 |
|
The Causeway
The Monthly Newsletter for the Franklin County Bar Association
July, 2017
"The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps to it, a citizen may walk safely" Robert Bolt, playwright
|
|
|
We hope you enjoy the new, streamlined, mobile-friendly format.
|
|
|
Happy 4th of July!
FCBA's womens club decorated the the Courthouse planters at the beginning of June in a beautiful red, white & blue color scheme.
|
|
Angle Education Trust Scholarship/Loan
Notice is hereby given that applications are being accepted for the Angle Education Trust Scholarship/Loan, which is awarded to young persons from Franklin County, PA, studying to be lawyers. Please write to
kcummins@wilmingtontrust.com to obtain more information and an application.
|
|
Race Against Poverty
The FCBA YLD is a proud sponsor of the Race Against Poverty. Thank you to our members for your continued support and participation in this annual event.
The race was held on June 2nd in downtown Chambersburg. We had 695 participants plus several hundred more spectators.
Photos are on the Race Against Poverty
Facebook Page.
Because of you, the Support Circles initiative will continue to grow and expand, so more people can overcome poverty and build a better future. Together we raised over $16,700 to fight poverty! Learn more about this initiative and how you can be more involved at
www.SupportCircles.org.
|
|
Amazon Smile for FCB Foundation
Did you know you could make a donation to the FCB Foundation when you shop at Amazon?
CLICK HERE to select FCB Foundation as your charity.
You shop. Amazon gives.
- Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.
- AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.
- Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com
|
|
Save the Date
The 15th Bench Bar Conference of the 39th Judicial District will be held on Friday, October 13, 2017 at the Whitetail Ski Resort in Mercersburg, PA.
Whitetail completed a 31,000 square foot expansion for $8.5 Million in 2016, making it an ideal location for our conference.
|
|
Press Releases, Memos and Important Notices
|
|
Upcoming PBI CLEs at FCBA
Tuesday, July 11: Medicare ABCs & D, Video Replay, 4 substantive& 0 ethics credits click here for more information and to register
|
|
Newsletter items deadline
The deadline to submit items for The Causeway is the 20th of each month
.
|
"Since our last chat..."
"Since our last chat..." is a periodic column in The Causeway by Bar member Barb Townsend.
Summer has officially begun, which means Barb is busy traveling. So, here's the second part of the article I started on the first five women admitted to the Franklin County Bar Association.
Even though Barb Townsend is older than Marty Walker, she was the second female attorney admitted to our Bar. After college, Barb taught school for five years and started her family instead of going directly to law school. While teaching she started auditing classes at the law school to see if she could handle it. When she knew it wouldn't be a problem, she made the jump into our profession.
Most people don't know this but Barb is not originally from Franklin County. She was born in Los Angeles. In fact, her birth certificate says Hollywood on it. Then at 3 months old she was moved to the east coast and grew up in Haworth, which is located in Bergen County, NJ. She went to Northern Valley Regional High school and graduated in 1960. She has two brothers and was the middle child.
After high school Barb went on to Dickenson College and obtained her bachelor's in Mathematics and English Literature. She took multiple accounting courses and worked at Pan Am as her summer job doing key punch control. It was her responsibility to make sure the data that was going into the "high speed electronic data processing machines" was going in correctly. She wasn't writing code, but it was very similar to what you see as the role of "computer" on Hidden Figures.
Following college, Barb married a gentleman who was going through medical school while she taught high school. When he graduated medical school, they moved to a farm in the Newburg area to be near his family and he opened a practice in Newville. Barb taught at Camp Hill High School for a year after her first son was born.
With two children, a fully functioning farm on which they lived (a grain farm), and another farm which they owned (a cherry farm), Barb decided to go to law school. Undeniably, she went through a little culture shock being that she had always lived in a much more populated area, but she got through it. While in law school, Barb remodeled their farm house, ran a regulated shooting ground, trained Labrador retrievers as hunting dogs, and raised their two children. When I asked her how in the world she was able to do all that, she just said, "It's amazing what you can do when you have to."
Barb graduated from Dickinson Law School in the Spring of 1976. Her divorce was finalized in February of 1977. She stayed in this area because she thought that even though she was going through a divorce it was important for her kids to stay near their father. She felt her children deserved to have as much time with their father as practical. Barb started at Sharpe & Sharpe out of law school specifically working with Dave Cleaver. She had an accounting background and he needed that for a project he was working on. Dave was told about her by the dean of the law school and Dave was teaching at the law school at the time. Barb eventually became a partner and the firm became Sharpe, Wenger & Townsend. In 1990, Barb decided to go out on her own and has been a sole proprietor ever.
I asked Barb what it was like for her being one of only two female attorneys in the county. She remembered being treated as a professional from the beginning. Barb thinks a lot of her warmth in reception had to do with Marty being here first. She fondly remembered going to lunch at Palmers on the Square. It's where Gypsie is located now. She would go down there for lunch and there were a group of men who included Dan Long of Wengerd & Long. Occasionally they would ask her a question or engage in conversation. She would sit down near the group but not with the group. When Palmers on the Square closed the group moved to Buzz Shank's Restaurant, but she didn't know where they had gone. Then she got a call from Dan Long wanting to know where she was, that she was part of their group, and they expected her to join them right away. She was startled when Dan Long called her. There wasn't a gentleman in the group who wasn't 15 years her senior. They teased her mercilessly for being a "woman's libber" (and she would tease them about some of their beliefs and their ability to make meals). Eventually, Buzz Shank's Restaurant closed and the group moved to the Elks Club in the corner.
Just as I did with Marty, I asked Barb to give some words of wisdom to young attorneys starting out. Here is her response.
- Find a way to have a laugh every day. Find the fun in life. This is a very serious profession. People come to us because they need help and they need help because they're in trouble. If you don't laugh everyday you'll end up taking stress home with you.
- Don't try to start out on your own. Always find someone to mentor you or to work for until you get your feet on the ground
- Have a good personal relationship with your colleagues. It will actually save your clients some money if you're able to be collegial and try to understand the other attorney's position on a matter. It can make a big difference in your practice and professionalism. It's good for the bottom line to be a people person in this profession.
Barb and the Towne Singers will be preforming at the Luhr's Center, Shippensburg University, on Sunday, July 16th at 3 p.m. The singers are joining the Festival Chamber Orchestra and Chorus performing Braham's Requiem. CLICK HERE for more information.
Coming up next, I'll fill you in on Kathleen Cramer, Deborah Hoff, and Eileen Finucane, who round out the first five female lawyers to join our Bar.
|
CLOSED, Independence Day - Tuesday, July 4
YLD Happy Hour - Thursday, July 6
YLD Meeting - Friday, July 7
YLD Games Night - Tuesday, July 18
Board of Directors Meeting - Friday, July 21
YLD Happy Hour - Thursday, August 3
YLD Meeting - Friday, August 4
YLD Games Night - Tuesday, August 15
YLD Meeting - Friday, September 1
CLOSED, Labor Day - Monday, September 4
YLD Happy Hour - Thursday, September 7
Board of Directors Meeting - Friday, September 15
YLD Games Night - Tuesday, September 19
|
|
Franklin County Bar Association
100 Lincoln Way East, Suite E, Chambersburg, PA 17201
director@franklinbar.org
717-267-2032
|
|
|
|
|
|
