Dear Fellow:

We have just completed a most successful 2017 Annual Meeting in the wonderful city of Montréal. The meeting was a tremendous success, with attendance exceeding the targeted numbers established for our budgeting and planning process. Be sure, if you were unable to attend, to look for the upcoming issue of the Journal which will highlight the entire meeting. Please mark your calendars now to reserve the dates for the 2018 Spring Meeting in Phoenix – March 1- 4, 2018.

A total of 78 Fellows were inducted at the meeting, and it was a delight to see the induction charge delivered by Past President David Scott, our first and beloved Canadian President. If you are a new inductee, please go to the College YouTube page and click on the message extending a further welcome to Fellowship. The Board approved ninety-seven (97) nominations which, subject to completion of the Statement of Qualifications, will lead to a number of persons eligible for induction at our next Spring Meeting. We urge you to be on the lookout for, and participate in, our online confidential poll which will come out shortly. Please give your electronic responses the same level of complete response as the old paper ballots. If you encounter any difficulties whatsoever in completing and submitting the online poll, or have any suggestions for improvement, please do not hesitate to contact the National Office for assistance.

The Montréal meeting included the Fourth Women Fellows Luncheon and it was a success. We greatly appreciate the help of Québec Province Committee Chair Suzanne Pringle in the planning. Women Fellows and women federal judges in the Montréal area were invited to attend and asked to bring two young women who are aspiring to be trial lawyers. This gathering has mutual benefits – we introduce role models to these young folks, and we identify potential candidates to bring to the attention of our State and Province Committees. Judicial Fellow Suzanne Coté of the Canadian Supreme Court spoke. Ninety-six out of a possible limit of 100 attended. The Board will consider these luncheons in the planning of future national meetings.

        

At our meeting, the Board expressed its great thanks and appreciation to Bart Dalton for his year as our President. His leadership was outstanding and we will continue those initiatives from Bart including focus upon important issues within our mission, improved communications and the reach for higher results in our diversity and inclusion efforts. Those who heard the Inductee response by Louis Charette of Montréal were fortunate to hear his message on this important topic of inclusion and diversity.

           

We have five new Regents who will commence their terms now that the Annual Meeting has concluded. They are: Mona T. Duckett, Q.C., Region 3; Richard H. Deane, Jr., Region 7; John A. Day, Region 9; Susan S. Brewer, Region 10; and Martin F. Murphy, Region 12. As these new Regents undertake their important work, please be ready and willing to assist them in their efforts, particularly with respect to due diligence regarding new potential Fellows. 

          

We are happy to report that the College had a very successful year from an overall financial standpoint. As a result of strategic planning following the 2015 Board Retreat, and work by a task force thereafter, the College will continue its vigorous effort to identify and implement expense reductions where appropriate. 

           

Even though appointments to our General Committees for the next year have been made, if you are not yet serving on a committee and wish to serve, please look over the mandates for our various committees, let me know if you have an interest in joining, and if at all possible, we will attempt to accommodate your interests. 

           

I wish to compliment our entire National Office staff for the tremendous work in making the Montréal meeting such an enjoyable and memorable experience. We are most fortunate to have an extremely talented and dedicated staff, and they stand ready to respond to any questions or needs you may have. 

           

Betty and I look forward to this year, as we begin our travels around the United States and Canada, and look forward to spending time with as many of you as possible. It is a tremendous honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to serve. If you have any comments or suggestions at any time, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Samuel H. Franklin

President

Montreal, the "City of Mary," hosted the 2017 Annual Meeting of the College. An audience of 900 was present when 78 new Fellows were inducted during the Saturday night Banquet and Induction Ceremony. The College welcomed its newest Honorary Fellow, The Right Honourable Lord Reed of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The 2017 Emil Gumpert Award was presented to Rose Cahn of the Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief Project, Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, California. An impressive two-day program of distinguished speakers was heard during the General Sessions. A complete list of speakers and their remarks will be reported in the next issue of the Journal.

2017 Foundation Report Now Available

The 2017 Annual Report is now available and details all the worthy causes that the Foundation has supported. This year the Foundation saw an increase in donations of 42%, thanks to the Power of an Hour campaign. Fellows answered the campaign's call to contribute the equivalent of one billable hour. Thanks to all who contributed.

NPR Features College In Article

Immediate Past President Bart Dalton was interviewed by NPR for an article titled, Is There A 'Better Way' To Handle Campus Sexual Assault? From the article: "Some want [Secretary of Education Betsy] DeVos to convene a diverse committee to help hash out new rules, as the ABA task force and the American College of Trial Lawyers did. But there is even disagreement in what those groups concluded; the ACTL recommended that the standard of evidence should be raised." Read the complete article.

Updates from General Committees

Access to Justice and Legal Services: Under the leadership of Emil Gumpert Award Committee Vice Chair Mark Surprenant, a subcommittee with additional Past President David Beck, Oregon State Committee Chair Ed Harnden, past Access to Justice and Legal Services Committee Chair Barry Abrams and Sylvia Walbolt has been formed to evaluate the prospect of creating a College pilot program to match senior, semi-retired and retired Fellows with nonprofit organizations, courts and other public service entities, to provide pro bono assistance. Massachusetts has such a program and Louisiana recently approved Surprenant’s proposal that one be created there.

 

Alternative Dispute Resolution: The committee’s white paper on Evidentiary Issues in Arbitration is nearing completion. The committee intends to finalize the draft for submission to the Communications Committee immediately after a “final” review.

 

Attorney-Client Relationships: The committee is close to completing its update to the White Paper on Topical Situations for use on the College website.

 

Complex Litigation: The committee is working on an outline for a publication dealing with the admission of electronic and social media.

 

Federal Civil Procedure: The committee will have a representative at the meeting of the Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C., in November 2017 and will be prepared to follow up with comments on any potential rule amendments. In particular, the committee will continue to follow the Advisory Committee’s discussions regarding possible amendments to Rule 30(b)(6), and submit further comments as may be appropriate. The committee will continue to monitor developments regarding the Rules and legislation impacting the Rules.

 

Federal Rules of Evidence: The main focus of the committee has been to engage with, and improve the College’s relationship with, the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee’s Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence. This effort has been a success in that the Judicial Conference’s Committee, through the Federal Judicial Center, is partnering with the College on a survey requested by the Judicial Conference’s Committee at its spring meeting. A prior draft of the survey was circulated for comments earlier this summer; it addresses a potential change in Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(A), which governs prior inconsistent statements. Based on input from committee members, suggestions were put forth regarding a symposium on expert witnesses that will be held in conjunction with the next meeting of the Judicial Conference’s Committee.

 

Legal Ethics and Professionalism: The committee obtained approval to re-activate the College's Professionalism Vignettes Initiative. An email was sent to over 200 state and local bar associations, Inns of Courts, law schools and other law related organizations in Florida, Louisiana, Montana and West Virginia informing them of the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct , the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct Teaching Syllabus and the video vignettes available on the College YouTube page . 

 

Heritage: The committee videotaped an interview with Thomas Beck, a friend and colleague of College founder Emil Gumpert, and Bill Thon, who served as Judge Gumpert’s Superior Court Clerk and was also a close friend. The interview was conducted by Regent Bob Warford.

 

International:  Work is underway for a trip to Guam to train the lawyers and judges of Micronesia, January 17-19, 2018, organized and led by Fellow and Former Regent Brian O’Neill, who also led the Palau trip in November 2015. This upcoming program has been set and is already fully staffed by volunteer Fellows. The committee continues the following projects: liaison and Fellow Norm Sepenuk maintains ongoing contact with ABA Rule of Law Initiative to monitor volunteer opportunities for Fellows to assist with training opportunities in other countries to advance the rule of law; liaison and Fellow Barry Coburn continues ongoing contact with ABA Justice Defender program to monitor volunteer opportunities for Fellows to promote the rule of law through assistance with that program; liaison and Fellow Mike Eizenga maintains ongoing contact with War Child , to monitor volunteer opportunities for Fellows to promote the rule of law, such as with the legal institution assessment undertaken earlier this year in Erbil, Iraq; Ex-Officio of the South Carolina State Committee Tom Pope continues ongoing promotion of volunteer opportunities for Fellows to teach law as a Visiting Professor in a University in one of the countries of Eastern Europe through the Center for International Legal Studies (CILS) .

 

Special Problems in the Administration of Justice (Canada):  A small working group of Fellows has been established to work with the judiciary in Toronto to plan and hopefully implement a One Judge pilot project in Toronto. Chair Kent Thomson has proposed that the Committee constitute a task force to look into the issues and prepare submissions to the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) concerning the importance of judicial independence in the handling of complaints against judges.

Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy: On Nov. 9, 2017, in Philadelphia, the committee will discuss the ethics and social media under the leadership of Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee Vice Chair Joe Crawford. Mock trials and focus groups will be scheduled in New Orleans under the leadership of Fellows Steve Usdin and James Hubbard. The committee is discussing the creation of “Compendium on The Art of Trying a Case.” This work would consist of short articles by fellows on the various aspects of trial practice. After each segment one or two judges would add their comments.

Updates from State & Province Committees

Alabama: The committee will host a CLE, titled “Mandatory Professionalism CLE for New Admittees,” in November at the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham and a second one titled “Trial Skills Seminar – Ethics” at the University of Alabama School of Law at the Wynfrey in Birmingham.

 

Alaska: The committee hosted a CLE for the Alaska Bar Association on August 30 titled “Deposing Expert Witnesses.”

 

Alberta: Contact has been made with the local committee of The Advocates' Society, with the proposal to jointly sponsor an upcoming CLE event, which will hopefully occur within the next six to eight months. The work product of the Judiciary Committee, “Working Smarter but not Harder in Canada,” which espouses the One Judge Model, has been referred and discussed at length with the Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice, and a submission is planned to the Alberta Rules of Court Committee. A panel of Fellows will be giving a presentation on ethics at the Alberta Crown Prosecutors (ACPS) conference October 18 to 20, in Kananaskis, Alberta, before an audience of federal and provincial prosecutors, and paralegals, estimated at approximately 300 to 400 attendees.

 

Arizona : Outreach liaison Shawn Aiken has met with judges in Maricopa and Pima counties (Phoenix and Tucson). The committee has educated the judges on the College and has provided the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct . The committee continues to sponsor the Jenckes competition, the closing argument competition between the University of Arizona and Arizona State University law colleges. This year the competition will be held at ASU on November 3. Plans are underway for the annual CLE in April 2018. A successful CLE was held in April 2017, which netted about $15,000 for the committee.

 

Arkansas: The 2017 version of the “Nuts and Bolts” of trial seminar is expected to take place before the end of the year.

 

Colorado: The committee is co-sponsoring a trial tactics seminar with the Colorado Bar Association that will be held on Nov. 19.

 

Delaware: The committee is planning a trial skills seminar to be presented in conjunction with the Delaware State Bar Association in December.

 

District of Columbia: The committee is planning another in what has become a series of programs – held each fall and spring – at one of the Washington, D.C. law schools. The planned program for fall 2017 will focus on the phenomena of “fake news” and the First Amendment and will include a panel discussion and cocktail reception for Fellows and invited guests. Fellows will be encouraged to invite colleagues from their law firms or offices and consideration will be given to expanding the invitation list more broadly in the Washington legal community.

 

Florida: The committee is working with Fellow Sylvia Walbolt to assist in deploying an appellate training program created by the Access to Justice and Legal Services committee in conjunction with the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. The program initially plans to target Florida Legal Services staff. The committee continues to identify Fellows who will be profiled in the second The Sages in Florida book. Fellows responded to a request for help on the Veterans Project Mandamus Petition filed under John Chandler’s leadership, while another group of Fellows volunteered to assist with clemency petitions at the request of Fellow Bill Sheppard.

 

Hawaii : At the request of the Judiciary Committee, Hawaii State Committee Chair Lisa Munger spoke with Mark Recktenwald, the Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. On behalf of the State Judiciary, he is interested in working with the College on state civil justice reform. Justice Recktenwald will address the membership of the Hawaii Chapter at its next lunch meeting.

 

Kansas: The committee hosted a CLE presentation for public service lawyers.

 

Kentucky: The committee is planning to use the surplus it took in from the Sixth Circuit Regional Meeting in April 2017 to put toward a free CLE program for public sector lawyers utilizing College materials. Work is in progress to coordinate the program with a scheduled Kentucky Bar Association event.

Louisiana: Several Fellows participated in the Louisiana State University Law School three-day trial advocacy program in August.

Maine: The committee plans to co-sponsor the 2018 Trial Skills Workshop.

Massachusetts: The committee challenged the Alabama chapter for the most number of contributors to the Foundation in honor of March Madness. A special packet with a letter from then Foundation President David Beck and the committee was prepared and sent to each Fellow. Past President Joan Lukey developed a message that was emailed to each Fellow, while information on causes the Foundation has supported was periodically emailed over the month of March. The number of Massachusetts donors to the Foundation increased by 400%.

Mississippi: The committee has made arrangements with the Mississippi Judicial College to make a presentation at its bi-annual conference for trial and appellate judges on Oct. 26, 2017, in Jackson, Mississippi. The basis for the program will be to use two or three vignettes from the Judicial Demeanor and Courtroom Control Practices video produced by the Federal Judicial Center in conjunction with the College.

 

Missouri: The committee, with assistance from the Kansas City Bar Association, held a trial practice seminar in Kansas City on Jun. 13, 2017. Around 54 attended the seminar held at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law auditorium. Fellow Robert Adams, Missouri’s representative on the College’s Judiciary Committee, met with Missouri Supreme Court Chief Judge Zel Fischer on the committee’s “Call to Action” Initiative to improve state court judicial systems. 

 

Montana: Montana is hosting the Region 3 (Northwest) Regional Meeting in 2018 in Whitefish, Montana. It is scheduled for Aug. 23 - 26, 2018. The Honorable Sidney Thomas, Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is a confirmed speaker and attendee.

 

Nevada: The committee is working on ways to financially support Nevada’s high school jury trial competition involving teams from both the north and south portions of Nevada.

 

New Hampshire: Fellows participated in the 2017 New Hampshire Campaign for Legal Services. Participation is planned for the 2018 Second Annual Trial Skills Workshop.

 

New York – Upstate: The committee is partnering with the bar association of Erie County to present a CLE in Buffalo. The hope is to extend the program to Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

 

Ohio: Fellows are preparing to present a one-day trial advocacy seminar, ACTL Winning at Trial 2017 on Nov. 16, 2017. The seminar is jointly sponsored by the College and the Ohio State Bar Association. Fellows including former chair of the Access to Justice and Legal Services Committee John Gilligan, State Committee Chair John Alton, former Chair of the Legal Ethics and Professionalism Committee Steve Fitch, Bob Palmer and Kim Herlihy presented a seminar focused on mediation to Ohio Legal Aid lawyers. A committee composed of Fellows, including two Judicial Fellows, and Ohio State Bar Association members have been working since late summer of 2015 in reviewing Ohio’s Rules of Civil Procedure and preparing a report with recommendations as to amendments of the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure. The expectation is that the “final” draft of the report will soon be sent to the Ohio Supreme Court Rules Committee with possible adoption of amendments to the Rules to be effective Jul. 1, 2018.

 

Oregon: The law school trial practice programs have been identified as a further means of outreach by the committee to be started in September with the new school year.

 

Pennsylvania: Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee Vice Chair Joe Crawford, State Committee Chair Nancy Gellman and Fellows Robert Ross and Carolyn Short have been working with Professor Jules Epstein at Temple Law School on a four-hour “Masters in Advocacy” CLE program, which is scheduled for November 3, 2017 at Temple Law School. Regent Bob Welsh and other Fellows have met with professors at Villanova Law School about developing a project with the school. Pennsylvania State Committee Vice Chair Catherine Recker, Charles Hehmeyer and Crawford are presenting a two-hour seminar on Nov. 9, 2017 in Philadelphia. This seminar is part of a new effort by the Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee to develop seminars on trial advocacy issues that have ethical implications. The subject of this seminar will be ethical and trial advocacy issues raised by the practice of conducting Internet and social media searches of prospective and actual jurors during voir dire and throughout trial.

 

Rhode Island: The committee is planning a fall reception for the judiciary and leaders of various bar organizations.

South Carolina: Approximately 12 Fellows participated in the Freedom Reigns Festival in September – as seminar participants and participants in a mock trial / re-enactment of the trial of State v. Tillman on Sept. 8 and a reception for Fellows and state and federal judiciary on Sept. 10.

 

Virginia: The committee is working toward a spring 2018 presentation of a trial skills program for public interest lawyers, which is a full-day of free continuing legal education held in Richmond.

 

West Virginia: During Mar. 2017, Fellows provided support to the WVU College of Law’s annual trial competition known as the Lugar Cup. This included several Fellows attending the final trial in the competition, and awarding cash prizes to the winners and runners-up.

 

Washington: The committee has established an outreach subcommittee to focus on outreach activities. The subcommittee is currently contacting state and federal judges to discuss outreach issues and to plan for seminars of benefit to legal aid attorneys, as well as seminars to benefit the bar more broadly.

 

Wisconsin: Three committee members gave a CLE presentation to local Inns of Courts regarding trial demonstration of direct and cross-examination of a medical expert.

Wyoming: The committee will be participating in a trial practice school presented by the University of Wyoming College of Law for students beginning their third year of study. This is an intensive one-week school the College has actively supported for a number of years.

Puerto Rico, August 10-11: With special intent to honor his Boca promise, President Bart Dalton and his wife Eileen flew to San Juan for the first Puerto Rico Fellows Dinner in recent memory. Some 30 Fellows and guest filled the room and enjoyed the drinks, dinner and personal warmth.

Georgia, August 17: The Georgia Black Tie Dinner in Atlanta at the Capital City Club was as elegant a night as the College has to offer. The All Star lineup among the 70 Fellows included Past Presidents Jack Dalton and Chilton Varner, then President-Elect Sam Franklin, then Regent Rufus Pennington, then State Committee Chair and now Regent Rick Dean, incoming State Committee Chair Sally Yates and Ex-Officio of the Special Problems in the Administration of Justice (U.S.) Committee John Chandler. Despite horrendous Atlanta traffic, even the cocktail party swelled the room. With the traditional prohibition on short speeches lifted, President Dalton paid special attention in his brief remarks to Yates' courage and Chandler's hard work on behalf of disabled vets. This close group shows what the College is and will continue to be.

10th Circuit Regional Meeting, Wichita, August 17-20: The Wichita program for the 10th Circuit Regional Meeting greeting the Daltons on their trip straight from Atlanta started with dinner at the Kansas Aviation Museum highlighting the pivotal contributions the Kansas area has made to man and flight. The 40 Fellows and like number of guests featured Past Presidents Mike Stout and Andy Coats and Former Regent Mike O'Donnell. The next day Federal District Judge Tom Marten and Steve Susman gave a great talk as part of a program on the decreasing number of jury trials. Judge Marten and the Fellows clearly shared an unusual and mutual respect and affection.  And believe it or not, this judge stayed after dinner to play the guitar and sing.

Northwest Regional Meeting, Sun Valley, August 24-27: All meetings should be held at least once at such a beautiful hotel in such a beautiful location – Sun Valley, Idaho. The evening BBQ on a picturesque mountain was followed the next day by a program on trial persuasion in an "alt facts" world. Speakers Ken Broda-Bahm and Kevin Boully (each with Ph.D.s in legal persuasion) were joined by Greg Strimple (a nationwide Republican pollster). Strimple explained the math behind Trump's presidential victory to the curious attendees. Still, only President Dalton and Eileen got a standing ovation that day – for remarks at that night's dinner as he noted that many among the 60 Fellows and their guests drove 10 hours just to attend and see friends.

Iowa, August 25-27: The Iowa Fellows Meeting in Des Moines began on the first night for then President-Elect Franklin at the Governor's Mansion – which shows us how well the College is thought of in Iowa. The next morning's business meeting at a club room at the Iowa Cubs (AAA) ballpark facility at Principal Park welcomed Franklin with a special sign on the large video screen in center field. Franklin made some brief and well-received remarks, particularly focusing on the White Paper on Campus Sexual Assault Investigations and the Veterans' Disability efforts. Saturday night book-ended the weekend event with a cocktail reception and seated dinner at the Des Moines Botanical Garden where State Committee Chair Nan Horvat recognized the best and worst golfers from that afternoon with small prizes to the amusement of the 45 Fellows and their guests. Good business, good fun.

Hilarie Bass of Miami, Florida was installed President of the American Bar Association at its annual meeting in August, 2017.

William Robert Garner of Lexington, Kentucky was sworn in as President of the Kentucky Bar Association at its annual Convention in June, 2017.

The following Fellows have been elevated to the bench in their respective jurisdictions.

John B. Laskin 

Ottawa, Ontario

Effective January 14, 2017

Judge

Federal Court of Appeals

Edward J. McDonough, Jr.

Springfield, Massachusetts

Effective September 13, 2017

Judge

Massachusetts Appeals Court

The College extends congratulations to these Judicial Fellows. 

The College has been notified of the passing of the Fellows listed below. The date after each name notes the year of induction into the College, and the date following the state or province is the date of his or her passing. A tribute to each will appear in the In Memoriam section of a subsequent issue of the Journal.

Joseph Monroe Best , ’76, a Fellow Emeritus, Skiatook, Oklahoma, August 25, 2017

Joseph Mack Montano , ’97, a Fellow Emeritus, Denver, Colorado, January 20, 2017

Hon. W. Douglas Parsons , ’09, Clinton , North Carolina, September 23, 2017

John Sutton Stump, III , ’85, a Fellow Emeritus, Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, August 11, 2017