Past Events
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Welcome to the 60th year of the Desert Bar Association!
Our local bar association has seen tremendous changes in the Coachella Valley since it was first formed in 1951. The Indio courthouse first opened for business that year in the City of Indio, which only had about 5,300 residents. The region's first full-service medical facility -- Desert Hospital in Palm Springs -- also opened in 1951. The City of Palm Desert was created in 1951, having established its first post office and school two years earlier. Developers in Rancho Mirage, with a whopping 1,500 or so residents, built the area's first 18-hole golf course -- Thunderbird -- that year, although the city would not yet become incorporated for another 20 years or so. Harry Truman was president, gasoline was 19 cents a gallon and color television was just one of the many innovations born in 1951.
From the original handful of practitioners and judges who started our bar association sixty years ago, it has grown to more than 200+ members, and the number keeps growing. The DBA was established to maintain the honor of our profession, to promote programs designed to further the administration of justice and, on a lighter note, provide for social activities for its members. The Desert Bar Association proudly continues to further the goals of its original mission. In the upcoming year, we will continue to provide MCLE opportunities for local lawyers, mediation services in conjunction with the courts, fee arbitration, free legal seminars for seniors as part of Senior Law Day, community outreach to local schools, involvement in the promotion of judicial candidates to the Riverside County Superior Court, putting on our locally-famous Bird Awards, scheduled for June 30, 2012, and informal get togethers where members can socialize outside of the office and courtroom. One of the things we are offering this year are cocktail mixers, including a mixer at Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery in December, and luncheons with speakers starting in November.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to our wonderful members, sponsors and advertisers for their generous support, which helped make this year's 60th Annual Installation of the Officers & Trustees of the Desert Bar Association possible. Special thanks go to Julie Rosser, who designed the invitations and event program, managed the website and RSVPs, and otherwise kept the ball rolling, Katie Arredondo for helping Julie handle the RSVPs, Sara Mach for administrative details, Mary and Eve Fromberg for décor, the staff at Spencer’s at the Mountain, particularly Leslie Lombino-Ridge, Brian Harnik, who gladly chipped in to help whenever needed, Barbara Baron, the DBA’'s outgoing President, who was so helpful with the details, and lastly, all of the officers and trustees who continue to tirelessly donate their time to this organization and the principles for which it stands.
We look forward to an exciting 60th year of the Desert Bar Association and hope you will be able to join us for our upcoming luncheons, mixers, MCLE opportunities, seminars, and the 35th Annual Bird Awards and Distinguished Judges Night, which is scheduled for June 30, 2012, and will mark the end of the 2011-2012 DBA season.
Mary E. Gilstrap
President, Desert Bar Association
IMC Inc.