Welcome

Dear Members,
I hope each of you had a great Christmas and holiday season. It is with great enthusiasm that I write to update you on behalf of the 2025 Board of Directors of the 22nd JDC Bar Association, including Vice President Amanda Trosclair, Treasurer Luke Lancaster, and also our Executive Director Reina Gardner. 2024 was an excellent year under the leadership of Kristen Stanley- Wallace and our “new” Executive Director, Reina Gardner. Our finances are in good shape as is our membership. I want to thank Kristen and the Board for their service and for moving our mission forward, which is to serve the legal communities of St. Tammany and Washington Parishes through legal education, fellowship and outreach.

The Board of Directors decided that 2025 will focus our mission on young lawyers and pro-bono. (Coincidentally, our pro-bono theme aligns with the 2025 focus of the LSBA and we are exploring ways to collaborate efforts.) The Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct require each of us to aspire to provide legal services to those unable to pay. Specifically, that goal is to provide 50 hours of pro-bono legal service to persons of limited means, whether directly or through charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental or educational organizations. I am asking each of you to keep that goal at the forefront of your practice and to help us support our young lawyers and local justice system through pro bono. The two prongs of our 2025 theme go hand in hand and more information will follow. All ideas are welcome. Please email them to Reina!

We are finalizing our CLE programming for the year and are going to include one or two new events including a few Young Lawyers happy hours. Our first CLE is January 17 with a legislative update from Senator Patrick McMath. The All Day Family Law CLE is March 14 and the General All Day CLE is November 21. In the fall, we intend to co-host our annual Meet the Judges of the 22nd JDC with the Northshore Court Foundation and the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce. We are also planning a new joint CLE in Covington in conjunction with the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association that will be presented by the judges of the of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on October 1. A cocktail party will follow. Please be on the lookout for updates and register early.

Section Chairs for 2025 will be:
Family Law Section Chair: Kathleen Legendre
Criminal Law Section Chair: Whitney Germany
Young Lawyers Section Chair: Alex Reed

While there is much more to tell, I know you won’t be reading much further. I encourage each of you to be more actively involved in our bar association and I have one final request: Please recruit two new members and bring them to an event. If you have any questions, thoughts or ideas, please let us know!
On behalf of the Board, we appreciate your support and wish you the best in 2025.

Mike Nicaud
2025 President
22nd JDC Bar Association