President's Column: Connection Through CABA Can Enhance Your Well-Being!

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Melissa S. Scott

Article by Melissa S. Scott Featured Author

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Welcome to a new year of the Capital Area Bar Association and thank you for allowing me to serve you as its President. It was great to see so many of you at our first membership meeting in June when we heard from incoming Mississippi Bar President Rhea Tannehill about his plans for the year ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about my hopes for this organization this next year.

I hope to grow our membership, strengthen the engagement of our members with the organization, and our connection with each other. The practice of law can be stressful and demanding, but connection with others in this profession through CABA can increase collegiality, civility, and in turn, our individual well-being as lawyers. Lawyers who prioritize their health and well-being are better equipped to make ethical decisions, avoid errors, and maintain positive client relationships.

The Mississippi Bar has an ongoing Lawyer Well-Being Initiative. At our August membership meeting, Sean Guy, Chair of the Bar's Lawyers and Judges Assistance Committee, will give us an update on what the Bar is doing to foster positive change in the well-being of our professional community and opportunities for you to express your support for your own well-being and those of your colleagues.

One of the easiest ways I have found to make connections with others is working side by side on a project to serve the greater good. CABA Committees have ongoing projects that provide that opportunity to work side by side while performing pro bono work, educating the next generation about the legal profession or the rule of law and its role in our society, strengthening the relationship between the bench and bar, or developing quality continuing legal education for our membership. Each Committee is always looking for new members, so please let us know how you want to get involved by completing the Committee Preference Form.

And finally, please reach out to your lawyer friends, or walk down the hall, and bring someone to a membership meeting who hasn't been or hasn't been in a while. See you all in August!