TODAY AT NOON: Garcia to Outline 2011 Plans at Annual Meeting

The Philadelphia Bar Association's Annual Meeting Luncheon, featuring inaugural remarks from incoming Chancellor Rudolph Garcia of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, will be held today, Dec. 7, beginning at 12 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt at The Bellevue, Broad and Walnut streets.

Click here to purchase tickets. Walk-in registration is also available.

The event will also feature the presentation of the Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award and the Wells Fargo Fidelity Award. U.S. Magistrate Judges L. Felipe Restrepo and Timothy R. Rice will receive the Brennan Award for their work presiding over the Supervision to Aid Re-entry Program. Attorneys Mitchell L. Bach, Edward G. Biester III, Gregory H. Mathews, Darryl J. May and Marc J. Sonnenfeld, who worked to make Philadelphia's Commerce Court become a reality, have been named the recipients of the Fidelity Award.

Election of officers and members of the Board of Governors will also be held today from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Ballroom Level of the Hyatt at The Bellevue. Officers to be elected are Vice Chancellor, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer and five members of the Board of Governors for three-year terms.

Candidates for office are: Kathleen D. Wilkinson, Vice Chancellor; Sophia Lee, Secretary; Joseph A. Prim Jr., Treasurer; Kim R. Jessum and Jacqueline G. Segal, Assistant Secretary; Wesley R. Payne IV, Assistant Treasurer; Brian S. Chacker, Nikki Johnson-Huston, Angus Love, Scott W. Reid, Gina Furia Rubel and Marc J. Zucker, Board of Governors (elect five).

NEXT THURSDAY: YLD Holiday Party at Home of Mutter Museum; Pre-Registration Recommended

This year's YLD Holiday Party takes place at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia - home of the Mutter Museum - next Thursday, Dec. 16, from 6-9 p.m. The always-popular event includes open bar, heavy hors d'oeuvres, entertainment and access to the Museum's many medical curiosities. Pre-registration is recommended; registration increases $10 at the door.

Click here to register.

Also during the Holiday Party, the YLD will host a Holiday Drive, in which items will be collected for local children and teens who receive services through Support Center for Child Advocates and People's Emergency Center. Some suggested donations are: gift cards to department, clothing, food, electronics and book stores, gift cards to restaurants and entertainment venues, warm clothing, alarm clocks and clock radios, art supplies, costume jewelry, disposable cameras, dolls, games, Lego blocks, playing cards, puzzles, sports equipment, toiletries, toys, wallets and purses, and watches.

TODAY: Polls Open for Bar Election from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Bar Association members who have not voted by mail in the Association's Annual Election may still vote in person today, Dec. 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Ballroom Level of the Hyatt at The Bellevue, Broad and Walnut streets. Officers to be elected are Vice Chancellor, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer and five members of the Board of Governors for three-year terms.

Please be advised that Albert S. Dandridge III has withdrawn his candidacy for the office of Vice Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in the Association's Annual Election. There being no opposition for the office of Vice Chancellor, a unanimous ballot will be cast for Kathleen D. Wilkinson. Wilkinson will serve as Vice Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2011, Chancellor-Elect in 2012, and Chancellor in 2013.

Candidates for office are: Kathleen D. Wilkinson, Vice Chancellor; Sophia Lee, Secretary; Joseph A. Prim Jr., Treasurer; Kim R. Jessum and Jacqueline G. Segal, Assistant Secretary; Wesley R. Payne IV, Assistant Treasurer; Brian S. Chacker, Nikki Johnson-Huston, Angus Love, Scott W. Reid, Gina Furia Rubel and Marc J. Zucker, Board of Governors (elect five).

There being no opposition, a unanimous ballot will be cast for the following seven candidates for the Young Lawyers Division Executive Committee (three-year term): Jo Rosenberger Altman, Edward F. Beitz, Anthony H. Chwastyk, Joshu Harris, Brielle M. Rey, Christopher Sharp and Todd H. Zamostien.

The Association will welcome its 84th Chancellor, Rudolph Garcia of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, at its Annual Meeting Luncheon today at 12 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt at The Bellevue. Current Chancellor Scott F. Cooper will introduce Garcia, whose term officially begins on Jan. 1, 2011. Garcia will deliver his inaugural address at the event. To purchase tickets, click here.

THURSDAY: Public Interest Law Day CLE & Awards Reception

The Public Interest Section will present its annual Public Interest Law Day CLE Program and hold its annual Public Interest Section Awards Ceremony and Reception this Thursday, Dec. 9.

The Public Interest Law Day CLE program will take place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the PBI CLE Conference Center, Wanamaker Building, 10th Floor, Suite 1010, Juniper Street entrance. The program "Good News: Despite the Recession, We Are Making Progress!" features a distinguished faculty of judges and public interest law experts and offers a total of six CLE credits, including one ethics credits. Click here for more information about the program. To register for Public Interest Law Day CLE program, contact PBI at 1-800-932-4637 or register online at www.pbi.org.

Public Interest Law Day will be followed by the Public Interest Section's Annual Awards Ceremony and Reception at Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market St. The Awards Ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by a reception featuring beer, wine and hors d'oeuvres and the presentation of the 2010 Andrew Hamilton Award for distinguished public service advocacy toLen Rieser, executive director of the Education Law Center. Rieser has dedicated his professional career to expanding and enforcing the educational rights of Pennsylvania's schoolchildren.

This year, the awards ceremony will also feature the selection winner of the Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Scholarship to subsidize the hiring of a law student for the following summer as well as the presentation of the Section's third annual Law Student Awards, which recognize a third-year law student from each of the six Philadelphia-area law schools who has demonstrated a strong commitment to public interest work. The Awards Ceremony will also feature the presentation of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation's Shuster Fellowships.

Tickets for the Public Interest Awards Ceremony and Reception are $40 for public interest and government attorneys; $55 for section members; and $65 for non-section members ($10 increase will be charged for walk-ins purchasing tickets at the event). Click here to purchase tickets. Proceeds from this event fund the Higginbotham Scholarship program.

Chancellor's Reception Jan. 5 at Bellevue

All members of the Philadelphia legal community are invited to attend a complimentary reception on Wednesday, Jan. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. in honor of Rudolph Garcia, 84th Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

The Chancellor's Reception will be held in the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt at The Bellevue, Broad and Walnut streets. No reservations are necessary.

This is the event at which even the city's busiest and most successful legal luminaries patiently wait in line to wish their leader and each other good luck in the year ahead.

'Tis the Season to Join the YLD of the Andrew Hamilton Circle

In 2001, the YLD partnered with the Philadelphia Bar Foundation to launch the Young Lawyers Division of the Andrew Hamilton Circle, a group of young lawyers who pledge to donate to the Bar Foundation for at least 3 years. The contribution goes to benefit local public interest agencies including Support Center for Child Advocates, Philadelphia VIP, SeniorLAW Center and Juvenile Law Center, among others.

Over the past 9 years, the YLD/AHC has had just just 35 members. But efforts to promote the program led to 11 new young lawyers signing up this year! The YLD hopes to increase this number, ideally even double it. In addition to the charitable donation, donors receive publicity on the Foundation's website, in the print version of the Annual Report, and in Bar Association publications. More information is available HERE.