President’s Message
By Thomas A. Else
 The last year has been a great one for the DuPage County Bar Association. We have enjoyed unprecedented spirit and involvement by our members. We have never had a better relationship with the community and the judiciary. The credit for these great accomplishments belongs to our members.
We began the year with record attendance at the installation of officers and directors. We moved on to an extremely successful seminar in Las Vegas with six judges presenting. My heartfelt thanks goes to Judges Equi, Demling, McKillip, Cerne, Guerin and Kleeman. All the presentations were excellent and required an enormous amount of preparation.
Our CLE programs throughout the year were well attended and enjoyed by our members, especially the Ethics Extravaganza in March.
We initiated the Practices at Risk Program to help fellow attorneys in need. We continue to work to obtain group health insurance for our members.
Judges’ Nite was another hit thanks to Susan Alvarado, Kevin Millon and the cast, crew and band.
Recently, we broke the attendance record at the President’s Ball. I thank Past Presidents Glenn Gaffney, Kevin Millon and Fred Spitzzeri who, over the last three years, worked hard to promote this great event which is now more popular with our members than ever.
I am glad to say that as my year as President comes to an end, all of our programs are running at full speed and the condition of the association is outstanding.
I thank the members of the board of directors, the executive committee and the bar staff for their hard work in the last year.
The Brief would not get done every month without the hard work of the publication board, and this year’s editor, Anthony Abear. I thank them very much for their commitment to excellence.
The work of the committees is the life blood of our association. I am grateful to all of the committee chairs and vice chairs for the last year for your diligence.
I thank my wife, Andrea, who gave her full support, as always, to the many jobs that came up over the year.
Mostly, however, I thank you, the members of this association for giving me the great honor of being your President for the past year. I appreciate your confidence and participation. All the President does is steer the ship. The members drive the propellers. I appreciated every time one of you would stop me in the courthouse and give me your input on how things were going.
I know that our next President, Kent Gaertner, will guide this association to even more progressive heights in the upcoming year.
Finally, I hope that in the last year you met a lot of great people, learned a lot and had a great time doing it. Thank you again.
Thomas Else offices in Wheaton,
IL. His practice is concentrated in the areas of Family Law, Civil Litigation
and Bankruptcy. |
