2021 - What a Year

Bob Tomaso
Office Managing Partner, Husch Blackwell LLP
BAMSL President, 2021-22

Originally published in the December 2021 issue of the St. Louis Lawyer magazine. Download PDF.

The year 2021 began exactly the same way 2020 ended: Virtually.

Susan McCourt Baltz took over as Executive Director on Jan. 1 still under the cloud of the pandemic. But just as her predecessor had done from the time the COVID pandemic hit in March of 2020, she kept BAMSL going throughout the year. I am proud to say that because of our leadership, staff and members, we remain one of the few bars in the nation that can say that.

For BAMSL, the month of January was busy with Zoom, Zoom, Zoom meetings. By the end of February, everyone clearly was getting restless and wanting to see each other in person instead of from behind their web cams.

So the Membership Committee planned its annual Member Appreciation Reception, with hopes that maybe someone would attend. The week before the event, 10 people had registered, and half of those were BAMSL staff. They were preparing to eat and drink the venue minimum, and bringing their Tupperware for leftovers. But to our surprise, when Feb. 25 arrived, we had 50 people registered to attend. And they showed up. And had an amazing time catching up. They even ditched the pajamas and sweatshirts for appropriate attire, although perhaps a little more snug than pre-pandemic.

We still made some difficult decisions as the pandemic continued without a deadline in sight. We decided to postpone the Judicial Retirement Dinner and combine an event to honor the 2020 and 2021 retirees in March of 2022 instead. We also reluctantly postponed the annual Law Day and the Bench & Bar Conference a few months to allow more time for people to feel comfortable attending large gatherings in person.

That meant that I was sworn in to office on April 30 with a small gathering of just our leadership and staff in the BAMSL classroom, and broadcast on, what else, Zoom, for all the members to view. I was humbled to receive the mallet handed off from Judge Glenn Norton's virtual gavel pass the previous year, and started moving full speed ahead on my presidency.

Little did I know how many times someone from the BAMSL staff would ask me to do something — including writing this column every month and a column every quarter for The St. Louis Bar Journal. Or tell me which events I needed to appear at, what to say, what to do, who to meet and greet. And who knew that BAMSL has so many amazing events? Well, if you do not know, I strongly encourage each of you to get involved and get to them.

Because that is what we are doing. We are hosting in-person events again.

We held a beautiful Rendezvous on the Roof in July, went to the Lake of the Ozarks for Bench & Bar in August, and also hosted the annual golf outing — the only in-person event we were able to do in 2020.

We finally held the official Law Day in September, which included the wonderful journalist and author George Will, who graciously rescheduled his appearance three times over the past two years.I chose the wonderful Hon. Richard Webber to swear me in — on both occasions — as payback. You see, a couple of years ago, I was summoned to appear in Judge Webber's office with no reason given. And he did not ask but told me that I was going to become president of BAMSL. I guess my fate could have been worse; I was afraid he planned to send me to federal prison from some prank that someone alleged I did in my youth.

We welcomed the new admittees to the bar with receptions in the spring and just this past November. And we finally were able to honor the 2020 Spirit of Justice award winners with a dinner celebration in October.

By the time you read this, we will have hosted our annual Member Holiday Party in person with more than 200 people registered as of this writing. We also will have held a drive-through Motion for Kids event to distribute gifts, books, crafts and food to approximately 1,600 children who are in foster care or otherwise impacted by the criminal justice system.

Our Executive Committee, Board of Governors, Sections, Committees and the Young Lawyers Division continue to meet and conduct the business of the bar and I am pleased to see that we continue to move forward.

I would be remiss if I did not point out the amazing community service that our BAMSL members have participated in during not only 2021 but also throughout 2020. From sandwich-making to drive-through food distributions to pro bono work, I am always in awe of the amazing volunteer work our members are willing to do to help improve the metropolitan St. Louis region.

Thank you also to all of our Sustaining Partners — the ones who remained with us and the new ones who have joined us this bar year. We could not offer what we do to our members without their support and engagement in the organization.

While all of our events and some meetings are being held in person — and we plan to continue hosting in-person events — we understand that some of you are still uncomfortable with such gatherings. We will continue to work to offer hybrid options as much as possible and when it is feasible. After all, we want everyone to be able to have the BAMSL experience, whether face-to-face or web camera-to-web camera.

I wish all of you the happiest of holiday seasons and a wonderful start to a new year as 2022 rapidly approaches. And I hope to see you soon.