President’s Message by Doris Henderson Causey Step Forward I am honored and humbled to serve as the 79th president of the Virginia State Bar. In taking the oath of offi ce, I am proud to be the fi rst African American and fi rst legal aid attorney to serve as president. The 79th Annual Meeting was truly History in the Making — I hope to see many more of you at the 80th Annual Meeting next year. Since 1938, the bar has continued to evolve and succeed in discovering new ways to uphold our mission while promoting access to justice to all Virginians. I truly believe that the Virginia State Bar is one of the most exemplary mandatory bars in the nation. To Past-presidents Michael Robinson and Ed Weiner, I thank you both for your encouragement, guidance, and vision. I applaud your continued contributions, commitment to the mission of the bar, and time in serving the bar and the common-wealth. I am truly grateful for the service, commitment, guidance, wis-dom, and contributions of all the past presidents with whom I have worked. And I look forward to working with President-elect Len Heath. I must thank the bar staff for their incredible hard work, energy, and commitment to over 50,000 attorneys and the various conferences, sections, and committees. They are the foun-dation of the Virginia State Bar, the often invisible engine that keeps us going. I am grateful for our strong and committed executive director, Karen Gould. Sadly, this year we are losing three wonderful staff members, Joy Harvey, Elizabeth “Bet” Keller, and Barbara Lanier . They have each spent years of their lives devoted to the bar and we wish them the best in their re-tirement. I have enjoyed learning from them. Our local and specialty bars are among the best things under the VSB umbrella, and I must single out the Old Dominion Bar Association (ODBA) as one example for all the things it has done for me. As a young lawyer, I was awed by the plethora of knowledge, resources, encouragement, and its family-like atmosphere. The ODBA helped me fi nd my place in the Virginia legal community, and I encourage all young lawyers to seek out a local bar and become active in it. I thank all the members for your support and encouragement. After seventy-seven years of being Virginia’s advocates for equal justice, the ODBA has achieved one of the or-ganization’s missions — of being more involved with the Virginia State Bar. As a member of the ODBA, I am proud to serve as president of the Virginia State Bar. Thank you for teaching me Virginia’s African American legal history, introducing me to Mr. Oliver Hill, and supporting me with the largest number of ODBA members at any VSB Annual Meeting banquet. It is truly because of your words, actions, and encouragement that I have been able to prepare for and serve in this offi ce. I continue to encourage every-one to be more active in the bar — it is your professional organization, and it should refl ect our evolving profession as it carries out the mission mandated by the Supreme Court of Virginia. During my tenure I seek to em-phasize the following: 1. More volunteers of diverse back-grounds involved on every level of the bar and within smaller bars; 2. Pro bono reporting and decreas-ing the access to justice gap; 3. Advancing the availability of legal services provided to all; 4. Improving the quality of legal services provided to all; and 5. Increasing member participation with Virginia.freelegalanswers.org to at least 10 percent. I hope to see more volunteers of diverse backgrounds involved in the VSB, as well as smaller bars through-out the state. As you know, the bar is based on a volunteerism system and volunteers are always needed and welcomed. Thus, I encourage you to volunteer to serve on a committee, run for bar counsel, participate on a CLE, make nominations, etc. We all should be informed by diverse perspectives. It enhances the limitless possibilities of our mission and membership. Legal Aid provides legal assistance to low-income client communities. We are truly in desperate need given the most recent events. There are over one million Virginians who qualify for legal aid assistance. Yet, there are only approximately 135 attorneys to serve them. Legal aid offi ces throughout the state need volunteers and donors to help meet the needs of our poor and underserved. Please consider sharing your time and expertise with those who cannot afford a lawyer. I think you will fi nd that the rewards far ex-ceed the loss of some of your free time. I would like to see the access to justice gap decrease. How can we measure this? How do we know exactly the need that is being met? We need data. As a mathematics major, I know that numbers are the basis for address-ing and serving the need. We need numbers. We need pro bono reporting 12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | June 2017 | Vol. 66 www.vsb.org