fbpx

Governance & Membership

March 2018 President's Message

March Madness - Supporting Your Team

By Kimberly Kays

The month of March is a fantastic time for sports fans. In our house we love sports. Our daughter is a member of her college dance team, and our son is a high school baseball player. Our family, like many others, spent a few weeks watching the XXIII Olympic Winter Games. We cheer for the NBA Thunder, and we follow the MLB spring training games as we wait for Opening Day, March 29. Of course, this month the NCAA basketball tournament is the centerpiece of our sports talk. From Selection Sunday through the Final Four, we are checking our brackets.

There is something exciting about cheering for your team, celebrating the victories and enduring the losses. Even if we are not the players on the court, on the field or standing on the sidelines, we become emotionally invested in the success of our team. We wear the team colors, we enjoy the rivalry and the competition. Our allegiance to our team can lead to “spirited” debates between friends. Fans take pride in the achievements of the athletes and often speak about the players as if they were close friends or even family.

SUPPORT TEAM OBA

As attorneys, we are all members of a very elite team – our Oklahoma Bar Association. As members of “Team OBA,” each of you can support our bar association by joining, for free, one of our 29 committees. Participating in a committee meeting is as easy as watching a No. 12 seed upset a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament – you can do both while sitting at your desk or on your mobile device. The BlueJeans virtual meeting platform is a distance meeting and videoconferencing service that allows members to join a committee meeting from anywhere.

I challenge you to attend just one committee meeting in the next 60 days. Signing up for a committee is easy. Go to www.okbar.org and find the “Join a Committee” link at the bottom. What is the worst thing that can happen when you “suit up” for one committee meeting? Most meetings last an hour, and you can attend for free via BlueJeans videoconferencing or phone conferencing. Our “team” benefits from the diverse experiences and ideas from different members.

Spring is a busy time for our OBA committees. Our Law Day Committee is hard at work planning events. The 2018 theme is “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom.” Our Legislative Monitoring Committee hosted a successful Day at the Capitol and the committee continues the important work of monitoring legislation, which affects the practice of law, and using electronic media to notify committee members around the state on the status of legislation.

“Team OBA” remains a strong and united team when EACH member makes the effort to leave the bench and join us on the field/court. I invite you to embrace March Madness – cheer for the Cinderella team of the tournament, pick your OBA committee meeting to attend and celebrate your membership in the best team – the practice of law.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal -- OBJ 89 pg. 4 (March 2018)