I. The Board of Directors of the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association met in Columbia for a board meeting at the McNair Firm. Present at the meeting were:
President, Alice Paylor; President-Elect, Rosalyn W. Frierson; Secretary, Mary Elizabeth Crum; Webmaster, Eleanor Kellett; Briefcase Editor, Jenny Anderson Horne; Stephanie Borsanyi, Sarah Leverette, Cheryl Bullard, Marguerite Willis, Amie Clifford, Julie Moose. Ayesha Washington participated by phone.
II. The Minutes of the July 28, 2006 meeting were read, moved and approved.
III. Treasurer’s Report. Toya could not be present. President Paylor read the Treasurer’s report, which showed that we held $13,237.65, raised for the renovation of the Midlands’ DSS room and SCWLA itself had $23,325.00 remaining in its operating account. This significant surplus at this time of year came from publishing the Briefcase online. President Paylor suggested that we start to consider using this surplus for public service projects. The NCWBA gives an annual award in recognition of excellent public service projects, like “Adopt-a-School,” “Breast Cancer Awareness Week,” “Walk for Life,” etc. A suggestion was made that we nominate our DSS room renovation project for the award and President Paylor agreed to work with Dotsy Helms on that. The Community Outreach Committee was asked to develop plans for specific public service projects for next year. President Paylor noted that we are continuing to sponsor the “Wine Tasting” at the Bar Convention and this year we contributed $400 to this event. Liz Zeck volunteered to be the next Treasurer, indefinitely. President Paylor said she would check to be certain nothing in the bylaws would prevent this.
IV. Regional Reports. The Low Country continued to have monthly lunch meetings on the third Wednesday of every month with varying speakers, brown bag lunches at local offices, and sponsors a mentor-mentee program with the Charleston Law School.
The Midlands. The Midlands continues its first Thursday lunch meetings with varying speakers, at the Palmetto Club. In November, Judge Goolsby will speak on creative writing, in December, Sue Berkowitz will speak on predatory lending, and in January, Robin Wheeler will talk about the establishment of the Vulnerable Adult Investigation Unit (VAIU) at SLED. Also planned is a second lunch in December to honor Ann Furr for her work in Afghanistan. Rosalyn Frierson reported that the Midlands had been asked to cosponsor an event on January 23rd with Merrill Lynch and the SCANA Leadership Group, that would bring the authors (former marine officers, Angela Morgan and Courtney Lynch) of Leading From the Front to the Columbia Convention Center for a free Leadership workshop and reception. Rosalyn asked that the Midlands be allowed to contribute $1,000.00 from its 2006 budget for this project and the board moved and approved this expenditure. The Midlands also had planned to use money from its 2007 budget to bring in an additional speaker for a CLE given by SCWLA Webmaster, Eleanor Kellett on technology and how the new federal rules affected electronic information. President Paylor asked that this CLE be planned to coincide with the March board meeting and President-Elect Frierson agreed to pick an appropriate date.
Media Reports.
Website. Webmaster, Eleanor Kellett. Eleanor reported that some issues had recently come up concerning copyright – and she felt confident that she would be able to deal with those effectively. Her main concern, however, was that we had never registered our mark or our LOGO, and she felt it was critical that we get that taken care of as soon as possible. Eleanor was assured that we were the rightful owners of our LOGO because it was the result of a competition where the winner was given a cash prize in exchange for the design. Eleanor herself had created a mark for SCWLA by incorporating the LOGO inside the “C” of SCWLA, and she also planned to get that design registered so we never had to be concerned about defending our right to its use. A motion was moved and approved to authorize Eleanor to copyright the SCWLA LOGO, the SCWLA with the LOGO within the “C.” and the SCWLA mark as well. Eleanor cautioned that when we send anything out with our mark or LOGO on it –what we send should always be proportionally consistent. Eleanor planned to register all these copyrights with the State for a nominal fee.
Interactive Website. Webmaster Eleanor Kellett stated that when SCWLA goes interactive at the website, we open ourselves to security constraints and considerations. Eleanor said that she was not a fulltime webmaster/database administrator (dba), and she would not be able to monitor the website on a fulltime basis which is what an interactive site would require. Eleanor said that if it is the will of the membership to move in this direction then it was time for a new perspective and that she had asked Barbara Rackes’ firm Cyneractive for a webhosting proposal. Eleanor proposed that if the Board wanted to move the site toward interactivity then a fulltime professional in this area should be retained/hired, and if we do, Eleanor volunteered to be our initial liaison with them. Eleanor also wanted to be sure that succession of the ownership of “scwla.org,” always belonged to scwla – as that she as been acting on behalf of SCWLA as SCWLA’s agent in the registration of this domain name. Amie Clifford asked if the Cyneractive proposal included the ability for members only to ask a question and to receive a response thereto. Eleanor said that what she had given the Board was the first draft of a proposal, which certainly needed to be refined by whatever the Board considered advantageous to our membership. Amie asked if we could look for additional competitive quotes and Eleanor said she would prefer that someone else did that in that it would be a conflict of interest since she is the current webmaster. Amie volunteered to approach Carolina Solutions and a company that revamped the Bar’s website. Eleanor advised the Board to be extremely cautious of the wording of any contracts, because many vendors have transactional fees, and that was why Eleanor preferred working with someone like Barbara Rackes, a local known entity. The entire board agreed that interactivity would make SCWLA more viable, would greatly increase membership, and would serve membership in the most meaningful way. Eleanor asked everyone to keep Barbara Rackes proposal, confidential. President Paylor stated, no matter what, that Eleanor needed to remain involved in whatever affected www.scwla.org because she was someone the board trusted and relied upon because of her experience, knowledge and judgment.
Briefcase. President Paylor congratulated Editor Jenny Horne and Webmaster Eleanor Kellett on the continuing success of the online Briefcase and the recent publication of the fall issue. Jenny reported that all was going well, that she had received many good articles, and that if she couldn’t “fit” an article into the current edition – she would certainly place it in a future one. Jenny planned to include in the winter edition, the photos, bios and information on all SCWLA members running for judgeships. The Briefcase would be posting such information for informational purposes only and would always maintain a completely neutral posture. It was suggested that it would be a good plan to contact people you know and share the Briefcase with them, and then inquire if they would be interested in membership. Rosalyn Frierson stated that retaining current members was crucial.
V. Committees.
a. Membership. Natalie Bluestein could not attend. President Paylor expressed concern about gaining new membership. Cheryl Bullard reported that she was working on making SCWLA more visible at the Law School. A suggestion was made that we send a small token, goody bag, or candy bar to all female students taking the Bar exam. Amie Clifford suggested that we offer “free” one hour CLEs approximately every 3-4 months in various locations around the State to give members a tangible return for their dues. The only cost to SCWLA would be the application fee for approval and members could be notified by email. Refreshments would be unnecessary, though some of the CLEs could be presented in conjunction with regional monthly lunch meetings. It was also proposed that members receive something in writing that spelled out exactly what opportunities membership in SCWLA entitled them to. Non-members could attend these CLEs by paying the appropriate SCWLA dues amount. The Administrator was asked to send an email out to remind members to renew their memberships and how to accomplish this.
b. Career Development. Stephanie Nye was unable to attend.
c. 2006 CLE – Ladder to Success - In Columbia, on October 13. Amie Clifford reported that everything was set for tomorrow’s CLE at the Marriott in Columbia. At the CLE lunch, attendees would have the opportunity to win a SCWLA mug, mouse pad or scarf “door prize.” Amie Clifford volunteered to take on the supervision of the free CLEs SCWLA will offer to its members in 2007. Eleanor Kellett’s technology CLE will be offered and Marguerite Willis stated that her firm had some ready made CLEs, like one on ethics that had recently been given and she felt certain that SCWLA would potentially be able to replicate these.
d. Editorial Committee. No Chair is currently needed or named.
e. Supreme Court Trip 2008. Stephanie Nye is the new Chair.
f. Bylaws. Julie Moose volunteered to serve as Chair. President Paylor asked Julie to consult with Elaine about changing the bylaws to make the officers separate from the board members. The bylaws provided that in order to be an officer, you had to be a member of the board – but then the possibility existed that even if you were the President-Elect, you could still be voted off the board. President Paylor also requested that Julie work on a bylaw that would involve seeking representation from each of the law schools at SCWLA board meetings.
g. Awards and Nominating Committee- Bissell Award. Chair, Liz Crum reported that the Committee had unanimously chosen the Honorable Cameron McGowan Currie as the Bissell recipient. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, Judge Currie would not be able to attend - but reception guests at the Summit Club, would be able to view a DVD of the Judge giving her acceptance speech. Chief Justice Toal would present the award and the Honorable Margaret Seymour would receive the physical award on Judge Currie’s behalf.
Board Nominations. President Paylor reminded everyone that board nominations were coming up and asked everyone to contact Liz with their intentions and or suggestions for new board members who would take an active role. Sarah Leverette recommended Kathleen Kempe from Greenville. Jennifer Wilson was recommended from the Grand Strand Region. Amie Clifford recommended Martha Dicus. Kelly Jolley was recommended from the Sea Islands Region. Susan Quist was recommended from the Low Country Region. Also, the entire board agreed that each of the law schools should have a representative at future SCWLA board meetings.
h. Documentary. Mary Hewlette could not attend.
i. Community Outreach. Tara Shurling could not be present.
j. Long Range Planning. Marguerite Willis volunteered to Chair. Ayesha Washington volunteered to serve on the committee. President Paylor recommended that Marguerite ask Mary Sharp to also serve on the committee. It was suggested that the Committee should also include 1-2 members at large, to give the committee a broader perspective.
k. The Ladder Group. Amie Clifford volunteered to serve as new Chair. President Paylor recommended that Amie contact Bebe for a list of everyone previously involved and what they accomplished. President Paylor recommended that the core of the group be in Columbia, with support from individuals from all the regions in the State.
VI. New Business.
VII. Member News.
VIII. Next Board Meeting: January 27, 2007 in Charleston at Magnolia’s restaurant at 12:00 noon.
IX. Adjournment. There being no further business, a motion was made to adjourn. It was seconded and voted upon favorably.