Lawyer Pilots Bar Association – LPBA
Benefits of Membership

A Message From 2011-2012 LPBA President Robert L. Feldman

For those of you who did not make the Hawaii meeting, you missed one of the most successful and best attended LPBA meetings ever. Our meeting was at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii. We had perfect weather, excellent accommodations and a superb CLE program, which was organized by our president-elect, Gary Evans.

My wife, Jeanine, planned three mornings of activities for the spouses and others who were not attending the morning CLE sessions. They included a pareo tying demonstration, a lei making class and a demonstration by one of the hotel chefs who prepared "Deconstructed Pineapple Upside Down Cake.” Much to my surprise, when I returned to our suite after our CLE meeting, I found in our fridge a special edition of his signature dish, which he had made especially for me. To say that I inhaled it would be an understatement. Each of the morning activities was well attended and all the spouses really enjoyed themselves.

After dinners at restaurants both within and without the hotel, many of which were outside at sunset, our 3600 square foot hospitality suite was filled late into the night (and early morning) by our attendees who chose to trade sleep for a chance to enjoy more time in the tropical air with drinks from our well stocked bar and conversation and cigar smoking on our 60 foot long lanai overlooking the Pacific, lit by a full moon. The suite was also well stocked with snack food, and after the meeting concluded, Jeanine and I donated all leftovers to the Hawaii Food Bank.

We had many members and their spouses at the meeting who had never been to an LPBA meeting before. Other long-time members who hadn’t attended a meeting in quite a while also were there. They learned, or were reminded, that LPBA meetings are like no other bar association or symposium meeting. Besides CLE, the other activities, both planned and unplanned, provide an opportunity to meet others in our profession, to network and to truly get to know our colleagues and their families, which is something that is lacking at most law conferences. Law may be what we do, but it is not who we are. It is always personally enriching to share other aspects and interests in our lives with others who have the common bond of the legal profession and aviation and their related activities.

THE OUTLAWS WILL PERFORM FOR US IN WILLIAMSBURG!

I’m not sure that the Hawaii meeting can ever be topped, but our next meeting, which will be held at the Kingsmill Resort, from 11 July 2012 to 15 July 2012, in the historic town of Williamsburg, Virginia, promises to be a great one for members, spouses and their children alike. As a special, first ever, event for LPBA, internationally renowned recording artists and Southern Rock and Roll band, The Outlaws, will perform in concert especially for LPBA following the Wednesday night cocktail reception and dinner. With a full concert and a meet and greet and photo op with the band, exclusively for our group, this is a meeting you do not want to miss! I urge you all to attend.

Williamsburg was once the capital of the Virginia Colony, and the town has been accurately restored to what it was during colonial times. Its tavern walls, houses and streets witnessed the planning of the Revolution, and the memories of the voices of great men of history, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry echo through its streets. Far from being a museum, Williamsburg is a living community where craftsmen in period garb still perform their work from farming to guitar making, using the techniques that were used in the 18th century.

It is our goal to make our summer meetings attractive for spouses and children, and Williamsburg is perhaps one of the most family friendly venues ever for an LPBA meeting. It is literally next door to one of the greatest amusement parks in the world, Busch Gardens, and is a short hotel shuttle bus ride to Water Country USA, a superb water park, and to the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg. For children ages 5 to 12, the hotel has a Kids Night Out program on Friday and Saturday nights from 6:00pm to 9:00pm and a Kids Camp, from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday. Both may be booked through the hotel. For spouses, Jeanine has scheduled a guided tour of the Williamsburg Historic Area, with entrance into some of the buildings.

If you are looking for additional family activities, the resort is located on the James River, and the resort offers watercraft for hire. Need more? The white sands and boardwalk of Virginia Beach are only an hour away. If you crave more history, Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, Yorktown and Richmond are close by.

Of course, the meeting agenda includes our usual informative CLE, a golf tournament, a fun run walk event and probably a spot landing demonstration. As a special additional treat, member Gary Allen and his wife, Marie, have planned an evening reception for us at their home in the “Burg.” Bus transportation will be provided to and from the resort.

Room rates are reasonable and include complimentary wireless internet access in guestrooms and meeting rooms, use of the Kingsmill Sports Club including the indoor swimming pool, fitness center, whirlpool, steam sauna, racquetball, and game room and complimentary shuttle service to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and Water Country USA. If you feel that four days isn’t enough time to see and do it all, you have the option of scheduling your arrival up to three days prior to the meeting dates and your departure up to three days after the meeting dates.

We will also have our spot landing demonstration at this meeting. For more information and to register, go to Upcoming Meetings.

I would like to point out that some members chose to book their Hawaii rooms outside of the LPBA room block because, on their face, they were less expensive. To their dismay, it proved to be false economy because they didn’t receive our negotiated benefits (no resort fee, free internet, breakfasts, etc.) It is important that members considering doing this realize that LPBA doesn’t receive credit toward our minimum room nights for rooms booked outside of our block. Our meeting sites provide services such as complimentary meeting space and audiovisual equipment free of charge because they anticipate receiving a certain amount of room revenue, and if we don’t meet the revenue guarantee, LPBA may have to pay a penalty. Please consider this, and support LPBA by booking your rooms within our meeting room block.

For those reading this column who are not members, please consider joining so you can share in the benefits of membership. Annual membership dues are a low $119 per year. You also have the option of paying $250 for a sustaining membership, which gives you special recognition in the Journal, on the website and at meetings, a link to your website from ours, and the knowledge that you are making a definitive statement of support for our organization. You can apply online or you can print out a membership application and send it together with a check for the dues to Lawyer Pilots Bar Association, P.O. Box 1510, Edgewater, MD 21037. You can also fax the application to (410) 571-1780. If you have any questions, please call our Executive Director, Karen Griggs at (410) 571-1750.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can during my term as president. If you have any ideas or suggestions as to what direction LPBA should take, where our meetings should be held, or what we can do to improve our organization, please email me or call me at any time (305-598-4841 or feldmans48@hotmail.com) . Please also email us the names and contact information for any of your colleagues whom you think might be interested in becoming members of LPBA. If each member were to recommend a candidate for membership and that candidate were to join LPBA, we would double our membership, which is one of our goals.

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