Lorraine Power Tharp, Esq. President-Elect, New York State Bar Association Whiteman Osterman & Hanna One Commerce Plaza Albany, New York 12260 Tel: (518) 487-7730 Fax: (518) 487-7777 Email: lptharp@woh.com

Statement

I am a dinosaur on these issues, but a dinosaur willing and eager to learn. I cannot imagine life without e-mail, my calendar and contacts list; however, I am in need of guidance and teaching on other computer skills and details, and I suspect that I am not alone. This area is, in my opinion, one where we as an Association can have the most striking of member benefits at this time: to have the upgraded website, to offer aid to junior and senior attorneys in how to select and purchase hardware and software, to offer senior attorneys the easiest of "how to" courses, to make the Association's work even more user-friendly through list serves, meetings and CLE on-line, etc. There could not be a better time for us to study these issues.

Biography

Lorraine Power Tharp is with the firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, Albany, New York. Her primary areas of practice are real estate, banking law and commercial lending. She graduated from Smith College, after spending her junior year in Geneva, Switzerland at the Institute des Hautes Etudes Internationales, and received her J.D. from Cornell Law School. Following graduation, she worked in New York City with the firm of Wickes, Riddell, Bloomer, Jacobi & McGuire (subsequently merged into Morgan, Lewis & Bockius) and later with the firm of McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams, P.C. of Albany, New York.

Ms. Tharp is currently President-Elect of the New York State Bar Association. She participated in the Strategic Planning Retreat held in February and May of 1995, and Co-Chaired the Task Force on Communications for the strategic planning process. Following the retreat, she was appointed by the President of the Association to the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee. Ms. Tharp was a member of the Executive Committee’s Subcommittee on Lawyer Advertising and Referral Services which was asked to explore issues on lawyer advertising and recommendations as to whether the Association should commission a study on the effects of such advertising. She was asked in 1997 by the President-Elect to serve as a representative from the Executive Committee to the Committee on Continuing Legal Education. Ms. Tharp participated in the Executive Committee’s Strategic Planning Session held in September of 1998, and made a presentation during that session on the topic of increased competition within the profession. She most recently chaired a group of Executive Committee members asked to review and suggest revisions to The New York Lawyers’ Fund pamphlet entitled "Avoiding Grief with a Lawyer - A Practical Guide".

Ms. Tharp is a past Chair of the Real Property Law Section of the Association. She is a past Co-Chair of that Section's Committees on Financing and Liens, and Land Use and Planning. Ms. Tharp is also a past member of the Association's Committee on Women in the Law. For that Committee, she served as moderator of the Committee's annual program in New York City in January of 1991 and is a past Chair of the Subcommittee on Women in the Profession. In connection with the Subcommittee's work, Ms. Tharp was the Project Chair of the group which drafted the Committee's report and model policy on sexual harassment, which was endorsed by the Executive Committee of the Association. Ms. Tharp was a practice consultant for New York Real Property Service, and is the author of "Lender Liability - Erosion of the 'Golden Rule'", New York State Bar Association Real Property Section Newsletter, 1988, and "Update on Fleet Factors", New York State Bar Association Real Property Section Newsletter, 1990.

Ms. Tharp was elected in 1994 to membership in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and is a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.

In 1997, Ms. Tharp was appointed by Chief Judge Judith Kaye to the 16 member New York State Continuing Legal Education ("CLE") Board. The CLE Board is charged with overseeing the accreditation process and other matters in connection with continuing legal education for attorneys admitted in the State of New York. Ms. Tharp has participated, as speaker and/or chair, in numerous State Bar lectures and other CLE programs from 1983 to date.

Ms. Tharp resides in Saratoga Springs, New York, and is the immediate past Chair of that City’s Planning Board. She is also a trustee of Saratoga Care, Inc. (Saratoga Hospital), a trustee of The Hyde Collection and a member of the Board of Directors of the Empire State College Foundation. Ms. Tharp has been involved in community affairs in Albany and in Saratoga Springs for many years, serving on the Board of Directors of Equinox, Leadership Saratoga, Saratoga County Arts Council and Home Made Theater. She has assisted in fund raising efforts for many organizations including Skidmore College and Smith College. Ms. Tharp is the recipient of the 1995 Leadership Saratoga Distinguished Alumni Award and the 2002 Soroptimist Woman of Distinction Award.


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