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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1979
Report of attendance at American
Bar Association Annual
Convention in Dallas, Texas
GERALD HICKEY,
President.
In accordance with the Council's instructions I
accepted the invitation of Mr. S. Shepherd Tate, President
of the American Bar Association to myself and my wife
to attend the Association's Annual Conference in Dallas
between 8th and 15th August, 1979.
On arrival at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,
we were met by Mr. Hershel H. Friday of Arkansas, and
his wife, who had been named as our host and hostess to
look after us during the Conference. They were a very
friendly and charming couple, and the level of hospitality
to which we were treated throughout, and their kindness
and consideration were outstanding.
The size of this American Conference is something that
it is difficult for us to comprehend. The number of
registered conferees was in excess of 9,000 and, with their
spouses and families, there were about 20,000 people in
Dallas for the Conference. The Dallas Conference Centre
is rather like Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,
and is quite the most enormous Conference Centre I have
ever seen. There were literally hundreds of meetings
taking place every day — the earliest commencing at 7
a.m.
The entertaining and the social events were on the
same sort of scale.
I list for information some of the office bearers of the
A.B.A., and some of the other prominent people, with
their wives, whom we met:
S. Shepherd Tate — President A.B.A., Memphis,
Tennessee, whose term expired at the end of the
Conference.
Leonard S. Janofsky, Los Angeles, California —
now President, A.B.A.
William Reece Smith, Jnr., Tempa Florida —
President Elect, A.B.A.
Herbert H. Sled, Virginia — Hon. Secretary A.B.A.
Arthur W. Leibold Jnr., Arlington, Virginia — Hon.
Treasurer A.B.A.
Lewis F. Powell Jnr. and Harry A. Blackmun, both
Justices of The Supreme Court of the United
States.
Leon Jaworski, and one of his partners, Gibson
Gayle, Jnr., both of Houston, Texas — Mr.
Jaworski was the final Watergate Prosecutor,
and seemes to be one of the most famous
Lawyers in the U.S.
Robert Strauss — President Carter's Ambassador
for Middle East affairs, who made a very
interesting speech at the meeting.
Bert H. Early, Chicago, who is Executive Director
and Chief Executive of the A.B.A.
Some of the fellow guests from overseas were:
John Stebbings, President of the Law Society,
London.
David Hirst, Chairman of the Bar Council of
England and Wales.
Neil McKelvey of St. John, Newfoundland —
President of the International Bar Association.
Thomas J. Walsh of Calgary, Alberta — President
of the Canadian Bar Association.
Robert D. Nicholson, Melbourne, Australia —
President of thé Law Council of Australia.
Lawrence H. Southwick — President of the New
Zealand Law Society.
Apart from the above named, I have a full list of all
persons involved and their addresses, which I will hand on
to my successor in due course.
I feel it was useful that my wife and I met these
prominent people in legal affairs from the American and
other jurisdictions, and I feel that the level of contact
made by us on behalf of our profession in this country,
was a useful one.
Strangely enough, one of the most interesting meetings
that I attended, although the hour was a bit uncivilized,
was a Prayer Breakfast at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning in
the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dallas.
The principal non-religious item on the agenda for this
meeting was an address by one of the Justices of The
Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. H. A.
Blackmun, and his address on world affairs and the
history of the law in the United States in the last fifty
years was really one of the finest addresses I have heard,
even though in relation to the landmarks of recent
American history, he did appear to overlook a little
matter like the atom bomb at Hiroshima, and devoted
only a line or two to Vietnam.
One feature that struck me particularly about the
American Bar Association was the extremely good
relations between members of the Bench, whether Federal
or Local, and the members of the A.B.A. I believe, as I
always have, that the equality of primary qualification
and the fact that, in theory at least, any duly qualified
Lawyer in the United States can become a Judge of The
Supreme Court, are unifying influences in contrast to the
divisive character of our system in which the Bar and
ourselves are separated by different qualifications, dif-
ferent institutions and different attitudes. It is interesting to
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