On January 9th we celebrated the retirement of Chief Judge DeWaters from active duty. In case you missed the event there will be a retirement dinner on March 21, 2002 for Judge Robert E. Cahill, sr. who reaches mandatory retirement age on January 20, 2002.

I thought it would be appropriate to provide as my message this month some of my thoughts that I included in my remarks on January 9, 2002 on behalf of the Bar Association and so the following comments were actually made on behalf of each member.

This past August while in Ocean City, Maryland (for a change) I was informed by the media that Chief Judge DeWaters had announced his decision to retire. I had not yet received his August 14, 2001 letter informing me officially of his retirement so it initially surprised me when our mutual good friend, the late Sam Hill, stopped me on the Boardwalk outside his house on 8th Street and reminisced with me how much he thought of Judge DeWaters as a person, as an attorney and as both a District and Circuit Court Judge not to mention as our Chief Judge for the last twelve years.

I got to thinking how many respected attorneys like Sam Hill, who recently died this past November, Thanksgiving Day actually, had mentioned to me and to others in our Association over the years their fondness for Judge DeWaters. So, I spent some time over the holidays reflecting and then remembering the following lawyers who, from time to time over my 25 years as a lawyer, had mentioned to me (long before anyone knew I would be President of the Baltimore County Bar Association at this moment in time) their gratitude for Judge DeWaters being who he was to them and to their clients. Among the lawyers who would, if the could, send their best wishes are: Stan Radcliffe, Bob Evans, Tom Harrison, Jim Cook, George White, Pat O'Dougherty, Bill Hammond, Earle Plumhoff, Eric DiNenna, Richard Cadigan, Bruce Kaufman, and as I already mentioned our dear mutual friend Sam Hill. In addition, I have had the benefit over my years as an attorney to discuss with various Masters and Judges the benefit, not just to our Bar Association, but to our Bench as well because of Judge DeWaters' involvement. Among them were John Maguire, Harker Langrall, Judy Ritchie, Jim Sfekas, Cullen Hormes, John Raine, Jr., Don Gilmore, Austin Brizendene, Ed Hardesty, Bill Evans, Sr., and a favorite colleague of his, Bill Brannan. These lawyers and Judges obviously cannot be here to salute Judge DeWaters but humbly on their behalf, and naturally on behalf of the 1,370 men and women who are the Baltimore County Bar Association, I can only thank him for the leadership he has given us most recently as Chief Judge of our Circuit Court for Baltimore County. His intelligence, quiet courtesy and demeanor are only matched by his judicial and administrative capacity to improve our professional standard of living. For most of us, who have only known as Chief Judges, Judges Raine, Cicone and DeWaters, we salute him. To my knowledge, only Argentina, with its number of presidents in the last three weeks, outnumbers our County in the number of Chief Judges to be addressed as such during the 20 weeks since his retirement on Halloween of last year.

Just like former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York City, Judge DeWaters is showing us the class with which he obviously leads his life in that he is also retiring on a high note. It has been indeed a pleasure, personally and professionally, to have had the opportunity to represent clients before him.

The only good thing for us attorneys who practice before the Circuit Court for Baltimore County is that we will have the opportunity to continue to deal with Judge DeWaters as one of our Settlement Judges. God speed.

I will look for each of you at the Retirement Dinner for the Hon. Robert E. Cahill, Sr., which will be held on Thursday, March 11, 2002, 6:00 pm, at the Holiday Inn Select, Timonium.