Over drinks and appetizers at Annie's Paramount Steak House in northwest Washington on Thursday evening, the two candidates made their case to be chosen president-elect of the D.C. Bar for the 2010-2011 term.
Speaking to about 50 people, Banner & Witcoff partner Darrell Mottley and Gura & Possessky name partner Laura Possessky gave short speeches about their goals for the bar.
Mottley said the D.C. Bar needs to improve its use of social networking to increase discussion about legal developments and to help lawyers link up with pro bono clients. "The need is really high for the disadvantaged in D.C. so we need to increase the funding for their services," Mottley noted earlier that evening.
Possessky said in her speech that she wants to "activate the bar" to help lawyers find jobs. She listed increasing diversity and funding for pro bono services as other priorities.
"I think our members are our greatest asset," she said. "I want to make this the best bar in America."
If elected, either Mottley or Possessky will serve one year as president-elect, one year as president and one year as immediate past president.
Kim Keenan of The Keenan Firm is the current president. Sidley Austin partner Ronald Flagg is the president-elect.
Mottley, the current chair of the D.C. Bar Council on Sections, is an intellectual property lawyer, focused on patent and trademark law.
Possessky, a member of the D.C. Bar’s Board of Governors, practices intellectual property, media and entertainment law. She has also headed the D.C. Bar’s Arts, Entertainment, Media and Sports Law Section.
D.C. Bar members can begin voting on May 5, and the ballot box will remain open until June 4.
The candidate event was sponsored by GAYLAW, the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Bar Association of Washington, D.C.; the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C., Area; the Greater Washington Area Chapter of the National Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Division; the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C.; the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C.; the Vietnamese American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C., Area; the Washington Bar Association; and the Women's Bar Association of D.C.
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