When I was growing up in a small Scottish village, the New Year celebration, steeped in custom and superstition, was our most important holiday. Each "Hogmanay" we said goodbye to the old year and "saw in" the New Year with special food, drink, music and song. In our family, we stayed in our spotlessly clean home, dressed in our best clothes, until we were visited, usually shortly after midnight, by our "first-foot" who would come bearing a piece of coal for the fire, some shortbread or other delicacy, and, of course, the ubiquitous whisky bottle. Throughout the night the growing party moved from house-to-house, rarely finishing much before dawn. All of this unaccustomed revelry served as a last fling before getting down to the business of making resolutions and setting goals for the New Year.

Here at SCBA, we are also anxious to make good use of the opportunities that the New Year will bring. Under President Bruce Cline, we had an outstanding year 2000, finishing with a flurry of events that you will see highlighted in this edition. As she explains in her president's message, Barbara Yonemura intends to keep the momentum going. She challenges all of us to live up to the SCBA mission statement "To enhance the system of justice, the lawyers who serve it and the community served by it."

Our lawyer of the year, Windie O Scott, inspired the audience with her acceptance speech at the annual meeting. We have reprinted part of it so that you can all share in her inspiration. Taking pride in our profession is important for all of us.

One of the best ways of enhancing both lawyers and the community is demonstrated by our wonderful volunteers. Amy Radbill and Mary Cook tell us about what's happening at VLSP. And Janan "Ben" Radu informs us about the activities of the successful Peer Court program.

Another way we can make ourselves and the community better is by instigating improvements to existing law. W. Stuart Home shows how this can be done by becoming a member of the Sacramento County Bar Association's delegation to the State Bar conference of delegates.

The New Year sees a new location for the Sacramento County Law Library. You can read all about the library's exciting developments in Shirley David's article. Enhanced services will benefit us all.

And last, but certainly not least, in our nuts and bolts article, Irwin Karp gives us some great suggestions to help us keep our perpetual New Year's resolution of becoming better organized. Everyone can benefit from his advice.

Here at Sacramento Lawyer we hope that this is the start of a great New Year for all of our members. Don't forget to renew!