The newly elected President of the State Bar of Michigan, Bruce W. Neckers, heads north to the Upper Peninsula from October 2nd through the 5th, where he will meet and address members of the legal community. The tour will also provide local Upper Peninsula Bar associations, the media, and the public an opportunity to meet the person leading the 34,000-member State Bar of Michigan.

During stops in Sault Ste.Marie, Escanaba, Iron Mountain, Houghton and Marquette, Neckers will stress the important and difficult role that lawyers play in times of national emergency. "We have learned from the hard lessons of history that the strong tide of fear and anger unleashed by horrific events like September 11, can bring about forces of intolerance and threaten to sweep away popular commitment to basic civil rights. In such times, lawyers earn their honored title of 'counselor' by serving as voices of reason, restraint and as guardians of constitutional integrity," Neckers said.

He urged lawyers who are called upon to represent "the unpopular, to remind society that the defense of the accused is the defense of our system of justice itself."

Neckers added that his major priorities for the year are to "help lawyers serve their clients, promote professionalism in the practice and advocate for an open, fair and accessible justice system."

During the tour, he will also outline and discuss the Bar's goals for the next few years as envisioned in the new State Bar of Michigan Strategic Plan 2004. Under the plan, broad goals and objectives have been identified in Programs and Services, Public Policy, Image and Identity, Human Resources, Fiscal Policy, and Structure and Governance.

The State Bar of Michigan Executive Director, John T. Berry and the chairperson of the Representative Assembly Julie I. Fershtman will accompany the new president. This will be Berry's first official trip to the Upper Peninsula since he joined the Bar in November 2000.