I love a fresh start. Letting go of the past. Buying a new spiral notebook for a new school year. Trying a new recipe. Writing a list of new year’s resolutions. Going on a trip somewhere I’ve never been before. Beginning a trial. For me, these moments hold an exciting promise. An opportunity for action.

July is the start of a new fiscal year at The Florida Bar. We have new leaders, and I’m honored to be among them. The Young Lawyers Division is starting some exciting new projects, and we want your help getting out our message. There is something very special about the work that young lawyers do, and the energy and excitement young lawyers bring to any new endeavor. One of the Young Lawyers Division’s projects this year is a renewed focus on pro bono service. We know our Local Bar Affiliates will have new projects, too, and we look forward to hearing about them at our Affiliate Outreach Conference at Walt Disney World January 12-15, 2017. Please continue to check our blog and our website for more information about what the YLD does this year.

I hope that this year brings some exciting fresh starts for each of you reading this, both personally and professionally. It may be a year of saying “yes” or a year of saying “no“. It may be establishing a new law firm, and we have an exceptional website with information about starting a law firm, www.startmyfloridalawfirm.com. It may be learning a new practice area, and our basic skills courses are offered live in Tampa and then online on demand.

Here’s a fresh idea – the Basic Skills Courses are now available packaged as entire courses or broken down into one-hour increments. You can fulfill your Basic Skills Requirement with 3 courses or 21 individual credits. Even a few years past my Basic Skills Requirement, I’ve found entire courses and individual credits to be helpful to me in learning new areas of law. I also encourage you to find new mentors and sponsors, and to become a mentor and sponsor to someone else in the profession.

Wherever your year leads you, I wish you the best, and that a year from now some of today’s exciting promises have been fulfilled!  – Katherine

Katherine Hurst Miller is the 2016-17 President of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division. She is a partner at the law firm of Cobb Cole in Daytona Beach, where she practices business litigation, as well as condo/homeowners association law.