Dear Colleagues and Friends,

 

I am honored to be writing to you as the newly-elected Chair of the Armenian Bar Association. I thank the Board of Governors for the confidence that has been placed in me and will do my best to ensure the continued success for our organization.

 

We are grateful to our former Chair Sonya Nersessian for her hard work, heartfelt compassion, and strong commitment to the mission of this organization. I also thank our outgoing Executive Director Betty Jamgotchian - an exceptional person and a pioneer among Armenian female attorneys in Los Angeles – who with the crucial support of our Administrative Assistant Lisa Boyadjian has served for nearly seven years with the highest level of professionalism and represented our interests in various forums. And always with that wonderful smile!

 

While I also thank our outgoing Board members, I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the strong group of newly-elected Board members, including a historic first from Canada, our esteemed colleague Harry Dikranian. We are enthusiastically looking forward to increasing our general and Board memberships from Canada, as well as from Europe and beyond.  

 

As I take on the responsibility of Chair, I call on all lawyers, judges, legal scholars and law students who share the common bonds of Armenian heritage and heart to join us as we welcome you to a warm and rewarding professional home.  We are dedicated to make sure that membership in the Armenian Bar Association offers each of you something worthwhile. For our part, we are viewed as a respectable, diverse and unique organization within the Diaspora with a lot of potential and a great track record of community involvement. Together, we can improve on that by putting our legal skills to good use, particularly in our pursuit and defense of justice for Armenians everywhere and our fight against the defamation of our history, heritage and culture.

 

While serious issues of Armenian-community concern draw our attention, we also try very hard to foster social and professional interactions among legal professionals. We are dedicated to improve and continue the legal education of members with superb programs and captivating speakers. We will continue our active engagement in legal matters that affect the Armenian nation as a whole; as confirmed by our amicus curiae filings before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as well as the Appellate Court of Massachusetts. At the same time, we actively participate in civic and community affairs wherever we live to ensure the proper administration of justice. Another of our significant goals is the advancement of well-qualified Armenian attorneys onto the judicial bench. We will do our utmost to assist in the judicial application process and help demystify it for deserving individuals.

 

Along with my fellow Executive Committee members--Christine Engustian, Garo Ghazarian, Sara Bedirian and Amy Hoogasian--I welcome your input, ideas and suggestions. We also want to hear about your accomplishments and successes. We pledge to see to it that the Armenian Bar addresses and responds to your needs and expectations. At the same time, there are numerous challenges on the horizon that will require greater involvement and participation of our members. Our strength and our ability to advocate for the issues we all care about depends on our willingness to work together across North America and the world over.  Moreoever, as we identify and prioritize several new projects we are compelled to determine potential funding sources for them. A financially sound Armenian Bar can accomplish so much. For example, one of our newest projects is establishing a grant fund to support young legal professionals and law students in Armenia to help tackle a variety of legal issues and challenges in our Motherland. Please feel free to send any ideas you have on this issue as well.

 

Planning is underway for the mid-year meeting in Providence, Rhode Island which will be held from October 8 – 10. The details as to the lecture program, activities and accommodations will be announced shortly. I also look forward to welcoming you to San Francisco for our Annual Meeting in Spring 2011.

 

As always, I look forward to a great year of exciting and educational programs and, above all, to seeing and working with many good friends.

 

Edvin Minassian

Chairman of the Board of Governors

Armenian Bar Association

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