As the incoming Committee Chair, I want to tell you about the activities the Committee has planned for this year; outline our goals; and thank those that helped make last year so successful. First, thanks to outgoing Committee Chair, Cindy Ervin, for all her work and leadership. Cindy was instrumental in putting together this fall’s Ethics CLE program that you will be hearing more about. Thanks, also, to our Newsletter Co-Editors, Kate Kelly and Lynn Patton. Without them, you would not be reading this newsletter! And, finally, many thanks to Janet Sosin, our staff liaison who helps keep us organized and guides us along.

The Committee has two major goals this year. First, two CLE programs will be planned; these programs will be in addition to our ongoing Brown Bag Seminars. We hope to have more of the Brown Bag events across the state. If you have ideas for a Brown Bag Seminar location or topic, please let a member of the Committee know. This fall, the Committee will sponsor a CLE program in Springfield on Ethics For Government Attorneys. The Committee is also interested in suggestions for substantive law CLE programs.

The second goal of the Committee is to inform the public, including other public sector attorneys, about the loan forgiveness issue and to increase awareness of the problems that public sector attorneys face with educational loan payments. Several groups are interested in the loan forgiveness issue; however, their efforts have not been unified. The Committee hopes to bring attention to this issue so that the problem can be addressed.

Watch for some changes to the Committee on Government Lawyers Web site http://www.isba.org/sections/governmentlawyers/home.asp .  Mike Ori will be working with ISBA staff to include more information on the Web site about the Committee, as well as to provide some useful links.
The Committee will continue to recognize Senior Government Attorneys and hopes to award some of these honors at a fall event. Remember, a Senior Government Attorney is someone who has worked in some level of government for 20 or more years, and who has been a member of ISBA or an affiliated bar association for five years.

If you have ideas for activities or programs, please let a Committee member know. We want to meet the needs and interests of all government attorneys.