ABA President's Blog
|
7/29/2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Day Not on the Road
After getting back to Birmingham on Wednesday night, Thursday at lunch I was upstairs from my office at The Summit Club atop the Regions/Harbert Plaza to participate in a panel discussion on the effects of the Caperton v. Massey Coal decision, which the Supreme Court had rendered in June. In addition to myself, the panelists included J. Mark White, the Immediate Past President of the Alabama State Bar, Kevin C. Newsom, an appellate practitioner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Birmingham, and Harold See, former Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Interestingly, all of us had been signatories to amicus briefs in the Caperton case.
The panel included two amici who supported the petitioner (ABA and Mark White), and two who had supported the respondent (Kevin Newsome, counsel for several states, and Harold See). As expected, both Justice See and, to a lesser extent Kevin, criticized the opinion, although Kevin forthrightly admitted that he would likely be using it in filing recusal motions in his own practice.
I took the opportunity to remind the lawyers present that since 1996 Alabama has had a recusal statute on the books involving campaign contributions, with the limit being $4,000 for appellate judges and $2,000 for a trial court judge. The problem is that this statute has never been implemented, and no rules have been promulgated. Nevertheless, Alabama is one of only two states which has such a statute on the books, the other being Mississippi, and both statutes were cited by the Supreme Court in the Caperton opinion by Justice Kennedy.
The discussion was lively and went on for the better part of an hour. We even had Justice See and Mark White agree on at least two matters, which may be a first.
Now, I am preparing for the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago July 29-August 4, where I will pass the gavel to incoming ABA President Carolyn Lamm. This, this will be my last blog as ABA President.
If you want to follow the ABA Annual, however, I will be tweeting as TommyWellsABA on Twitter.
July 21-22, 2009
Days 123-124 on the Road in 2009
Tuesday morning Jan and I were back at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport for yet another Delta flight through Atlanta to Washington's Reagan National Airport. The impetus for this trip was an invitation from Brigadier General Jim Walker, the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, to be the guest of honor at the weekly Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday night. Our flight up was on time, indeed, even a bit early.
That afternoon we were met in the lobby of the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington by a Marine Corps Captain, Jason Foscolo, who escorted us over to the Woman's Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, where a reception was held. There we met members of the Marine Corps legal community. Also present was Chair of the House William Hubbard who had come to town for the event. William and General Walker attended law school together at the University of South Carolina.
It was a wonderful reception, and good to meet so many of the officers in the JAG Corps, as well as their supporting personnel. General Walker gave some brief remarks in introducing me, heaping praise on our military pro bono project, which provides pro bono civilian legal assistance to active duty military who may need representation in civilian court at their duty location.
I gave some brief remarks also, commenting upon my active duty of service stationed at the Pentagon from 1975 to 1977. Afterwards, General Walker presented me with a beautiful replica of the Marine Corps Memorial.
Then we moved over near Arlington Cemetery for the actual Sunset Parade. We were first given an overview of the ceremony, and briefed on our "duties." Then we were seated for the parade.
To call it a "parade" is really a misnomer. It is certainly a review of the troops, beginning with a performance by the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, followed by a precision drill by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Following that the brigades marched in review. It was quite an event, culminated by a lone female bugler atop the Iwo Jima Memorial playing taps in honor of all who had fallen. Further information on the Parade can be seen at www.mbw.usmc.mil/parade_sunsetdefault.asp.
Since I was necessarily spending the night, the D.C. staff had set up two media interviews, and a visit to FTC Commissioner Rosch to discuss the Red Flags Rule for Wednesday. (No telling what they will schedule for incoming President Carolyn Lamm, who lives in D.C.)
First, I met with David Ingram, a staff reporter for The Legal Times/National Law Journal to discuss Red Flags and financial regulatory proposals. This resulted in the story noting that the ABA was preparing to file suit against the FTC.
After lunch it was back over to the FTC to visit with FTC Commissioner Rosch, along with Tom Susman and Ann Carmichael of the D.C. staff. This meeting was quite short, since it was our sixth meeting with the FTC staff and/or Commissioners. I kidded Tom Susman afterwards that we could have walked in and said "usual questions" and Commissioner Rosch could have said "usual answers" and we could have then left. In any event, it was worthwhile to make sure we had seen all of the FTC Commissioners prior to the enforcement date of the Rule, now set for August 1.
Later that afternoon, before I got off on the 7:00 p.m. flight to Birmingham through Atlanta, I met with Bill McMichael of Military Times. Here we discussed the various issues on which the ABA supports our troops and military, pointing out the seven primary committees that we have on military law, as well as our work with the TJAGs. We had a very good discussion which ranged from military child custody to repeal to the Feres Doctrine. Bill had conveniently agreed to meet with us near a Metro stop in Pentagon City, since it would put me close to Reagan National Airport and the ability to get there in time to catch my flight back to Birmingham. It was a short, two-stop Metro ride to Reagan National to make my flight.
The flight was on time, and uneventful, getting me back to Birmingham around 11:00 p.m. The Sunset Parade had been quite an event to attend. 7/28/2009
July 18, 2009
Day 122 on the Road in 2009
After the conclusion of the Alabama State Bar Meeting, Jan and I got in the car and headed north toward Birmingham from Point Clear. We had a very special duty that night: to babysit for our newest grandchild, Thomas Hutton Wells, and to give his parents a much needed night off. Thus, we were somewhat anxious to get back so that we could be timely in our babysitting duties.
However, that was not to be. We were making good time once we got to Interstate 65 North, until we got about 9 miles south of Montgomery. Unfortunately we saw a sign indicating there was construction ahead, and the traffic came to a dead standstill. It appeared that the Alabama Department of Transportation had elected to make that Saturday the day they would close all but one lane of the Interstate from the Airport Exit south of Montgomery all the way through Montgomery. Thus, reduced to a driving crawl, we took almost two hours to go nine miles to get to the other side of Montgomery.
Thus, it appears you don't have to be flying to have your own travel difficulties. The good news was we still made it in time for our babysitting duties and to take care of Thomas Hutton Wells.
July 15-18, 2009
Days 119-122 on the Road in 2009
On Wednesday afternoon Jan and I drove to Marriott's Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama, for the Annual Meeting of the Alabama State Bar. This was a meeting that I was particularly looking forward to for at least three reasons: (1) Jan was getting to go with me; (2) we could drive and not fly; and (3) I was not on any of the programs.
We arrived on Wednesday in time to have dinner at the Grand Hotel with our friend, Claude Burns. We also ran into Oscar Price and his wife, Emily, and so the five of us had a very enjoyable dinner.
The next morning the meeting kicked off with the Opening Plenary Session. Scheduled to make the presentation was Barry Richard of Greenburg, Traurig of Tallahassee, discussing the evolution of the writ of habeas corpus and other laws, together with the balance of power between the branches of government. However, Mr. Richard, being a trial lawyer, was stuck in a trial and could not extricate himself. At the last minute, President Mark White imposed upon Dean Charles Gamble to take over for the Plenary Session.
Dean Gamble gave his usual extraordinary presentation, prepared in less than 24 hours. He discussed the cost of multi-million dollar Supreme Court races in Alabama. In this presentation Dean Gamble talked about the indirect cost of these multi-million dollar Supreme Court judicial races as follows:
(1) The potential to diminish the weight of intellect and experience in candidates for the Court.
(2) The lost weight of incumbency.
(3) Election by whim (noting that we in Alabama have not been too greatly embarrassed, yet).
(4) It poisons, distorts, and corrupts the overall political environment and negatively impacts the internal workings of the Court.
(5) It affects the results.
Suffice it to say, this summary rendition of Dean Gamble's conclusions do not do anything close to justice to his oral advocacy skills in presenting them.
Also, that morning, President Mark White, despite my desire not to be a participant in any of the events, imposed upon me to assist him with the presentation of the official hats and cameras to the Alabama State Bar "consultants," lead by the 11-year-old son of State Representative Jeff McLaughlin, a former colleague when he was a lawyer at Maynard Cooper, but now a state Representative from Scottsboro. These consultants, all of which were younger than Jeff's oldest son, were designated "the fun police" and took their job quite seriously. It was wonderful to see that there were over 200 attendees under the age of 13 at the Alabama State Bar meeting.
The second Plenary Session, on Friday, dealt with diversity as a competitive advantage. The keynote speaker was Cornell Boggs III, Chief Responsibility and Ethics Officer of MillerCoors. Cornell had recently relocated to Chicago from Denver. This session alerted all of us to a number of issues that perhaps had not occurred to us and definitely increased our overall confidences as informed and enlightened attorneys in today's multi-cultural environment. I at least had a chance to briefly speak to Cornell, the younger brother of my good friend Paula Boggs, who is the General Counsel of Starbuck's in Seattle. Paula is also very active in the American Bar Association.
Friday also meant that I got to play some golf with former ABA Board of Governors member Wade Baxley, his son Hamp, and ABA Alabama State Bar Delegate Billy Coplin at the Lakewood Golf Course at the Grand Hotel. This golf scramble was to benefit the Kids' Chance Program of the Alabama Law Foundation, a very worthy cause. It was great to spend a relaxing afternoon with Wade, Hamp, and Billy, especially since we were benefiting Kids' Chance, a program that provides scholarships to children whose parent has been killed or disabled in an job-related accident.
On Saturday morning, we had the Grande Convocation, the highlight of which was the installation of Thomas J. Methvin as the 133rd President of the Alabama State Bar, and the election of Alyce Spruell of Tuscaloosa as the President-Elect to the Alabama State Bar. Alyce will, at the conclusion of the Alabama State Bar meeting next, become the first female President of the Alabama State Bar. This was truly a momentous day in the history of the Alabama State Bar. 7/24/2009
July 7-11, 2009
Days 114-118 on the Road in 2009
Tuesday, July 7, brought yet another flight out of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, this time to San Francisco where I had been invited to address the Commonwealth Club. Meanwhile, that same day, Jan was taking the later Southwest flight to Chicago for final preparations for the events at the ABA Annual Meeting. Both of our flights were uneventful and pretty much on time, unfortunately a rare event.
Although my trip was primarily set up around the Commonwealth Club speech, our Media and Communications staff had set up a few other media events for me to do. Wednesday morning was the first of those, when I met with Stephanie Ortbals-Tibbs of the ABA D.C. office Media staff, and we headed over to KGO Radio for a one hour live radio call-in with Ronn Owens, a San Francisco fixture. We did about 30 minutes of interview and about 30 minutes of radio call-in with questions ranging from the ABA's position on medical malpractice suits, to the ABA accreditation of law schools.
From there, Stephanie and I walked over to the San Francisco Daily Journal for an editorial roundtable with the San Francisco Daily Journal and the California Lawyer. Although scheduled to only last for an hour over lunch, we ran well over with a wide ranging discussion of a number of issues.
Later that afternoon, it was over to the San Francisco Superior Courthouse to view the landlord/tenant project of the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Tiela Chalmers, Executive Director of the VLSP, met us at the courthouse, and we were able to see how VLSP is able to provide pro bono representation for every unrepresented tenant facing eviction in San Francisco. VLSP collaborates with other service providers to address the need for attorney representation and eviction in cases. All the cases are called in a single courtroom, on the Wednesday before they are set for trial the following Monday. Upon being called, pro bono lawyers are assigned to all unrepresented tenants, and landlords and tenants move to another area of the courthouse where volunteer mediators, or "judges pro tem" attempt to mediate the dispute. Typical issues of clients facing eviction include non-payment of rent, nuisance, habitual late payment, and owner move-ins. Volunteer attorneys provide representation to clients during their eviction proceedings, providing those attorneys with excellent litigation experience. Training for the volunteer lawyers is provided by the VLSP, and volunteers are asked to commit to representing two clients within a year of training. This is a great pro bono program and it was good to learn more about it.
The next morning, Thursday, July 9, I once again met with Stephanie to do another live on air interview on "The Forum" on KQED Radio with Michael Krasney. This was another combined interview/call-in show on the local NPR affiliate. Once again we received a wide range of questions from the callers including health care reform and medical malpractice litigation, the earnings of judges, prosecutorial misconduct, and the precedent set by the Nuremburg trials where lawyers were held accountable for war crimes.
That afternoon, I took a break from my ABA commitments, and went by the Embarcadero YMCA, where a computer lab was installed and dedicated to Jan and me during the 2007 San Francisco meeting, at the end of which I became President-elect of the ABA. This effort was spearheaded by my alma mater, the University of Alabama School of Law, led by Dean Ken Randall, with great assistance from Corrine Cooper. The Embarcadero YMCA actually conducts a high school called Youths Chance High School where disadvantaged youth in the San Francisco area have the possibility of getting a GED. This computer lab was a great addition to that already existing program, and this visit showed that it was also being used for younger children at the YMCA summer camp, as well as providing internet access to local residents seeking jobs.
That night, was my presentation to the Commonwealth Club. The speech to the Commonwealth Club can be found on commonweathclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/ideology-and-ethnicity-supreme-court.html.
Friday I was able to spend some time with Immediate Past President Bill Neukom, now the Managing General Partner of the San Francisco Giants. In fact, that night we were able to attend the San Francisco Giants game against the San Diego Padres and celebrate "Pro Bono Appreciation Night," sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, at AT&T Park. It was a great recognition for the pro bono work being done, not only in San Francisco, but all across the country. The night was topped off by the fact that Jonathan Sanchez pitched the first no-hitter for the Giants since 1976!
Saturday meant the trip back from San Francisco to Birmingham, which, given the time change, essentially takes all day. Nevertheless, it was good to be home Saturday night. 7/14/2009
June 30-July 2, 2009
Days 111-113 on the Road in 2009
Tuesday afternoon, June 30, I was back to the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport flying to Reagan National through Atlanta on Delta. We arrived on time, and uneventfully, thankfully. I then grabbed a cab to the Madison Hotel, where all of the participants in the Silver Gavel Awards were staying.
(This time I actually looked at my trip backgrounder; the last time I was booked at the Madison I had not reviewed my travel arrangements carefully enough, and told the cab driver to take me to the Mayflower, where of course they had no record of any reservation.)
This was another multi-tasking trip. While the primary purpose was for the Silver Gavel Awards, we had also managed to arrange a meeting at the Federal Trade Commission with David Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, regarding the so-called "Red Flags" rule. Thus, the morning was spent in preparation for the meeting at the FTC, which was right after lunch. In addition to me and Tom Susman, our Governmental Affairs Office Director in D.C., we also had Steve Krane of Proskauer Rose in New York, Don Lampe of Womble Carlyle in Greensboro, and Andrew Smith of Morrison & Foerster's Washington office. These guys were the true experts on the FTC's Red Flag's rule, and the legislative history of the Acts involved.
After our working lunch, we grabbed a couple of cabs to the FTC at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the meeting. Vladeck and his staff were very cordial, but it was clear we had differences regarding both congressional intent, as well as the potential costs to lawyers of complying with the Red Flags rule. The Red Flag rule arises out of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), and targets identity theft, but also has definitions which are incorporated from other Acts, making the legislative history muddled at best. The FTC, at the request of the ABA, delayed enforcement of the rule until August 1, in order for us to get in comments concerning its applicability to lawyers. Thus, we had put together an informal working group including Steve, Don and Andrew to assess the impact of the rule on lawyers, and to determine how vigorously we should oppose the rule. Our investigation revealed that this rule could have a great impact on lawyers, and that we had a strong legal basis, as well as a strong factual basis (no evidence of identity theft in legal representation) for disputing the application of the Red Flags rule to attorneys who employ normal billing for services previously rendered.
After this meeting, which lasted well past the one hour allotted, we agreed to employ further strategies to seek exemption of lawyers from this potentially onerous rule.
Later that afternoon, it was over to the National Press Club for the Silver Gavel Awards. The ABA's Silver Gavel Awards for media and the arts recognize outstanding efforts to foster public understanding of the law. In the category of books, the Silver Gavel went to Kafka Comes To America: Fighting For Justice On The War On Terror, A Public Defender's Inside Account, by Steven T. Wax. This book of nonfiction details Wax's defense of two clients charged with terrorist acts. One was a Sudanese detainee at Guantanamo; the second was a U.S. citizen and lawyer wrongfully accused of complicity in the Madrid train bombings. Honorable mention went to The Origins of Reasonable Doubt, by James Q. Whitman, which explores how our legal system came to use the standard in criminal cases.
The Silver Gavel for commentary, a new category this year, went to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for their "open discovery columns," Regina Brett columnist. Prior to these columns, Ohio prosecutors were not required to disclose evidence to defense counsel.
In the category of documentaries, the Silver Gavel went to the film, Writ Writer, Susanne Mason, producer/director; Dagoberto Gilb, Writer, Jessie Borrego, Narrator, and Deborah Eve Lewis, Cinematographer. This chronicles the story of Fred Cruz, who, as an inmate in Texas state prisons, filed legal challenges to prison conditions.
The Silver Gavel for drama and literature went to The Response, a dramatic rendering of actual transcripts from the Guantanamo Military Commissions. The Writer/Producer is Sig Libowitz, with Adam Rogers, Director, Steve Bell, Editor, Richard Chisom, Cinematographer, Aaron Symonds, Composer, and starring Asif Mandavi, Kate Mulgrew, Peter Riegert and Sig Libowitz as the cast. Sig is now at Venable, but previously was a cast member on The Sopranos.
The Sliver Gavel for newspapers went to The San Jose Mercury News, Karen de Sa, for her series on "Broken Families, Broken Courts," investigating the California juvenile dependency courts.
Finally in the category of radio, and honorable mention went to American Purgatory: Political Assylum In The Age of Terrorism, Sarah Elzas and Olivia Bueno, co-producers.
Our keynote speaker for the Awards was Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker Legal Affairs Correspondent, CNN Analyst, and former Silver Gavel Award winner for this book The Nine. Jeff gave a very insightful and cogent talk, emphasizing the role of the story in reporting and in law.
For pictures and stories about the Silver Gavel Awards on the web, see www.bisnow.com/washington_dc_legal_news_story.php?p=4749. 7/13/2009
June 26-27, 2009
Days 109-110 on the Road in 2009
On Friday morning, June 26, I departed Birmingham to Chicago's O'Hare Airport on United in order to head up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, for the Illinois State Bar Association Annual Meeting. This black tie dinner on Friday night was to honor President Jack Carey and welcome John G. O'Brien, the incoming ISBA President for 2009-2010. It was a great honor to attend the ISBA Annual Meeting, particularly since they had graciously presented the ABA with a replica of the Abraham Lincoln bust that they had presented to the Illinois Supreme Court. The replica bust is proudly displayed in the ABA Center lobby. Moreover, since our Annual Meeting is in Chicago, it was particularly appropriate that I was able to attend the ISBA Annual Meeting.
Early Saturday morning (6:30 a.m.), I began the trip back down to Chicago to attend the caucus that the ABA had convened to discuss the affects of the recession on the legal profession, and whether this is shifting the paradigm. Our caucus moderator was Robert Nelson, the Executive Director of the American Bar Foundation. After welcoming remarks, we got down to work. The first panel, including Tom Clay of Altman Weil, James Leipold of the National Association of Law Placement, and Bob Nelson, was devoted to demographics and data presentations. It was followed by an issues panel, including James Durant, the Chair-elect of the ABA General Practice, Solo, and Small Firm Division; Hugh Verrier, the Chairman of White & Case; and Michelle Coleman Mayes, General Counsel of Allstate.
That was followed by a working lunch and issues roundtable where all of the participants were asked to discuss the issues. We concluded with a solutions panel with me and Susan Hackett, the Vice President and General Counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Susan presented the ACC's challenge materials, and then we once again broke out into roundtables to discuss solutions.
Quite a number of ideas came out of this caucus, and the participation of the many representatives from private practice, academia, legal consulting, and others were greatly appreciated. This will hopefully provide a good basis for the Task Force President-Elect Carolyn Lamm is establishing, which will begin in August. 7/6/2009
June 18-21, 2009
Days 106-108 on the Road in 2009
I needed to return to Birmingham for a quick, one-day visit to attend a reception with the National Forensic League, which was conducting its national high school debate tournament in Birmingham. In high school, at Gadsden (Alabama) High, I was a debater. At that event, the NFL presented me their "Communicator of the Year" award.
On Thursday, June 18, it was back to D.C., again flying Delta through Atlanta. This trip was primarily to attend the ABA National Summit on Diversity in the Legal Profession, which was being held at the new Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor, Maryland, about 8 miles from Reagan National Airport. This Presidential Summit grew out of an intramural diversity summit that the ABA diversity entities had conducted during my year as President-elect, under the leadership under then President Bill Neukom. One of the items that resulted from this intramural ABA Diversity Summit was the need to "take the show on the road" and perhaps consider a new national summit. Thus, this National Summit on Diversity in the Legal Profession was convened.
However, in true multi-tasking fashion, we had also scheduled an informal meeting with the leadership of the American Association of Justice at the ABA Offices in Washington. AAJ is the former ATLA, and we were going to discuss shared substantive issues on which each entity is lobbied. It was an informative session, with a couple of shared issues being discussed.
Then it was out to National Harbor for the Opening Reception of the Summit on Diversity. After both Carolyn Lamm, ABA President-elect, and I gave opening remarks, we called upon former ABA President Dennis Archer, the first African-American to be elected President of the ABA. As always, Dennis' remarks were entertaining as well as substantive.
The next morning, Friday, June 19, the Summit really got to work. In addition, to my welcome and opening remarks, we also had remarks from the Summit Planning Committee co-chairs, Eduardo Rodriguez of Texas and Honorable James A. Wynn, Jr. of North Carolina.
Our kick-off keynote speaker was someone we had heard from earlier in the week at the National Conference on Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities, Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. Kareem gave another great talk to this, a somewhat different audience.
The Diversity Summit was to explore first, "Reasoning: Why Diversity ?" with a panel of speakers, and then have breakout working group sessions with discussion topics. It was a good format, with some intriguing ideas.
At lunch, our keynote speaker was Weldon Latham, senior partner and Chair of the Corporate Diversity Counseling Group at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. Weldon was one of our honorary co-chairs for this Diversity Summit, and he gave a great talk. In a very small world moment, I learned for the first time that Weldon had preceded me in the U.S. Air Force Honors Program as a lawyer in the Air Force General Counsel's Office. He had been the first African-American lawyer in the Air Force honors program, where I served from October 1975 to October 1977.
After lunch we proceeded to the second topic of "Retaining Diversity; How To Improve Retention Of Diverse Persons". Again, the scenario was to have a moderator and panel, followed by four breakout working group sessions with "retention" discussion topics.
That evening, we had an early dinner, with out keynote speaker as Congressman G. K. Butterfield of North Carolina. Congressman Butterfield gave a very good address to the dinner audience.
On Saturday morning, we began with another keynote, this time from Honorable Cruz Reynoso, former Justice of the California Supreme Court and now professor of law at the University of California Davis. To say that Judge Reynoso "took the gloves off" would be an understatement, as he discussed the limitations in legal education, the pernicious effect of the U.S. News and World Report rankings of law schools, and ways that we could improve diversity in law school admissions.
That was followed by a final plenary on "Responsibility And Relevance: Diversity In The Legal Profession's Impact On Society." We concluded with the next steps for the ABA and the participants in a session that included Steve Zack, the President-elect Nominee of the ABA and a partner at Boies Schiller and Flexner in Miami, ABA President-elect Carolyn Lamm, and the Planning Committee Co-Chairs Eduardo Rodriguez and Judge Jim Wynn. Steve will become the first Cuban-American President of the ABA.
We are looking forward to the report from the Summit and trying to prioritize the next steps that came out of the breakout sessions.
June 15-16, 2009
Days 104-105 on the Road in 2009
After unpacking and repacking on Sunday, on Monday morning, June 15, I headed out again for Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport on Delta through Atlanta in order to attend the Second ABA National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities. The first national conference had been convened by then ABA President Michael Greco, and I was invited to convene a second. The conference was at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in northwest Washington.
After arriving and unpacking, I made my way to the welcome reception where Alex Hurder, the chair of the ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, gave our welcome. Alex is also a clinical professor at Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville. It was then my duty to introduce our keynote speaker, Isaac Lidsky, law clerk to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Isaac is the first blind law clerk in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, and is also the founder, Chairman and President of Hope for Vision in Washington, D.C. Isaac's keynote address was both inspiring and enlightening, as he explained how technology has made it possible for blind lawyers to read at a faster rate than those of us with sight. Isaac's parents had traveled from Miami to be present for this, as was his wife.
The next morning, in addition to Alex and myself, welcomes were also given by Fred Krebs, the President of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and Veta Richardson, the Executive Director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, which were conference co-sponsors.
The day was full, beginning with a 2006 conference recap by Scott LaBarre, the past Chair of the Commission and a practicing lawyer in Denver. Following that, sessions were held on "Making the Pledge to Hire Lawyers with Disabilities"; "Transition From Law Student To Lawyer: Reasonable Accommodations In Law School And At Work"; "Employment Of Lawyers With Disabilities"; and, "Best Practices For Mentoring, Retaining, And Promoting Lawyers With Disabilities." And that was only the morning session! At lunch we had another keynote, this time from Kareem Dale, the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. I had had the opportunity to meet Kareem a couple of times at the White House, and was very glad that he had accepted our invitation to be our keynote luncheon speaker. Kareem, who is blind, talked about the importance of people with disabilities in the Obama administration, and the importance of disability policy within the Administration.
The afternoon sessions included "Creating The Most Inviting Workplace For Lawyers With Disabilities"; "Best Accommodation Practices In The Legal Profession"; and, finally, "Implementing The Pledge To Hire Lawyers With Disabilities." On the final panel I was happy to be a speaker along with Daniel Fitts, the Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel from London, Lucy Lee Helm, the Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Starbucks in Seattle. This panel was moderated by Alex Hurder.
Appropriately, Michael Greco, who had convened the First National Conference on Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities, rose at the end to ask for an endorsement by all present of the pledge to hire and promote lawyers with disabilities. It was adopted by those present unanimously.
After quite a full day, I finally made it back to Reagan National for the late flight back to Birmingham, but only after our intrepid staff at the Governmental Affairs Office had scheduled a 5:30 p.m. meeting with the Chief of Staff for Senator Richard Shelby to discuss funding for the Legal Services Corporation. Of course, I made time to squeeze that in before hoping a cab from Capitol Hill and making it in time for the 8:00 p.m. departure back to Birmingham through Atlanta. 6/29/2009
June 11-14, 2009
Days 100-103 on the Road in 2009
After a quick trip to Jacksonville, Florida, to attend a wedding, Jan and I were preparing to leave for the ABA Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, June 10. We were going to fly American through Dallas to Sacramento, and then drive to the Board meeting in Napa. However, our plans changed when we learned that our newest grandson, Thomas Hutton Wells, was scheduled to arrive on June 10. Luckily, we were able to reschedule our flight, finding a Delta flight that left the next morning, June 11, at 6:00 a.m., that still got us to the Board meeting in time for me to make the Executive Committee meeting Thursday afternoon. Thus, Jan and I were able to be present for our newest grandson's arrival. He, and his Mom and Dad (Trey and Haas Wells), are all doing fine.
As usual, the Board meeting began with Thursday night class dinners, Dutch treat. On Friday the committees got down to work, and on Saturday the full Board was meeting. The major item on our agenda was our budget. Given the economy, trying to predict next year's revenues is somewhat dicey. This could take quite a while.
As we had done last year on the budget, and did certainly better this year, "budget analysts" from the Finance Department were used to review certain programs and departments and to try to put together a staff-recommended budget. Obviously the staff-recommended budget is merely that, a staff recommendation; the full Board will have to make some hard decisions as the predicted dues revenues for the next fiscal year are likely to be down. At its April meeting, the Finance Committee had given the Executive Director certain guidelines for this draft budget that were fairly restrictive.
As might be expected, on Friday, I spent a good bit of the day in the Finance Committee meeting. Our Finance Committee Chair, Matt Nelson, has done an extraordinary job leading the Committee this year, and this meeting was no different. At least by the end of the meeting, we had new and revised recommendations for where the Board should go from the staff recommended budget, with instructions to the staff on where to come back with revisions. The staff was given essentially until the end of June to complete the newer version of the budget, after Board and Finance Committee input. Hopefully this process will go even smoother next year.
The good news is that we left Napa with specific instructions to the staff on certain items to revise in the next draft budget, and with specific guidelines as to the total amount to be included in the FY 2010 budget. Hopefully, the July meeting at Annual will mostly be resolving appeals in the budget process. Time will tell.
Jan was in charge of the events for spouses, as she is at every Board meeting, and she once again did a tremendous job. For this meeting, the spouse book club, which traditionally meets at each Board meeting, read ABA Publishing's Book of Wine Law. The author, Carol Robertson, was attending, which made this event even better for the spouses.
On Sunday Jan and I once again headed to the Sacramento airport and took another Delta flight through Atlanta back to Birmingham. Luckily, these flights were uneventful, and we arrived on time and with our luggage. Good thing, since I have to fly out again on Monday. | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XsnLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xsn | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.2 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.3 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.4 | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meeting Navigation
|
| Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XsnLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xsn | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.2 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.3 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.4 | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
|
|
| Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XsnLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xsn | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.2 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.3 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.4 | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /presidentsblog/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
|
|
|