PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

I am delighted to serve from August 2008 to August 2009 as President of the American Counsel Association, the oldest association of independent law firms in the world. Our association has every year for eight decades supported talented law students in need of financial assistance from around the country. We also have for eight decades met every summer at the same time and place as the American Bar Association annual meetings. This schedule is convenient because many of the members of the ACA are present or past officers or delegates of the ABA or their state bar associations. Approximately 40-50 members and their spouses have come to our ACA functions each August.

A prime feature of membership in the ACA is that in general only members of one law firm per metropolitan area are permitted to be members of ACA. This restriction has resulted in a camaraderie among the members and their spouses that is quite extraordinary for a legal organization. We get to know each other well both personally and professionally. We have also recently started having a dinner at the Midyear meeting of the ABA, and this past March approximately 25 of us met for a festive occasion at Asia de Cuba in Los Angeles.

As President, I intend to see that we have a successful scholarship program this year and successful meetings of the membership in Boston next February and in Chicago next August. I am especially interested in expanding our co-sponsorship of legal programs, especially outside the United States, where we can fill niches that may be overlooked by other organizations. We are especially fortunate to have a member from London, Gerard McDermott, QC, who also is the Leader of the European Circuit of the English Bar. Thanks to Gerard we co-sponsored a program in Luxembourg with the European Union Bar in October 2007 and we are co-sponsoring a similar program in October 2008 in Brussels. I intend to see that this sort of co-sponsorship is continued and expanded upon during my tenure.

Thank you for your interest in and support of the American Counsel Association.

Sincerely,

Wesley W. Horton

President