As the chapter heads into the 2009-2010 programming year, which commences on October 1, 2009, I would like to share with you some of the new ideas for programs and initiatives that the chapter has in the works for the next twelve months, as well as highlights of the 4th Quarter of 2009.

Upcoming Core Events – 4th Quarter

The programming schedule for the 4th quarter includes the 5th Annual Paralegal Forum which will be held on October 8th at the Union League.

This event serves our members by providing legal education focused on in-house paralegals and legal assistants who work at member companies.

Another worthwhile event to attend will be the chapter’s upcoming Meet Your Counterparts event at the ACC Annual Meeting in Boston.  The networking event will be held at Kings Bowling and Billiards on October 19th from 9 PM to Midnight.

Also, keep your calendar open for the annual DELVACA Corporate Pro Bono day which will be held on November 17th in the morning in West Philadelphia at the Enterprise Center.

Corporate Pro Bono Day is one of the most important programs for the chapter and provides members an opportunity to counsel small businesses which include: non-profits, start-ups, and distressed companies, all of which are pre-qualified by our event partner, Philadelphia LawWorks, part of Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent (Philly VIP).

New Practice Committees

After hearing member feedback from our recent member survey, we have also founded two new practice committees.

The first new committee is the Health, Biotech and Pharma Committee.  This committee will be co-chaired by Todd Mayover, Senior Attorney at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Stacey Meadows, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals.

We have also formed the Contracts and Commercial Law Committee and the co-chair of for this committee will be Board member Jackie Meredith-Batchelor.  If you are interested in co-chairing with Jackie, please get in touch with her.

Upcoming events and organizational meetings for each committee will be announced in the next few weeks.

Institute Programs for Each Practice Committee

Another new idea that is in the works for the 2009 - 2010 programming year is a monthly series of Institute programs which will be coordinated through the various practice committees. The Employment and Labor law committee has hosted the Employment Law Institute for a number of years and we decided to expand that Institute series out to all practice committees.

The model for the Institute programs will be a half day morning program featuring multiple CLE sessions along with the provision of breakfast and lunch.

We created this series of programs in response to member feedback asking for more half-day morning CLE event programs.

Expanded In-House Counsel Excellence Awards Program for 2010

Another new event in 2010 will be the expanded In house Counsel Excellence Awards Dinner.  This event will replace the Winter 2009 Annual Dinner and is expected to be held in April 2010.  The event will expand on the Excellence Awards that were given out over the past two years.  New aspects of the event include the creation of a multi-page DELVACCA Excellence Awards supplement which will be published in the Philadelphia Business Journal and which will feature information about nominees for the awards as well as listing the award winners.

Also, another change for this event will be that award winners will not be announced in advance of the event, but will instead be announced at the event.

Other Program Highlights

In the upcoming programming year, there will also be monthly Meet Your Counterparts events in various regions of the chapter, including the continuation of our popular wine tasting series and the chapter plans to also host members in a private suite during three Phillies games in the 2010 season.

We will also host a chapter luncheon event in December in Philadelphia (as we did last year) to welcome our new Board members and officers and to thank the outgoing Board members and committee chairs for their volunteer efforts.

Street Law Initiative

This is a potential future chapter initiative that we are considering getting involved with.  The program is called the Street Law Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline program.  The program would involve DELVACCA partnering with nearby, diverse high school law classes in an effort to engage the students, teach them more about civil and corporate law as well as in-house practice, and to encourage these students to consider careers in the legal profession. You can read more about it here: http://www.streetlaw.org/en/Program.1.aspx

Five other ACC chapters currently participate in this program and have found that their membership has become extremely engaged in the Street Law project.  We are currently seeking to find out if there is a sufficient level of interest from our members to participate in such a program.

If you have an interest or in getting involved with the Street Law Initiative, please let us know by e-mailing your interest to delvacca@acc.com

Leadership Opportunities

The chapter’s ongoing successes are due to the significant efforts and time commitments from the chapter’s dedicated team of leaders including the officers, Board members, practice committee chairs, committee members, chapter administrator and volunteer in-house speakers at our CLE events.

All of these individuals deserve your thanks due to the amount of time and effort that they put into the organization, which has enabled DELVACCA to become one of the premier chapters of ACC.

On behalf of the Board, we are pleased to see such an active turnout from our membership at the chapter events, despite the current economy, and to see how many members choose to get involved with the organization.

The success of the chapter depends on our member participation at the events, so the Board hopes that we continue to provide innovative ideas and value from your ACC membership.

Yours truly,

Todd A. Borow
DELVACCA President