Chapter News
December, 2007
Austin-Central Texas Chapter President, Toni Beasley has been selected as a Region 4 Officer for ALA. Her term of office will begin at the ALA Association luncheon on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 during the Annual Conference being held in Seattle, WA. This will be a 2-year term that will continue until May 2010.
November 15, 2007
On November 15, members of the Austin Bar partnered with the Department of Human Services, CASA of Travis County, and Gardner-Betts Juvenile Center and consummated the adoption of at least 40 children. More than 30 attorneys handled the adoptions pro bono.
The Austin ALA Chapter joined the Austin Bar’s efforts in collecting teddy bears and books for the children. Teddy bears were presented to each child being adopted and to their siblings. Each adopted child was also allowed to select a few books from the Adoption Day Bookstore to take to their new home.
Thanks to everyone who donated teddy bears and children books for the special children who now have a Forever Family!
April 30, 2007
At the 2007 Annual Educational Conference and Exposition, our chapter received the following awards:
1st Place - Newsletter Excellence - Karie Rivkin, Chair
1st Place - Chapter Web Sites - Elaine Burr, Chair
3rd Place - Achievements in Diversity - Brenda Barnes, Chair
3rd Place - Membership Brochure - Toni Beasley, Chair
Presidents' Award of Excellence - Gold
Congratulations to all!
See photos
April 21, 2007
Our Chapter participated in the 2007 American Cancer Society Relay for Life event.
Click here for more details on this very successful project
Job well done!
February, 2007
Congratulations Angie Kalsbeck! She is seen here crossing the finish line at the 2007 AT&T Austin Marathon. She was the 49th female to cross the finish line!
February 28, 2007
Amanda Korte has been nominated as the deserving recipient of the Quest Award 2007.
ALA will present its first "Quest" award at the Annual Conference in Las Vegas. This award will recognize a fairly new member who is involved in a number of Association activities and who aspires to meet or exceed the performance objectives for members of ALA.
We have so many wonderful, new members in our Chapter, but we were limited to nominating one. The Board voted to nominate Amanda who has quickly become an active and contributing member.
Amanda will be competing against other Chapter members throughout the USA, but our vote is for Amanda! Congratulations, Amanda, on this nomination and thank you for the great work you have done for our Chapter this past year.
February 27, 2007
Carol Shaffer's name was drawn at the Managing Partner Breakfast for a $1,000 scholarship toward her attendance at the Annual Educational Conference in Las Vegas.
For those who were not able to attend the breakfast, a $1,000 scholarship was awarded in appreciation to a committee member for serving on an Austin ALA Committee, 2006-2007.
We appreciate Carol's service to our Chapter and for participating on the Membership Committee this past year!
February 22, 2007
In our Chapter monthly meeting, the following Austin ALA Officers were presented by the Nominating Committee and Chapter members voted in favor of:
President - Toni Beasley
President-Elect - Angie Kalsbeck
Secretary - Amanda Korte
Treasurer - Chris Sims
Congratulations to our new slate of officers who will begin serving our great Chapter on April 1st!
January 4, 2007
Our Chapter received a special certificate today for participating in ALA's Community Challenge Weekend 2006. A record 88 of 100 ALA chapters participated this past year. What a great accomplishment!
Thanks to you, we have made a difference in the lives of those in our community. We especially appreciate our Community Committee's dedication to and coordination of our Community Challenge Project 2006. The Committee performed an excellent job and represented the Austin-Central Texas Chapter very well! Special thanks to ... Bonnie Zook (Chair), Shannon Athey, Kelly Barker, Sandy Gable, Ellen Gross, and Peggy Shaw.
December 5, 2006
Austin ALA Chapter held its Holiday Party at Houlihan's. The Budweiser Frogs CD retired with Michal Bagley.
October 26, 2006
Phase II (See Phase I below) of our Community Challenge Weekend event took place at the Children's Hospital where we hosted a Magic Show for the kids and their families. Bakerman's Bakery provided a delicious cake expertly decorated by Chris McGuill. Toys that were collected at the Dart Bowl event (90 of them) were distributed to each child - 35 toys were given to participants and 55 were left for future patients and their siblings. $1,000 was donated to the new Dell Children’s Hospital scheduled to open next year.
October 19, 2006
A fond farewell to one of our own. Several chapter members organized a surprise retirement party for Michal Bagley. The party was at the Belmont Restaurant on October 19th. It was a total surprise with many of her friends that have been long-time members of ALA. She was escorted by her lovely husband. She was presented a gift of jewelry which she modeled for the group along with the bow from the present. Lovely evening.
We wish you well, Michal!
September 24, 2006
Phase I
See photos
This year's Community Challenge Weekend event was so big and so exciting that we just could not squeeze it all into one day. The first part took place on September 24 at Dart Bowl. Committee members, chapter members and business partners joined together to pile up some huge bowling scores while also piling up a ton of stuffed animals and toys donated by the bowlers for the kids at Brackenridge Children's Hospital. A representative from the Children's Medical Center Foundation also attended our event just to say hello and to thank everyone for their participation in this project. Prizes including Dart Bowl t-shirts and free bowling passes were awarded for the high game, low game and best team bowling.
August 17, 2006 The teamwork between our Business Partner Committee and our Education/Programs Committee produced an Educational seminar/Legal Expo which was our best ever. Pictured below are Bruce Wilkinson of Workplace Consultants who spoke at the seminar and Tommy Wald of RIATA Technologies, our Platinum sponsor.
See photos >>
July 10, 2006
Our Community Relations Committee treated some of the children from the Austin's Children's Shelter to an afternoon of fun at Ceramics Bayou. The children enjoyed lunch at McDonald's, then they designed and painted a piece of pottery. The pieces shown here will be fired and delivered to the children next week.
View more photos of this Austin-Central Texas Chapter, ALA Community Relations Committee Event >>
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May 25, 2006
Chrissie Eastin (pictured at right with Bonnie Zook, Community Relations Committee Chair) and Amanda Korte were recognized at the May Chapter meeting for their fund-raising efforts during the recent Relay for Life Event.
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April 22, 2006
(by Bonnie Zook, Community Relations Committee Chair)
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the Relay for Life event on April 22, 2006 at Westlake High School Stadium. It was absolutely one of the most fun events I've ever attended, and it was a great opportunity to get to know ALA members better. Now that we know how much fun it is, we'll make a greater effort next year to involve more people. Most of us stayed until 1:00 a.m. but I think Amanda Korte was there longer - she's a real trooper. Actually, she was the only ALA person there besides the Community Affairs committee members: Shannon Athey, Kelly Barker, Sandy Gable, Ellen Gross and myself. Also joining us for the evening were Shannon's friend, Ken, and Amanda's sister, Millie. Our chapter donated to Relay and the following people raised money: Rebekah Brown, Chrissie Eastin and Amanda Korte.
Listed below is a partial list of vendors who contributed monetarily:
- Bill Breed - Megabyte Express Office Products
- Bryan Uecker - Benefit Systems - 401K Servicing company
- Katherine Walton- USI Southwest - Professional Liability Insurance Provider
- David Claypool & Mike Lugar - account managers AT&T Business services
- Debbie Fincher & Karen Hall - Karen Hall Interior Designs
- Jacob Shuler - Ikon Office Products - copier sales & service
- Jim Barringer - Barringer Legal Copies
- Joan Davis - Safesite - Storage
- Kathryn Watson - The Benefits Team - Health Insurance agent
- Rex Englehart - Documation - Copier sales and service
- Steve Knebel - Maxwell Locke and Ritter - CPA
- Tommy Wald - Riata Technologies - computer and network services
- Winston Williams - PS Focus
A special thanks to Peggy Shaw who was our Team Captain and got us registered on line and attended Relay meetings to gather information for our committee earlier in the year.
View pictures of our Relay for Life Participants.
April 20, 2006
Our chapter welcomed David Constantine, ALA National President and firm administrator of Lyons Pipes & Cook, PC in Mobile, Alabama as the speaker at our April chapter meeting today. He spoke about the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and he offered valuable insight on improving our firms' disaster plans.
April 2, 2006
We are proud of members Peggy Shaw (pictured here) and Debbie Roan who ran the Capitol 10K on April 2, 2006.
December, 2005
The Community Relations Committee made holiday donations in the name of the chapter to the Salvation Army and the Austin Children's Shelter.
The Chapter Holiday party at the Six Lounge was a tremendous success. The Budweiser Frogs CD has found its new home with Pamela Smith until next year.
November, 2005
Habitat for Humanity Legal Build
ALA Community Challenge Weekend Project
Eleven ALA members, four business partners, one spouse of ALA member and two co-workers of ALA member for a total of 18 people spent a Saturday working on two houses, one of which was the Legal Build House In addition, we donated $500 for new gardening tools. We also gave the recipient family a housewarming gift of beautiful pottery dishes to enjoy in their new home.
View pictures of ALA Community Challenge Weekend Project - Habitat of Humanity Legal Build.
October, 2005
Habitat Blitz Build. Our Community Relations Committee members served dinner for Habitat workers who built a house in just 7 days.
August, 2005
The Community Relations Committee served lunch for Habitat for Humanity workers.
July, 2005
Community Challenge Briefcase Drive - The committee collected forty-two briefcases from our member law firms and donated them to Austin Resource Center for the Homeless. The cases will be distributed to individuals to help them in their search for employment.
May 13, 2005
Congratulations to Debra Nicklaus! She passed the Certified Legal Manager (CLM) exam. We are so proud of her outstanding achievement.
April 23, 2005
We are so proud of our chapter! We received several awards at the National Conference held this week in San Francisco. Many thanks to our membership for participating in our Chapter 's events and special thanks to our Committees and Committee Chairs for their time and effort!
Achievements in Diversity: First Place (medium chapters): Austin-Central Texas Chapter - New Horizons in Diversity Awareness (Entry submitted by Debbie Roan)
Community Service: Second Place (medium chapters): Austin-Central Texas Chapter - Bowl-A-Wish (Entry submitted by Kelly Barker)
Best Feature Article: First Place (medium chapters): Austin-Central Texas - The Path to Profitability: A Conversation with John Iezzi (Entry submitted by Karie Pilcher -- article written by Kelly Barker)
Newsletter Excellence: Second Place (medium chapters): Austin-Central Texas Chapter - The Connection (Entry submitted by Carol Arnold, Karie Pilcher and Kelly Barker)
Presidents' Awards of Excellence: Platinum - Austin-Central Texas
Congratulations to all for a job well done!
Chapter At-A-Glance