October 2023

A majority of members of the Franklin County Bar Association (FCBA) who participated in a poll this month support the retention of Judge Jeremiah D. Zook to a second 10-year term on the Court of Common Pleas of the 39th Judicial District.

Sixty percent of the 141 eligible bar members responded to the poll. Of those, a majority said they support the retention of Judge Zook.

Franklin County Bar Association president, Anthony Cosentino said "The poll reflects the individual opinions of the responding members as to the qualifications of the judge for purposes of retention. The Franklin County Bar Association does not take a position on candidates for retention as an organization.”

The Pennsylvania general election is Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Voters seeking to educate themselves on candidates for statewide judicial election can turn to PAVoteSmart, a non-partisan, informational Web site developed by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. The address is www.pavotesmart.com.

Congratulations to to the top foursome at the inaugural Franklin County Bar Foundation Golf Tournament. The foursome was sponsored by Kornfield & Benchoff and included FCBA member AJ Benchoff (pictured left).

On September 29th The FCB Foundation hosted its first golf tournament as part of the capital campaign to fund the foundation. Thank you to all our members who participated and sponsored the event.

Thank you to all our Sponsors!

Platinum - DiLoreto, Cosentino & Bolinger, P.C.

Flight Sponsor - Blue Ridge Risk Partners

Breakfast Sponsor - M&T Bank

Silver Sponsors:

Abel Castro - State Farm

Gray Pilgrim & Associates, LLC

iPave LLC

Kornfield & Benchoff, LLP

Salzmann Hughes, P.C.

Walker & Spang, LLC

Closest to the Pin Sponsor - Bell Insurance, Inc.

Longest Drive Sponsor - Valley Insurance Agency

Hole Sponsors:

AMVETS Post 224, Black & Davison, P.C.,

Brandale General Contractors, LLC, Cognetti Law Group,

Commissioner Dave Keller, Darren & Rebecca Grove,

F&M Trust, Franklin County Visitors Bureau,

Judge Dick Walsh (ret.), Randy L. Martin Investment

Putting Green Sponsors:

Cognetti Law Group

Rotary Club of Chambersburg

Program Ad - Griffie & Associates, P.C.

Golf Cart Sponsors:

AMVETS Post 224

Franklin County Visitors Bureau

The Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe, LLC

Orientation to Legal Research Webinar: U.S. Federal Statutes

October 12 at 1:00 PM EDT.

Register here

This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. statutory and legislative research, including information about how to find and use the U.S. Code, the U.S. Statutes at Large, and U.S. federal bills and resolutions.

Congress.gov Webinar

October 19 at 2:00 PM EDT.

Register here

This orientation is designed to give a basic overview of Congress.gov. While the focus of the session will be searching legislation and the congressional member information attached to the legislation, the new features of Congress.gov will also be highlighted.

Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar: Nordic Noir: Genealogy as a Criminal Investigation Technique in Denmark and Sweden

October 26 at 2:00 PM EDT.

Register here

This entry in the series will address the use of genealogy as a criminal investigation technique in Denmark and Sweden. In 2020, the Swedish Police solved a 16-year-old cold case using forensic genetic genealogy. Earlier this year, the Danish and Swedish parliaments voted on legislation that would allow police to use DNA from genealogy research as a tool to solve crimes. The Danish Parliament approved the proposal and the law now allows investigative genetic genealogy to be used in limited cases, whereas the Swedish Parliament voted the proposal down. This webinar will describe how genealogy research and family DNA searches have been used in Denmark and Sweden, the legislation supporting their use, and how the national laws relate to the European Union rules on the right of privacy and family life, the GDPR, and the two countries’ international human rights obligations.

Hopefully we all know that our longtime executive director of the PBA has retired after leading us for 25 years. Barry served the PBA well and was a good friend of the Franklin County Bar Association, often remarking that he really enjoyed attending our annual meeting and getting to know our members.

As with any transition there will be changes in tone, philosophy, and execution. We are fortunate as a bar association to have found a new executive director who is ready to take our association forward. Matt Holliday brings to the Executive Director position a background well suited to lead the PBA. Matt has served as the Prothonotary in Chester County and then transitioned to the Executive Director position of the Chester County Bar.

I recently had the opportunity to talk to Matt about his goals and ideas for the future of the PBA. He emphasized that he did not believe in making dramatic changes, believing that the PBA was well placed for the future. He did, however, want to discuss several areas where he believes the PBA could move forward.

Matt highlighted three areas he will be working with leadership to move forward.

• Unit Counties. Matt believes that there is real value in the Unit County designation (which FCBA is one) and he feels it is important to work with these counties to strengthen them and to highlight their value to members who are in Unit Counties.

• Membership Retention. Going forward PBA will engage in marketing the value of membership in the PBA so that members have a firm understanding of what membership in PBA brings to them. Examples highlighted by Matt include free access to Fast Case, a robust search vehicle for cases and statues not just in Pennsylvania but across the US; access to Committees and Sections and the listservs associated with them which provides many answers to questions we may encounter as well as practical guidance if we have a case in a county where we do not routinely practice; keeping PBA relevant sour members remain active in the state and local association.

• PBI Relevance. Matt emphasized that PBA, the CLE arm of the PBA, provides the very best content available from CLE providers. His goal is to make the delivery of the product easier. If you use Pro-Pass, the $450 subscription which allows you to get all your CLE credits for the year, there is good news. Beginning November 1 members of the PBA will receive a $100 discount on the Pro-Pass subscription. If you think about it some day long sessions of CLE cost almost that much alone. I know I am subscribing to Pro-Pass.

One of the constant challenges of the PBA is new member recruitment. Despite all the benefits it has to offer, many attorneys don’t really see value in belonging. Access to the Committees and Sections, the services to member, for example Victoria White, the Ethics Counsel, who you can reach out to when a question arises concerning a conflict or any other ethics issue and meetings where you can meet your peers and discuss matters one on one with someone who may have encountered the same issue along the way.

Matt outlined an ambitious plan to address his program including a mailing to all attorneys in unit counties who are not members; neighbor to neighbor postcards and phone outreach programs. Matt also wants to aggressively target newly admitted attorneys. PBA already has a program for first year admittees where dues are waived and an escalating increase in dues for the next 4 years. Also, new admittees are able to get a $100,000 professional liability policy from CAN, the PBA affiliated insurer, for no cost for the first year and this benefit is available even if working in a firm.

Matt mapped out a plan for PBA’s future building on its past successes. I hope you will welcome Matt at our annual meeting or any event where you run into him. He is a great guy, and I am sure will be a great leader for the PBA.