Carole Morris Welcomes Her New Role as President By: Melanie Kowal

As president-elect of the Atlanta chapter of the ALA, Carole Morris has set admirable goals. She’s committed to welcoming new members and visitors, ensuring that they benefit fully from the chapter’s resources. She is devoted to individually contacting all 250 members by the end of the year. But even more important is her personal goal.

“I want to make it through the end of the year without making a complete idiot of myself,” Morris relates.

It’s good to see that Morris has a sense of humor, because an easygoing nature is key to successfully guiding the group into 2007. Morris, who herself has benefited greatly from the ALA, is eager to extend its resources to new members and continue the excellent programs already established. However, her rise to the role of president didn’t happen overnight. Morris, the Firm Administrator of Mabry & McClelland, attended her first ALA meeting in 1987. She was thrilled at the prospect of finding an organization of her peers, but disillusioned by the results.

“I was disappointed,” Morris relates. “I’m not an outgoing person; I was very timid at the meeting. Not one person spoke to me. I did not go back for 11 years.”

What has transpired since that fateful 1987 meeting? Let’s start at the beginning.

Since the age of eight, Morris knew that she wanted to be a secretary. As fate would have it, a legal secretary from the office of Greer, Henning and Morris called Hapeville High School the summer before Morris’ senior year. The secretary was going to have surgery that summer and decided to contact her former school for a temporary replacement. The school contacted Morris, and her childhood dream of becoming a secretary came true that summer.

“The courts were in recess and there wasn’t a lot for me to do,” she recalls. “It was boring a lot of the time, but really exciting, too. My first day of work, the carbon ribbon on the electric typewriter ran out. I’d never seen an electric typewriter. We had to call IBM and have someone walk us through how to change it.”

Morris’ summer experience proved to be the springboard to achieving her longtime career dream. She received a call from name partner Ed Henning in March of her senior year. The firm had split, and Henning wanted her to join the new firm of Henning and Martin. Five days after graduation Morris began her new career.

Morris has worked for the firm ever since, through family changes, mergers and changing technology. In 1967 she experienced her first merger, as the firm consolidated with Bo Chambers and Speer Mabry, becoming Henning, Chambers and Mabry. Shortly after, Morris took a brief hiatus when she had her two daughters. But Henning couldn’t do without her. In a very avant garde move, she began working from home and was eventually wooed back into full-time service.

In 1978 Morris was promoted to office manager. She retained some of her secretarial duties, but the firm had grown so much that it needed an administrative leader.

“I was both excited and scared,” Morris explains. “I wasn’t sure I could do it, even though I was doing a lot of the work already. It was challenging.”

At that time, Morris did not have the benefit of the ALA or any professional organizations to assist her. She faced many challenges in her new role, particularly the resistance of the staff. Having worked in the ranks for many years, some of the secretaries were opposed to Morris’ newfound authority over them. Many of them left. She had to learn on her own how to handle this type of personnel situation, as well as how to secure the backing of the partners. Her position had not yet been completely defined, and Morris struggled to find her place within the firm. In the early ‘80s she dropped her secretarial duties to devote herself completely to running the office, which had grown from three to 30 over the past few years.

It was at this time that Morris had her fateful ALA meeting experience. For 11 years she did not attend meetings, but did benefit from the correspondence generated from the Atlanta chapter and ALA national. What made her go back?

In 1998 she enrolled her assistant and they began attending chapter meetings together. Reserved by nature, the presence of her assistant, and later their outgoing IT professional, made the social awkwardness bearable. As a dynamic team of three, things started to change. She slowly began to find her comfort zone within the group, eventually becoming involved in committees and activities.

“Our IT person won a scholarship to Baltimore in 2001 and, upon his return, told me that he’d volunteered me to write an article for the newsletter. I thought I was going to kill him.”

It turned out that he was just bluffing about having volunteered Morris, but she had already submitted the article. This spawned her involvement in the Community Relations Committee, for which she served as chair the following year. In late 2002, Morris agreed to serve on the board in the capacity of secretary.

“I said I would do anything, as long as I didn’t have to get up in front of people and talk,” recalls Morris. Little did she know what the future had in store.

Last year she agreed to the position of vice president/president-elect. She looks forward to commencing her role as president in April 2006.

Morris is a strong proponent of the section meetings, a great opportunity to get to know members in a more intimate setting. She has been attending the small firm section since her firm split five years ago. She greatly benefits from the collaboration of the financial and small firm sections since, in her opinion, “small firm administrators need all the help they can get.”

Morris faced unique challenges in 2000, when her firm of 76 people dwindled to 28. Feeling like a child amidst a divorce, she had to part ways with longtime co-workers and friends, plus ease the trepidation of the members of her own firm. While it was at times disheartening, she was able to rely on the expertise and advice of her ALA peers.

Morris has overcome many hurdles to reach the goal of presidency. She has assuaged her fears of public speaking by serving as session manager at ALA national and regional conventions. She has tempered her shyness through extensive involvement in committees. As president she hopes to ease the insecurity of new members by extending a warm welcome.

“I have to make a conscious effort to introduce myself to new people and welcome them,” Morris says, remembering her awkward first meeting. “I don’t want them to go through what I went through. I want them to feel welcomed.”

The shy secretary from Hapeville has certainly come a long way. In addition to her expanding role with the ALA, she has ambitions of taking the CLM sometime in the near future. What advice does she have for less-than-active members?

“It’s never too late to get active in the ALA. No matter your age or tenure with your firm. You get back more than you give.”

Melanie Kowal works as a freelance writer in Atlanta. She can be reached at melaniekowal@hotmail.com.

Editor: Brian Gedeon (BHGedeon@duanemorris.com) (This publication is the property of the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators. Reproduction or reprint without prior permission is strictly prohibited. Click here to request reprint permission.)

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