As 2015 gets underway, it is time to renew your CDCBAA membership. We have had a wonderful 2014. Our seminars have included the Eighth Annual Review of the Ninth Circuit, When is Conversion Kosher, Who is the US Trustee, Meet the Chapter 13 Trustee's Attorneys, Meet the Judge's Clerks, Ask the Chapter 7 Trustee, and Litigating Contempt. Our first Annual James T. King Bankruptcy Symposium: In Re Bellingham from the Insiders was a great success. As always, the Earle Hagen Golf, Tennis and Poker Tournament was not only a great success raising a record amount of money for Public Counsel, but it was also a lot of fun. Finally, our Annual Calvin Ashland Award Dinner was well attended by not only our members, but also the judges and trustees and honored our soon to be appointed Chief Judge Sheri Bluebond.

Desmond Hayes has been hard at work on our website and has made a new renewal page for 2015. He has added a slide to the home page. The new page also allows members to pay for other members. There is a link next to the Paypal button that allows members to search for other members to add to their order. See, https://bklawyers.org/renew.

The 2015 CDCBAA Board is already preparing for 2015. Jonathan Hayes will kick off our seminars on January 24, 2015 with the Ninth Annual Review of the Ninth Circuit with Judge Victoria Kaufman and newly appointed Judge Martin Barash. Roksana Moradi is hard at work putting together seminars on HOAs, Drafting Effective Settlement Agreements, and the Unscheduled Lawsuit. Jonathan Hayes is working on the second Annual James T. King Bankruptcy Symposium which will be titled "Dear Congress!" Stella Havkin and Michael Gouveia have edited this Newsletter and will be working on publishing at least two more. And if that were not enough, our listserv is an invaluable opportunity to share interesting issues with fellow members.

Finally, it is my great pleasure to announce that the 2015 CDCBAA Board unanimously voted James T. King the Calvin Ashland Award winner for 2015. Jim has contributed so much to this organization and to the bankruptcy profession. He has been a mentor to many of us in the bankruptcy community. He is so well respected that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California presented Jim with a Resolution for his contributions to our community. We are proud to add our list of prior Calvin Ashland Award winners. Congratulations Jim!!!

For all of the reasons listed above, please consider renewing your CDCBAA membership early. For those of you looking for a wonderful gift for a colleague, consider the gift of CDCBAA membership. Moreover, for those loyal members, consider introducing colleagues to the CDCBAA and encourage them sign up for what promises to be a fantastic 2015.

Thank you all!!!

Nancy B. Clark