From the Foundation

It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Buick Anymore!

By Aaron Bulloff

Aaron Bulloff is a long-tenured FBA and National Council Member who has held numerous chapter and national positions. He is a Charter Life Member of the Foundation’s Fellows and in 2015 received the Earl Kintner Award. Without law, civilization perishes. —Talmud

As of Oct. 1, I became president of the Foundation of the FBA board of directors, and it is my intention to write about the Foundation in each edition of The Federal Lawyer while holding the position.

The FBA has had a Foundation since 1954. While its assets have changed dramatically over the last several years, its mission has not wavered:

• Promote and support legal research and education. • Advance the science of jurisprudence. • Facilitate the administration of justice. • Foster improvements in the practice of federal law.

The Foundation is a congressionally chartered 501(c)(3) organization. Title 36, United States Code, Section 70502 (2) states its purpose:

To apply its income, and if the corporation so decides, all or any part of its principal, exclusively to the following educational, charitable, scientific, or literary purposes, or any of them: (a) To advance the science of jurisprudence; (b) To uphold high standards for the Federal judiciary and for attorneys representing the Government of the United States; (c) To promote and improve the administration of justice, including the study of means for the improved handling of the legal business of the several Federal departments and establishments; (d) To facilitate the cultivation and diffusion of knowledge and understanding of the law and the promotion of the study of the law and the science of jurisprudence and research therein, through the maintenance of a law library, the establishment of seminars, lectures, and studies devoted to the law, and the publications of addresses, essays, treatises, reports and other literary works by students, practitioners, and teachers of the law.

For many years, however, the Foundation could not advance its mission or further its purposes very well. It simply did not have assets to do so; they primarily consisted of some plaster busts of eminent jurists and old law books. And then, at a watershed time, former national FBA president Bob McNew took it upon himself to raise funds for the Foundation. His persistent, relentless, arm-twisting efforts coupled with a favorable investment climate and the astute guidance of the Foundation’s investment managers culminated in the successful realization of a corpus goal of $1 million. We were on the map, and we could start properly funding worthy programing and scholarships. Then, within the last two years, through the incredible largesse of the Federal Bar Building Corp. (FBBC), distributions from the FBBC’s investment portfolio to the Foundation have helped us more than double our corpus.

The stewardship of these funds has been overseen by the Foundation’s board, but I wish to give a special shout out to the two long-tenured board members whose terms ended Sept. 30: Sharon O’Grady and Henry Quillian. Some of you may not know them, but for several years they helped raise, invest, and distribute Foundation funds in such impactful ways. We technically lose incredible institutional knowledge, but I am asking them to continue to assist the board as we move forward. I also wish to acknowledge Judge Pamela Mathy’s completion of her board presidency on Sept. 30. I am space-limited to give her all the kudos to which she is entitled for her calm, quiet leadership that always found consensus among any disagreement. For small feet, she has amazingly large shoe steps to follow.

It is now my great pleasure to introduce the four individuals whom the National Council elected to new board membership at the 2022 Annual Meeting and Convention. They are Bruce Moyer, who just finished an open term and now succeeds himself to a full term; David Guerry; Erin Brown; and Cal Chipchase. They arrive at an incredible time for the Foundation and the association. With the pending sale of the business condominium that has housed the FBA’s headquarters, further distributions by the FBBC may be forth-

Left to right: Bruce Moyer, David Guerry, Erin Brown, and Cal Chipchase.

coming. We are working with a strategic planner to help us chart a proper, even more impactful course through a post-pandemic legal world. What a time for them to come on board!

Everyone knows Bruce. He retired last year as the FBA’s government relations counsel after 25 years of service. Here is what he says regarding his election:

I became a member of the Federal Bar Association in 1975 and have served as a leader, volunteer, and donor to the Foundation ever since. Back in the 1990s I served on the board of the Foundation and was privileged to be part of then President Bob McNew’s working group that led to the creation the Fellows of the Foundation. Now, three decades later, it’s an exciting time to return to the board. The Foundation’s greatest challenge is making relevant its mission to promote a wider understanding of the administration of justice and the rule of law.

If you don’t know David Guerry, it’s because you haven’t spent enough time at host hotels’ “evening business venue” at national meetings. He writes:

I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve on the board of the Foundation again. The Foundation serves an important purpose within the Federal Bar—it accomplishes the charitable giving so many of us desire to pursue and does so within the federal practice areas we all embrace. The Foundation has great opportunities for growth, and I am excited to have the opportunity to assist in both raising that corpus and growing the Fellows.

Erin Brown is a younger superstar immigration attorney in northeast Ohio who will bring fresh ideas to the board. She writes:

I am honored and excited to serve on the Foundation Board of Directors. As the new kid on the board, I am looking forward to learning about the history and workings of the Foundation and applying that knowledge towards awarding scholarships and grants on behalf of the FBA that promote civics, diversity, and community outreach. The oversight of these investments is a significant responsibility and ensures that quality lawyering and judgeships are not only maintained but also cultivated and promoted. The quality of our profession isn’t limited to what we do today, but also reflected in what we are willing to invest into tomorrow. The Foundation’s willingness to continue to devote its collective energy to ensuring that the profession of lawyering remains vibrant is an important priority for me.

Cal Chipchase is a partner at Cades Schutte in Honolulu, so just by virtue of distance, his service and attendance at national meetings as a National Council member and as the prior general counsel of the FBA has been all the more meaningful. He writes:

I’m glad to be on the board. It’s super exciting! Having met great lawyers and friends from around the country and having improved my practice through many FBA programs, I look forward to continuing my FBA service on the Foundation board. I will look for opportunities to improve the practice of law in the federal courts, including greater support for the hardworking judges and staff of the federal bench.

There is much additional to tell, but as one wise man said, “Leave them wanting more.”1 Future columns will, inter alia, discuss the Fellows program, detail specific programs and distributions undertaken by the Foundation, and update you on strategic planning efforts and our investment strategies. But, as I hope you can see, it’s not your “grandfather’s” Foundation anymore. Those days have passed. We are now and will continue to be light years ahead from what our efforts could be and were even just a few years ago. We are looking at the good fortune of assets to foster our mission and purposes in ways in which we could only dream.

So, in this new day, keep in mind that this is now your Foundation and not that of the ancients. Now that you have been introduced to our new board members, inundate them (and the rest of us on the board) with your ideas and requests for resources. As Linus Pauling said, “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”

“Lots of ideas” can never be an issue; as Groucho Marx said, “These are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.” Together we will chart the Foundation’s—your Foundation’s—path forward through these upcoming exciting times. Stay tuned. 

Endnote

1A prize to the first to identify said wise man.