Good evening and thank you for being here tonight. It’s great to see so many friends and colleagues.

I’d like to begin by explaining why we scheduled the Annual Meeting in the middle of motorcycle weekend in North Conway this year. I think it’s only fair that I be honest with you and tell you that it was so that I could sing "Leader of the Pack" with Bruce Felmly tonight at our "Dancing with the Stars"/karaoke event after dinner….

More seriously, I am going to speak briefly about the impact we make as individuals and as a professional community as we deal with people who come to us in crisis and conflict. I am going to do it through a personal story.

On September 28, 2006, as many of you know, my home was burned by an arsonist. It was completely destroyed, and I lost all of my personal belongings and my 21-year-old cat. The arsonist broke in and set a fire which escalated so quickly that it engulfed my house in flames within minutes.

I was at work at the time. It took three calls from the security company and a firefighter friend before I got off my conference call and headed to Plainfield. But it wasn’t until I passed the local fire pond in Lebanon and saw a line of fire trucks loading up that I began to appreciate what was happening. As I drove up the dirt road perpendicular to my home, and looked across to where it had been, all I saw were flames shooting into the sky.

There were TV broadcast vans and fire trucks lining the half-mile of road to my house. Fire fighters from six local communities were there and they stayed for a day and a half to put out the fire. Their families and friends camped in my yard providing food and water so that they could continue to fight the fire – for me.

It’s hard to describe the surreal nature of that day and then the stark recognition that everything you have is gone – from your toothbrush to your grandmother’s furniture.

My colleagues at Dartmouth called that night to offer a new apartment. Others helped to stock and furnish it – led by my dear friend, Mary Gorman, Dartmouth College’s Executive Officer to the Provost. Their outpouring of support was overwhelming and, frankly, unexpected.

I was also blessed to have the support of friends and family, who literally took me in and helped me get my feet on the ground: Jean and Pete Burling; George Moore; my kids, John and Hannah; my parents and brother. And there is also the wonderful community of my friends and colleagues in the Bar. So many of you reached out to me. Thank you. It made a world of difference.

So what is my point? Until I needed it, I didn’t appreciate how profoundly important we are individually and as a community, in times of crisis and to those in need.

As this meeting and as the beginning of my service to the Bar has drawn closer, I have thought a great deal about how people count on us, as lawyers. As a profession, we deal routinely with people in crisis and conflict. We have chosen a profession based on values that I, as most of you, was fortunate to learn from my family and our professional community.

As lawyers, we have chosen to try to make a difference and have developed the skill to do that. We have chosen to use our minds, time, and energy to help those in need. We have a duty to care, to promote and protect our system of justice, to innovate, and to act with integrity and professionalism.

As President of this Association and this community of lawyers, I want to move us forward in a meaningful way. We have built a great team: Jimmy Tenn, as President-Elect; Marilyn McNamara, as Vice President; a great Board of Governors, and our experienced, devoted, and nationally recognized Bar Executive and staff.

But most importantly, the strength of this Association is its members – all of you who have made the commitment to helping people in conflict and in crisis.

As Bar President, I plan to work on three initiatives for this year, which I am sure will require continued effort beyond my term:

In closing, as President, I want to help members come together with new ideas and approaches in recognition of our profession’s mission of helping those in need.

Thank you for all of your support and I look forward to our working together over the next year.