Welcome to a new year with the Section

By Amanda Conn
General counsel, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

With summer ended, our Section Council will be meeting to plan for the upcoming year, and I congratulate our two new Section Council members — Kirstin Lustila, an assistant attorney general in the State Treasurer’s Office, and Neil Murphy, deputy county attorney for St. Mary’s County.

As a quick recap, our annual State and Local Government Law Institute was held virtually on June 17. We had terrific turnout for a virtual event – close to 80 people joined us.

The highlight was the judicial panel on “writing and speaking before the courts.” It was an honor for us to have Chief Judge Fader, Chief Judge Wells, and Judge Ripken present their views on what makes a lawyer effective in both the appellate and trial courts. Our other panels for the legislative update, the Supreme Court roundup, and perspectives on policing had equally important topics and great speakers.

I said in my opening remarks that I am always taken aback when I see how people in our legal community give their time and thought to making us all better lawyers. Most of us
in the section work for governments or are in small firms or associations serving them, and, as such, we are public servants as well.

We all contribute to the legal profession as well as to the larger good that our governments provide to the people they serve. If you have ideas for topics for the upcoming year, please do not hesitate to email us.

Our program committee will be planning legal education and other networking events. We will plan on having a gathering that combines some legal topic and an opportunity to meet new people and talk to ones you have only seen over Zoom recently.

Once that committee membership is set for the year, we will send out an email where you can send ideas. And have a great start to your autumn!