Judicial Evaluation

 

 

Dear Member:

 

          The bylaws of the FCBA require us to evaluate the candidates running for Common Pleas Court Judge for the 39th Judicial District.  For the first time in our history, the voting this year will be conducted entirely via electronic means.     
          We've spent considerable time and effort to make the voting process quick, simple, and completely anonymous.  Each eligible FCBA member will be provided a one-time ticket number that can be used to submit a vote.  Ticket numbers and results are kept in two different databases and are not associated.  Upon submitting a ballot, your ticket number will be voided in one database and your vote calculated in another.  It will be impossible to determine which votes have come from which ticket holder.  
            Ballots will be emailed to you on Monday morning.  Voting will remain open until Friday (April 10) at 4 p.m.  The larger community values information the FCBA provides regarding judicial elections.  We should take this responsibility seriously.  I urge each of you to participate in this important process.

                                                            Best regards ,
                                                            Clint Barkdoll, President

 

 

Save the Date for Judge Herman's Retirement Party

 

The Franklin County Bar Association invites you and a guest to attend 

the picnic honoring Judge Herman's distinguished career and service to Franklin County and wishing him well in his retirement. Reserve June 6 th on your calendars today to make sure you can join us for the music, dancing, dinner and drinks! Hope you can join us. 

 

 

Spring Planting - Volunteers Needed

 

Join Women's Club of FCBA on Friday, April 3rd

 

Spring officially started on March 20th, but the Courthouse pots are still frozen solid!!  The pansies are ordered and will be available for planting on the morning of Good Friday, April 3rd at 9 am.  Hopefully by then everything will be thawed out.  Please let Amelia know if you can help plant that morning.  If we have at least 5 volunteers, it will not take longer than a half hour.

 

Every 3 months the Women's Club of FCBA plants beautiful seasonal flowers and greenery in the planters outside the Franklin County Courthouse. Please consider helping with this project.

 

Bring your garden gloves and a small trowel to help plant pansies in the Courthouse planters. Planting will begin at 9 a.m. 

 

 

Wills for Heroes

Volunteers Needed

 

The FCBA YLD will be hosting a Wills for Heroes event on Saturday, May 16th, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The event will be held at The Chambersburg Fire Department, 130 North Second Street. 

 

 

We need the following volunteers:

2 Estate Experts (at least)

1 Notary

4-6 Witnesses (Attorneys who can not draft documents may be witnesses)

16 Attorneys for drafting documents

*1st time volunteers will attend training 10 - 11 a.m. at the event

Please contact Amelia Ambrose at director@franklinbar.org to volunteer.

Wills for Heroes programs provide essential legal documents free of charge to our nation's first responders, including wills, living wills, and powers of attorney. By helping first responders plan now, they ensure their family's legal affairs are in order before a tragedy hits. The 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit Wills for Heroes Foundation supports these Wills programs, giving back to the community and "protecting those who protect us."

Governor Wolf Proposes Sales Tax on Legal Services

 

In his annual budget address to the General Assembly, Governor Wolf presented the long-awaited details of his new tax plan for the Commonwealth, which included a new sales tax on legal services. Wolf's proposal would impose a 6.6% sales tax on many professional services, including legal services. The Governor called his plan an alternative approach to last session's Senate Bill 76, which received bipartisan support and sought to impose a 7% sales tax on legal services. 

 

The PBA strongly opposes this aspect of the Governor's proposed budget for the very same reasons we fought hard to prevent the passage of Senate Bill 76 last year. For many Pennsylvanians, hiring a lawyer is a necessity and not a luxury item. Access to justice is a basic constitutional right that should not be taxed and treated as a commodity. Increasing the cost of effective legal representation by imposing a sales tax would impact persons of limited means who often need a lawyer to:

• obtain workers' compensation or social security benefits that have been wrongly denied
• fight a property assessment action by their local government
• deal with a hostile landlord or tenant
• have a simple will written or probate  the will of a loved one
• avoid a home foreclosure
• gain court-ordered protection from an abusive spouse or parent
• obtain fair and equal access to fundamental rights

 

Please take a moment now to reach out to your state legislators to ask them to vote AGAINST this proposed tax. You can use the links below to find the email address for your legislators.

 

In writing your message, feel free to use the points above to show the harsh impact any new tax will have on our clients. Of course, feel free to include your own concerns or examples that are pertinent to the issue.  Even a very short message expressing opposition is important and effective!

 

As always, thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf of the PBA!

 

 

Click here to find your legislator

Click here for your Senator's contact information

Click here for your Representative's contact information

Click here to email Governor Wolf

 

 

Free Lunch & Learn CLE at FCBA

Estate Planning for Small Business Owners Lunch & Learn 

Friday, April 24, 2015

11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

*This 2 hour CLE includes 1 ethics and 1 substantive credits and is being offered for FREE to FCBA members.*

  

Program

The CLE covers estate planning for small business owners and professionals.  It includes 1 substance and 1 ethics credit.  In covering estate planning, we will discuss different business structures, special tax issues, benefits and creditor protection issues, as well as look at personal planning issues and buy-sell agreements.

 

Facilitators, Jason Kelso & Alex Langan

Jason Kelso is an attorney at Salzmann Hughes, PC, specializing in real estate, business, land use and municipal law.  Alex Langan is an attorney and registered financial advisor at Langan Financial Group, specializing in exit planning and group retirement plans.    

 

CLE Credit and Registration

Pennsylvania attorneys will earn 1 substantive credit and 1 ethics credit. You may RSVP by contacting Amelia Ambrose via phone 717-267-2032 or via email director@franklinbar.org.  Please register by Monday, April 13th.

 

This CLE session is limited to 20 participants. Lunch will be served at 11:00 a.m. and the CLE begins at 11:30 a.m. 

 

Free ABA County/Attorney Training Day: Working with Immigrant Families in the Child Welfare System

The 10th Annual ABA Pennsylvania Permanency Barriers Project County and Attorney Training Day is on Monday, May 11, 2015 from 8:30am-4:00pm and is designed for Judges, Masters, solicitors, parents' attorneys and children's attorneys as well as current and former ABA Permanency Barriers and Technical Assistance Counties. The full-day training, Working with Immigrant Families in the Child Welfare System, will provide attendees with strategies for working with immigrant families in dependency proceedings.

 

Click HERE for registration information for the training. As always, this training is free and will include CLE for attorneys. We encourage early registration as space is limited.

 

The deadline for the registration is May 4.

 

If you have any questions on this training, please contact Alanna Pawlowski at 202-662-1513 or via email at Alanna.Pawlowski@americanbar.org.

 

 

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

 

WIN's third annual walk will take place on Friday, May 1st , 2015 and, again, we need your help! We're looking for men to don a pair of bright red high heels (which we'll provide!) and walk just 6 blocks along Main Street in Downtown Chambersburg. Men may walk individually or as a team, challenging friends and co-workers for this very worthy cause. We'll also ask participants to secure sponsorships and donations from their friends and family. Second, if you'd like to donate in any way, either monetarily or by volunteering at the event, we have a place for you. 

With the generous contributions from our 144 walkers, their families, and the community, last year we raised over $23,000 all of which stayed here in Franklin County to provide WIN services to those in need. 

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® is the International Men's March where men literally walk in women's high-heeled shoes as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness on the issue of violence against women. When men participate in this event, they show to the community that they are willing to take a stand against violence, because it is not simply a women's issue. Sexual violence affects our entire society, and all of us can make a difference.

For More Information and to Register please CLICK HERE. 

Registration is due by April 17th.

Race Against Poverty FCBA YLD Team

 

The FCBA YLD is forming a team to participate in the upcoming Race Against Poverty. They are inviting all FCBA members, their families, and their staff to join the team and fight poverty locally. You will be receiving a team discount code soon. Use this code when you register and save 10% on the registration fee. 

The Race Against Poverty benefits the local Circles Initiative.  Poverty affects an entire community.  1 out of 5, or 20% of families in Franklin County cannot meet basic living expenses. Hardworking families are caught in a cycle of poverty and unsustainable living situations. 

 

Race Against Poverty is an opportunity to take a stand together against the poverty that grips many of our own, and stifles our full potential. 100% of your registration fee will go to the Circles Initiative to build supportive 'circles' community volunteers around people who are working hard to overcome poverty. 

 

More information will be coming out soon!

Travel to Fulton County Court

 

Construction is planned to replace a two-lane bridge on Route 16, near the Village of Cove Gap, in Peters Township. PennDot estimates the construction (and delays) will be from March - November. Please allow extra time when traveling to Fulton County.

Save the Date

 

The 2015 Bench Bar Conference for the 39th Judicial District will be held on October 9, 2015. More information will be coming out soon.

 

 

31st Annual Book Sale

 

The Friends of Legal Services Book Sale at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA is scheduled for:

 

Friday, May 8:  9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, May 9:  9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, May 10:  noon to 4 p.m.

 

Books of all types, CDs, DVDs and more will be sold at bargain prices.  Food/drinks will be available.  The Book Sale is a fun and educational event for the entire family!

 

The Book Drive is underway and you can donate until April 3, 2015 at the locations listed at: http://www.fcls.net/BookSaleDonationsyearround.html 

 

Sweet Briar College

 

The Franklin County Legal Journal was contacted by several parties involved in the legal proceedings, regarding the closure Sweet Briar College, to obtain a copy of Judge Keller's 1979 opinion Zehner, et. al. v. Alexander, et. al. (The Wilson College Case). 

Dwayne Yancy, an editor of the Roanoke Times, stated "The relevance of this case in Virginia: A small, private women's college (Sweet Briar College) recently announced it would close. This came as a shock to those connected with the school, since a) it had just finished opening an $8.8 million library in November and b) has an endowment of $84 million.

Alumni are rallying to save the school and reverse the board decision; the ruling in the Wilson College case appears to figure prominently in their legal strategy." 

 

You can read part one of the Roanoke Times' editorial HERE.

Part two (which includes the Wilson College ruling) can be read HERE. 

You may CLICK HERE to read Judge Keller's opinion, Zehner v. Alexander,  published in volume 3 of the Franklin County Legal Journal. 

 

Chambersburg Area School District Seeks Solicitor

 

The Chambersburg Area School District is soliciting proposals from qualified, licensed law firms to represent the District as Solicitor, including Pennsylvania School Code matters and litigation, excluding special counsel agreements and cases assigned by school district insurance carriers. The District anticipates entering into a three (3) year agreement with the selected law firm starting July 1, 2015.

Please CLICK HERE for more information.   

 

Member News

 

* Jens Wagner has joined Dick, Stein, Schemel, Wine & Frey, LLP. He can be reached at 717-597-0200 or 119 East Baltimore Street, Greencastle, PA 17225.

Newsletter items deadline

 

The deadline to submit items for The Causeway is the 20th of each month.