President’s Message by Brian L. Buniva Compassionate Service in a Time of Human Suffering my first as the 82nd President of the Virginia State Bar, on Good Friday, two days after Passover, and two weeks before the beginning of Ramadan. These three major observances of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths all have in common the belief that we are here on this earth to be of service to our individual communities and to the world. Our noble profession shares these values. Indeed, the preamble to our Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct states in relevant part: As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. . . . A law-yer should be mindful of deficien-cies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance, and should therefore devote professional time and civic influence in their behalf. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest. How do we lawyers meet the aspira-tional goals of our profession? By the time this column is pub-lished we will either still be under the Governor’s Executive Orders to com-bat the spread of the Covid-19 virus, or we will have begun to emerge from such restrictions in our pre-pandemic routines. We will emerge painfully aware of what we have lost. Many of us have suffered economic loss, loss of I began writing this article , social interactions, loss of family activ-ities, loss of professional opportunities, loss of the VSB Annual Meeting, and most sadly some of us have lost one or more loved ones to this pandemic scourge. But as Virginia Supreme Court Justice Mims recently wrote in the May 26th edition of the Richmond Times Dispatch, we might not just ponder what the Covid-19 pandemic has taken from us, but perhaps more importantly we might reflect on what the pandemic has given to us? My answer is that the pandemic has given me the gift of time. Time to enable me to focus on what is truly important in my life as an individual and as a lawyer. It has given me the time to reflect upon the life and loss of my mother, a probable victim of this pandemic. It has given me the oppor-tunity to reflect upon and cherish my wife, and the ability to simply hug fam-ily and friends. But the pandemic has also given me the unique opportunity to reflect upon priorities and reorder what is important and what is less important as I embark on this year as VSB President. We all know that the mission of the VSB is to protect the public, regulate the legal profession, assist in improving the legal profession and the judicial system, and to advance access to legal services. The Bar is blessed with an impressive cadre of staff and self-less volunteers focusing on all four of these missions, but if we can rally the members of the Bar around the goal of advancing access to legal services for the poor and Virginians of modest means, we will indeed have used the gift of time and reflection wisely. The predominant theme and focus of my year as president will be to do just that. Shortly you will receive your VSB dues statement for Bar year 2020 to 2021. Included with your statement will be a form asking you to voluntarily report the number of pro bono hours and/or financial contributions you have made consistent with Rule 6.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 6.1 establishes the aspirational goal that every lawyer should render at least two percent per year of the lawyer’s profes-sional time to pro bono legal services. By voluntarily reporting your service you will provide the bar with the infor-mation necessary to measure our col-lective performance in achieving this aspirational goal and provide informa-tion to the Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission in support of its work promoting equal access to justice for all Virginians. Last year, the first year the vol-untary reporting rule was in effect, 13.5% of the active members of the VSB reported nearly 369,000 hours of pro bono service and nearly $1 million in financial contributions to legal aid societies throughout our Commonwealth. I believe that these numbers at a minimum can be doubled by the end of my term in June 2021. Please support this effort and complete the voluntary report. Please aspire to achieve the goals of Rule 6.1. And finally, please use your position as law-yers and community leaders to assist those less fortunate among us in clos-ing the justice gap and receiving their rightful opportunity for equal access to justice. God bless all of you for your service. 10 VIRGINIA LAWYER | June 2020 | Vol. 69 www.vsb.org