Dear ACA Visitor:
It is an honor this year to serve as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Counsel Association. The ACA was formed in 1929 for the purpose of enhancing standards of practice, aiding deserving law students, and providing a social and business network for its distinguished members. Comprised of approximately 250 members from across the United States, Canada, England, and other countries, the ACA holds its Midyear and Annual receptions and dinners each year during the American Bar Association's Midyear and Annual Meetings. A majority of the ACA's members are present or past ABA Delegates or officers of their state bar organizations. The ACA provides a relaxing, small group atmosphere where friends gather each year in an interesting city.
The Association will hold its 2008 Annual Meeting in New York August 9-11, where members will enjoy a docent tour of the Museum of Modern Art, a reception in Greenwich Village, and dinner at the elegant Del Posto restaurant. In February the ACA held a Midyear Dinner at Asia de Cuba in Los Angeles. In 2007 the members gathered in Miami and San Francisco, while the 2006 meeting was held at the beautiful Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii. The 2005 Annual Meeting in Chicago was highlighted by an elegant dinner at the Mid-America Club and a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright home and Oak Park neighborhood. Importantly, each year the Association awards scholarship funds to outstanding law students based upon academic excellence and need.
In recent years the American Counsel Association has added outstanding new members from several states, the UK, Canada, the Virgin Islands and Spain. We have forged links with the European Circuit of the Bar, and ACA members are invited to its annual meetings in Europe. These meeting include substantive programs of interest, visits to courts, and attendance at the EC's annual dinners. Members and visitors are free to utilize the ACA's website, and a printed "Roster" is mailed to members each year. Many members enjoy exchanging business referrals, in addition to opportunities for social exchanges and work to benefit young lawyers and the profession. The officers and directors continue to explore other ways to improve the social and business network provided by membership in the ACA.
One of the benefits of membership is the ability to add, at nominal cost, additional members from an existing member firm, by writing c/o Smith Anderson Law Firm, P.O. Box 2611, Raleigh, NC 27602-2611 or jdorsett@smithlaw.com. The dues cost for an additional member from an existing firm is only $50 per year. Members may also nominate lawyers and judges from geographic areas in their states or in other areas that are not currently represented in the Roster.
Members should feel free to contact the ACA officers or directors at any time for assistance with membership or association business matters, or with suggestions or questions. The American Counsel Association's officers and board members are shown in the ACA's website, www.amcounsel.org. Thank you for your interest in our Association.
Sincerely,
James K. Dorsett, III
Secretary-Treasurer
