Maryland State Bar Assn.'s annual meeting took care of business

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 20, 2003 by Lawrence Hurley

There wasn't a dry eye in the house during the emotional inauguration of the Maryland State Bar Association's first-ever black president in Ocean City last Saturday.

It wasn't just the man himself, Harry S. Johnson, who had tears in his eyes at an almost full meeting hall at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel.

Guest of honor Dennis W. Archer, the former mayor of Detroit who was recently elected to be the first black president of the American Bar Association, was left literally speechless before paying tribute to his friend.

After a moment of silence in which he gathered himself, Archer then spoke of his pride at being present for such an "historic moment."

"How far we have come," he added.

A few minutes earlier, while introducing Archer, Johnson got one of the biggest laughs of the mostly lighthearted meeting when he described how his friend reacted to being elected president of the ABA.

"Since he's from Motown, he's cool," Johnson quipped.

Like Archer, Maryland Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, in his own speech, praised Johnson, saying he was "no stranger to firsts or to challenges," and describing both him and Archer as "trailblazers."

Taking the stage to give his inaugural speech, Johnson admitted that his emotions were getting the better of him before even attempting to start.

"I'm not going to get through this without crying, so get used to it," he joked.

Opposing Allen

Aside from Johnson's inauguration, the association addressed other serious matters during the four-day event.

Perhaps most significantly, the association's board of governors agreed that the association would send a letter to President Bush stating its opposition to the nomination of Claude A. Allen to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Allen, who is deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, has been attacked by some for his alleged conservative ideology, but the MSBA's letter stresses that this is not the reason for its stance on the issue.

Rather, the association feels that the judge who takes the place of Maryland jurist Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. should also be from Maryland in order to maintain the geographical balance of the court.

Allen is from Virginia.

Speaking yesterday, the MSBA's immediate past president, James P. Nolan, said the letter had been "carefully crafted" so that no comment was made about Allen's qualifications for the post.

"It's important to maintain a proper balance on the 4th Circuit and continuing to have a Maryland lawyer would do that," he added.

On a lighter note, among the usual array of awards handed out at the annual meeting was a new one, the Distinguished Maryland Real Property Practitioner of the Year Award.

Presented by the Real Property, Planning and Zoning Section of the association, the first winner was veteran Venable partner Russell R. "Ronnie" Reno Jr.

Newly elected section chair, Raymond G. Truitt, managing partner of the Baltimore office of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, revealed yesterday that it was his idea to institute the award.

"One of my partners in Salt Lake City received a comparable award from the Utah state bar, and it seemed like a worthwhile thing for the section to be doing," he explained.

Reno was an obvious winner, Truitt added, because "he is an outstanding attorney, and during the course of a long career in real estate has demonstrated the highest qualities to which we all aspire."

According to a statement released by Venable, Reno has been practicing real estate law for nearly 46 years and is the author of a two volume book on Maryland real estate forms.

Among the other honorees were Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., who won the Criminal Law Section's Robert C. Heeney Award for the contribution he has made to criminal law during his career, and Somerset County Circuit Court Judge Daniel M. Long, who won the Anselm Sodaro Award for civility.

Long, who is the only circuit court judge in Somerset County, is a former Maryland delegate and is currently chair of the state's Conference of Circuit Court Judges.