start looking. If any of you are interested in that position, please contact us and we will have you on the ballot for the spring election as we would have to get that going by April 2024.
This Board has worked together in a tremendously cooperative and pleasant manner and we have enjoyed our work on the Board. As I had always said, camaraderie to me is an important part of WLIB and the foundation for networking, mentoring and tightening our organization in a friendly manner. Thank you everyone who has read this, and I look forward to the next several months of remaining your president.
Sincerely,
Diane M. Lucianna
