History

ACADEMY POLITICS

Of course there was a good deaf of political activity in that first decade. No organization runs itself. Management and control is necessary to steer it and keep it moving and growing. Management in turn requires officers and directors, and that creates political activity among those who want the office. The only problem is to keep the politics under control. The Academy did that very well. Nothing so uncouth as a campaign poster or a free cocktail party ever appeared. Due respect was given to the maxim: "The office seeks the man." Any candidate who became too overt in soliciting support guaranteed his own defeat. It also became apparent that the membership had a very accurate intuition about which man wanted the office to work for the continued growth in the scope and quality of the association, and which man sought the office to enhance his own glory and self-importance. A new maxim developed: "The bigger the ego, the fewer the votes."

The procedure that caused much of the early politicking was a custom that began at the annual convention in November of 1956, where the initial terms of all the original officers expired. The terms also ended for those directors who began the rotation in 1955 with one-year terms. The membership filled the vacancy of one-third of the Board by electing new Directors for a three-year term. The newly constituted Board then met to elect officers from within that Board. The presidency was awarded to a new director, Jim Markle. This began the steady pattern that the new Board elected officers, rather than the old Board, which had served during the prior year. Obviously, a director completing the final year of his term could not vote for the next year's officers, nor could he become a candidate himself unless he successfully ran for reelection to the Board. The old Board prepared a slate of candidates for directorships, but members of the general assembly always added nominations from the floor and contested elections were the rule. This encouraged advance political activity and proxy gathering to swing floor votes to new directors, or to repeating directors committed in advance to support a particular candidate for a chosen office.

The simple cure for this aggravation would obviously be for the old Board to meet before the general assembly, elect officers from within the existing Board, and proceed to nominate the candidates for replacement directors. Despite the multiple advantages of such a procedure, it was not adopted until the 1972 convention in Hawaii where Pat King was elected President. By that time, political activity was at a minimum anyway, and Pat was so popular the procedure made no difference. There is cause for suspicion that the early Directors just enjoyed the politics.

There had been an earlier change in political structure in 1966, at the Las Vegas convention, which had also lessened political tensions. The term of office for directorships was three years, after the rotation system had become fully established in 1957. At the Board meeting in Arizona in 1958, the Directors voted unanimously that after a director had served a full three-year term he would step aside for at least one year before running again. This would remove one-third of the board each year and bring in new blood. This vote was on a policy resolution, and was not an official change in the By-laws. The policy did not last long. At the Jamaica meeting in 1960 the Board decided that it should not lose the experience of all its old blood. Accordingly, half of the returning Directors stayed retired that year, but the other half were nominated and elected for another three-year term. That remained a commonplace procedure for the next five years. Then, at the 1966 business meeting, the Board itself proposed a By-law amendment which provided that a Director completing two successive three-year terms should stand aside for one year. The change was proposed to the general assembly.

Fellow Bob Huff led a fight from the floor, saying that some of the old guard would serve six years, rest one, and then serve six more. Staying off the Board one year out of 13 was not enough sacrifice to let more members in. He moved to amend the rest period to one full term, or three full years. The Huff amendment passed. Some of the old guard questioned the wisdom of the Academy depriving itself of their services, and raised the issue again at the Mexico City convention. After another full-scale debate, the membership chose to keep the mandatory three-year interim after any six-year service period, and open political activity came to an end. No one resigned. Harmony took priority over ambition.

There is no suggestion here that the old political maneuvers ever produced a weak or unworthy president. Whatever public acclaim came with the office was followed by a monumental load of work. The early presidents took literally weeks away from their trial calendars traveling, writing, phoning, planning, and guiding committees, while spending their own funds for all the costs, extra staff, space, files and supplies. Their motivation was to build a better honor society for lawyers than ever existed before. They put quality before quantity and depth before dazzle. The structure of the Academy today is a tribute to the foundation they laid.

The demands of office have not lessened over the years. They have steadily increased, under the rule of life that it takes more work to enlarge and maintain a structure than it does to build the footers. Meeting dates have increased from one annual meeting to the annual, plus Spring, Summer or Fall regionals, plus an extended tour. The President sacrifices months of lost time and income away from his regular practice. The Directors attend at least two meetings a year, instead of one. The committees work throughout the year. The marvel of the Academy is that when the office seeks the man, it finds so many outstanding candidates who are willing to shoulder the load.

THE ELUSIVE HOME OFFICE

The Academy had some growing pains before it found a permanent home office and steady efficiency in operations. The 1954 Charter fixed the location of the principal office to be within the City and County of New York. Founder Gerald Finley furnished space in his office suite, and his secretary, Mrs. Hannah McDonald, acted in Bermuda and thereafter as a recording secretary of the early meetings. She became the executive secretary for the first 10 years, keeping all the records and doing the bookkeeping.

Finley and McDonald ran the routine and daily business of the Academy, paying the bills, collecting dues, noticing meetings, ordering membership plaques, and handling the inquiries that came in by mail or phone. They forwarded to the President all those communications which required his attention. Each president had to set up his own field office and files and furnish his own secretarial staff, with constant exchange of paperwork and copies with the home office and the various committee chairmen.

The Admissions Committee generated the most mail. Each of the six members had to receive copies of all the nominations and all the investigation reports on all the candidates, and the home office became a clearinghouse for that information and the recorder of final committee action.

This system worked, although awkwardly and with considerable expense to the President, until Jim McArdle's term in 1965. He wanted to be much more involved in managing the affairs of the association, made frequent trips to New York to review operations, and eventually demanded that the president should keep all the permanent records for ready reference in the field office. He also wanted copies of all the inquiries and requests that were addressed generally to the Academy and mailed to the home office. Gerald Finley relied on the Charter, which said the principal office was in New York City. Mrs. McDonald was squeezed in the contest of wills between McArdle and Finley, and in November of 1964 she resigned.

McArdle accepted McDonald's resignation. Finley demanded an emergency Board meeting. McDonald withdrew her resignation. McArdle refused to accept the withdrawal. He called the Board meeting. On December 5, 1964, 19 Directors assembled in Pittsburgh. The board voted 10 to 8, 1 abstention, to allow McDonald to withdraw her resignation. McArdle resigned the office of President. The board voted unanimously not to accept McArdle's resignation. He refused to resume office. Perry Nichols, then Vice President, became Acting President until the San Juan convention in Puerto Rico in January, 1965.

At the General Assembly meeting on January 4, 1965, chaired by Nichols as Acting President, the membership moved for an explanation of McArdle's resignation. The motion carried. McArdle thereupon rose and explained it so well that a motion carried to give him a rising vote of thanks. Thereupon, as the minutes record, "The Fellows gave Mr. McArdle a standing ovation." Then a motion was made and carried to reverse the Board decision which overruled McArdle's decision to accept the Executive Secretary's resignation. This double negative let stand Mrs. McDonald's original resignation, leaving that position open for the new Board to fill. Another motion carried to turn over all the books and records of the Academy to the President, pending the appointment of a new Executive Secretary. That afternoon the new Board of Directors met, duly made Perry Nichols the President for 1965, and directed that the Academy's files, books and records be forwarded to his Florida office. This shows what skilled lawyers can accomplish with the help of Roberts Rules of Order.

In a later Board meeting an Executive Secretary selected by Nichols, Mrs. Eileen Newton, was approved. She served until the end of his term. Jim Dempsey became President the following year and the files, books and records were shipped to his office in White Plains, New York. He selected a new Executive Secretary, Miss Gail Van Tassell. Meanwhile, a search began for a permanent headquarters. Jim Dooley found space available in the District Court Building in Chicago, to which a move was made in March, 1967.  Francis Hare of Alabama was the President that year, and his problem in finding a Secretary was solved by Miss Van Tassell, who moved to Chicago to continue her operation of the home office. The New York law requirements were met by a Charter amendment naming a resident Agent in New York City. In time, Miss Van Tassell left to pursue another career, and was replaced by Miss Joan Hoffman.

AVENUE OF THE STARS TO SAN JOSE

The next change occurred in February of 1969 when Raoul Magana became President. The Board chose to move the office to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, where Raoul maintained his practice. He found the next Secretary, Mrs. Esther Rodriguez. The Academy gained the most appropriate address in Century City: "Avenue of the Stars." By 1972, the need for permanent staff had become critical. We found Don O'Brien in 1972. He became a true Executive Director, although his title remained Executive Secretary. He installed modern office management techniques and equipment, and from then on the Officers and Board were assured of smooth and efficient daily operations.

The home office remained on the Avenue of the Stars through the presidencies of Pat King, Walter Beckham, Lou Ashe and Robert Morgan. In early 1976, Bob Morgan, whose term had expired, made an offer so generous it could not be refused. He leased space in the office building he owned in San Jose at a cost of $.20 per square foot per month. This is not a misprint - Twenty Cents. The Academy moved. Don O'Brien moved to San Jose to stay with the Academy. Sadly, Don's health began to fail about 10 years later, and his serious decline in physical stamina compelled him to retire in 1985.

After a long and thorough search for a worthy replacement, the Board found a candidate whose qualifications and energy promised a long and even better career at the helm of the home office. She is Mrs. Barbara V. Laskin, who now holds the full title of Executive Director.

As you can see, the McArdle flap did not amount to all that much. Brothers in much smaller families have bigger arguments. McArdle never resigned as a Fellow. He just traded a month of his President's term for a standing ovation.

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