President-Elect Candidates David B. Neumeyer The mission of the Virginia State Bar is to protect the public, regulate the legal profession of Virginia, advance access to legal services, and assist in improving the legal profession and the judicial system. Because the Bar staff does a very able job of protecting the public and regulating the profession, a principal role of the Bar president is to help advance the second two goals of the mission: advancing access and improving the profession and system. I am running for the office of president-elect because access to legal services, i.e. justice, does not exist for many Virginians; because access is declining for most rural residents as the number of rural lawyers declines; and because all bar members need to respond to the rapidly changing nature of law practice. Solutions exist for these challenges, and the Bar president can help the Bar identify and adopt solutions. Why would I want to take on these challenges? John F. Kennedy said, paraphrasing the Book of Luke: “For of those to whom much is given much is required.” I have devoted much of my life to public service, and I credit my mom for helping guide me to my calling. My mom and her brother grew up poor, raised by a single mother who worked as a secretary. Mom did well in college, earning an Sc.B in chemistry in 1948, and she and my dad were fortunate to create a comfortable life for their three children. Mom always volunteered to help those less fortunate while I was growing up, and she pushed my sisters and me to volunteer as soon as we could be helpful to others. I discovered my vocation as a legal aid attorney by working as an ACTION Community Volunteer, similar to a VISTA Volunteer, after college. I worked in a legal aid office, helping clients who faced utility shutoffs, negotiating with utility credit managers, and representing www.vsb.org clients in hearings before the public utilities commission, and loved the work, my clients, and my colleagues. I went to law school to become a legal aid lawyer and returned to legal aid after law school as a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow in the same office. I met my wife there, and after two and a half years, became a Minority Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, working for Senator Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) Later in Washington I worked as lobbyist and litigator for public health and food program policy groups, returned to legal aid practice as a manager, and became executive director in my current legal aid program in Lynchburg in 1990. My legal aid work and community volunteer work have continued without pause since then. I ran for Bar Council because attorneys in my circuit never heard a word about the issues faced by Bar Council once we elected a new representative; I wanted to change that, and I did by communicating to my circuit in advance about the agenda of every upcoming Bar Council meeting during my two terms. Please visit my website, VaA2J.net (short for Virginia Access to Justice) for more about the issues I described at the start of this piece. I ask that you share your comments and work with me to make justice accessible and real for our fellow citizens. Thank you for what you already do, and for what we can do together. I can be reached at davidn@vlas. org; or (434) 455-3090. Virginia Legal Aid Society, Executive Director Virginia State Bar (‘85): Carrico Professionalism Course Faculty Bar Council 24th Circuit Rep Committee on the Future of Law Practice Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law Diversity Conference Other Bar Admissions and Activities: Virginia Bar Association VBA Pro Bono Council VBA State of Pro Bono Report Editor Old Dominion Bar Association Access to Justice Commission of the Supreme Court of Virginia Committee on Access by Self-Represented Litigants Legal Services Corporation of Virginia Board of Directors Education: Brown University, A.B. University of Maine School of Law, J.D. Family: Spouse: Mary Barney, Associate General Counsel, Genworth Children: Benjamin Neumeyer, B.A., J.D. Policy Manager for Data Privacy, Facebook Inc., San Francisco Joy Neumeyer, B.A., Ph.D., E.U. Institute Fellow, Florence Italy Rescue Terriers: Annie, Portia, Esther, Mookie Betts VOL. 69 | OCTOBER 2020 | VIRGINIA LAWYER 39