It has been my honor to serve as the HCBA’s 100th president as we enter our 100th anniversary year. As the HCBA approaches its centennial, we have an opportunity to not only celebrate, but to also reflect, to reset, and to envision what lies ahead.
When the HCBA was incorporated under the laws of the state of Minnesota on May 16, 1919, we only had about 150 members. Now, nearly 100 years later, the HCBA is the largest district bar in the state of Minnesota and one of the largest district bars in the country with over 8,000 members. Our mission is to advance professionalism, ethical conduct, diversity, competence, practice development, and collegiality in the profession, and to improve the administration of justice. Since its founding, the HCBA has helped develop a system of case assignments in the Fourth Judicial District. The HCBA has served as a watchdog on the activities of the bar as a whole through the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the creation of an ethics committee. The HCBA has worked to bridge the often wide gap between the bar and the general public.
This year, it has been my goal as president to remind us all of the HCBA’s roots and to challenge people to stretch their imaginations and to realize that sponsors and champions—the ones you may think of as advancing your career and providing you with opportunities—do not only have to be individuals. The HCBA, as an organization, can be a champion. We can do more by championing newer lawyers and diverse attorneys, and providing attorneys with the resources that they need to be better attorneys, to make the practice of law easier, and to help attorneys better serve the community at all stages of their career. And indeed, the HCBA was created for this very purpose. The HCBA is a champion of the profession and that includes being a champion of the justice system as a whole.
That includes being a champion of the community. And that includes being a champion of the voiceless, those who are oppressed, underserved, and underrepresented.
We have been intentional this year in our work to address the needs of newer lawyers, diverse attorneys and attorneys who have been practicing 7 to 15 years. But we are not done. Centennials only happen once, and while we appreciate your support over the years, we need everyone’s help to make this the best year yet and to set us on a strong course for the next 100.
As we kick off our birthday celebration, there are many ways that HCBA members can participate in the fun from May 2019 to April 2020:
• Attend a Then and Now CLE. Throughout the anniversary year, HCBA sections will be sponsoring Then and Now CLEs highlighting changes in certain areas of the law.
• Read the Hennepin Lawyer. Each issue of the Hennepin Lawyer will have special content devoted to the centennial.
• Share our history. On Facebook, Twitter, and in the weekly e-news, we will run 100 years of history posts during the year with an #HCBA100 hashtag, highlighting important legal/association milestones.
• Celebrate with us. Come celebrate the Association’s birthday during our Annual Meeting on May 30, 2019. Since there is only one 100th birthday, make sure to attend this one.
And of course, going back to the HCBA’s roots, we will have community outreach-focused activities during our centennial, and we hope to have 100 percent participation from our members. These are just highlights of what the Association has in store. More details to come. Happy Birthday, Hennepin County Bar Association. Cheers to 100 years!
Adine S. Momoh
2018-2019 HCBA President
adine.momoh@stinson.com
Ms. Momoh is a partner in the Minneapolis office
of Stinson Leonard Street where she represents
clients in matters involving banking litigation,
estates and trusts litigation and creditors’ rights
and bankruptcy before state and federal courts
across the country. As a trusted advisor, she
helps clients navigate the entire lifecycle of a
case, from case development and strategy, to
discovery, to motion practice, to trial, to appeal.