A Message from 2026 President Colin J. O'Boyle, Esq.
This year we celebrate our Country’s 250th Birthday – its Semiquincentennial. Throughout this year, we will work hard and play hard – celebrating the present, planning for the future, and making extra efforts to honor our history and our Country’s well-earned birthday.
History is something our Bar Association knows well. We were formally established in 1885, the same year the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor, the Washington Monument was dedicated, and Mark Twain first published in America his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Like these great works, more than 140 years later, our Bar Association endures and remains as important as ever.
It was famously written (and perhaps more famously sung) that “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” ~ Seneca.
As I prepare to “begin” my service as MBA President, I am mindful that our Bar Association’s long success is not happenstance but the result of the many successful “beginnings” of our predecessors – past officers, leaders of committees and sections, and the working members of our Association – who have driven tirelessly with the support of MBA staff and the Court to promote professional excellence, facilitate access to justice, and protect the integrity of the legal system.
I want to express a special thank you and recognition to our Immediate Past President Seth Wilson. As his year comes to an end, there is no doubt that our Bar Association is better and stronger for his service. The billboard in Annapolis that heralded in his year was prescient, as he helped guide our Bar Association through a year of legal and political challenges that kept us rooted to our Mission. Thank you!
We look forward this year to continuing and/or expanding upon the great work of our predecessors, including advancing civics education; supporting pro se litigants through programs like HOPS and the formal launch of the LINCS; supporting our members through CLE programs, networking events, wellness initiatives, and member benefits; supporting newer lawyers and future lawyers through our Leadership Academy and Robert E. Slota Jr. Diversity, Intern & Development Program; and working with our Foundation and community members to support access to justice.
We also look forward to some new adventures and to the revival of some past programs and events. Be sure to check out the MBA 2026 Calendar throughout the year. To highlight just a few events: look to dust off your formal wear in April for our Dinner Dance (April 24); pack your best vest for viewing fall foliage at our Bench Bar Conference at Skytop in the Poconos (September 24-27); and be ready to come to the George Washington Chapel in Valley Forge for the Ecumenical Blessing of the Court service (October 1).
I hope to see you all over the course of this year and to stay with you until the closing time of each event!!