The Delaware County Bar Association Celebrates the Sesquicentennial in 2022!

Logo designed by Colleen M. Neary, Esquire

The Delaware County Bar Association (DCBA), founded in 1872, proudly celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2022! Throughout its long history, the DCBA has worked diligently to bring local attorneys together and carry out its mission to the legal profession and community. To help celebrate this historic milestone, the DCBA rolled out special programming for its Sesquicentennial.

The Delaware County Bar Association is a professional organization dedicated to promoting the prompt and efficient administration of justice, equal access to legal services for all, the education of the public concerning their rights and responsibilities under law, the ethical and professional conduct of association members, the independence of the judiciary and the bar and fostering cooperation between them; professional and interpersonal activities for its members, and public awareness of the role of the legal profession in the administration of justice.

Justice, access to the law for the settlement of disputes, and the ethical and professional conduct of the members of the legal profession, were the goals and the desire of the inhabitants of the territory now comprising the County of Delaware, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, long before the foundation of the DCBA. This year-long celebration highlighted not only those events, activities, achievements, individuals, edifications, and institutions which existed contemporaneously with the DCBA over the last 150 years, but also the events and people that preceded the formation of the Association.

For members of the Association there were special Continuing Legal Education seminars that are rich in general history of the DCBA and include selected biographies of past DCBA members, video presentations with photographs and memories of events, personalities, anecdotes, memorable trials, and other events of the past. More specifically, the celebration included: the role of African Americans in DCBA history, the important role of women in the DCBA and the DCBA’s contributions to the pursuit of equal justice for all. The DCBA’s chapter of the American Inns of Court, the Guy G. deFuria Inn, also contributed to the celebrations, as did the DCBA’s Bench Bar Conference Committee.

The DCBA remains one of the nation’s oldest and largest local legal associations and continues to serve the profession and the community. Today, the DCBA boasts some 1,200 plus members and dozens of committees and sections. It is with great pride and pleasure that the DCBA shares itself and its history with one another and the community.

A special thanks to the DCBA’s 150th Anniversary Committee: Collen M. Neary, Chair; and Co-Chairs, Carrie A. Woody, DCBA President, 2022; and Robert F. Kelly, Jr., DCBA President, 2020, for their efforts in celebration!

For your viewing pleasure, go to www.delcobar.org, click on the “150th Anniversary” tab, scroll to 150th Anniversary Video to view a copy of the 150th Anniversary Video produced by Colleen M. Neary, Esquire, and Eugene J. Malady, Esquire

For your reading pleasure, go to www.delcobar.org, click on the “150th Anniversary” tab, scroll to “What Chester Makes the Delco Bar Takes” … Reflections on the DCBA 150th Anniversary in 2022 submitted by Joseph Patrick O’Brien, Esquire, KAO Law Associates. Acknowledgement … The Scrivener acknowledges with thanks, the support of his partner, Christopher H. Peifer, Esquire, and the input of the Honorable Murray S. Eckell and his law partners, W. Donald Sparks, Esquire; Joseph L. Monte, Esquire; and Stephen J. Polaha, Esquire.

The Delaware County Bar Association is pleased to offer quality Distance Learning CLE programs. Go to www. delcobar.org, “Distance Learning” and check out “Learning From Our History: Dockets of Trials of Enslaved People in Delaware County” and earn 1.0 Substantive Credit (offered until 12/31/2023). This course contains information from judicial proceedings as well as certain registration and manumission affidavits related to enslaved people in Delaware County from the years 1762-1831. Honorable Nathaniel C. Nichols, Retired Judge of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas and Dr. Ife Williams, Professor of Political Science at Delaware County Community College, guide you to explore the significance of this piece of history and what can be learned from it. The video features readings from notable works that shed light on the history and impact of slavery in the United States.