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Greetings from the beautiful Westin Kierland in Scottsdale and the Annual Meeting of one of DRI's sister organizations, the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys (ADTA). The ADTA is one of three sister defense organizations, the other two being the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) and the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC or The Federation). All three are invitation-only organizations. I've always thought that membership in any of these organizations should be the goal of every DRI member. It is an honor and privilege to be invited to participate in an organization that represents the cream of the defense and corporate bar. In many respects, these organizations are similar to DRI in that they offer excellent CLE, but there are social and recreational components to their meetings that make each of them unique.
The ADTA, for instance, is the smallest of the sister organizations, as its membership offers exclusivity within geographic areas. They offer one member per one million persons in a respective city. So in a city of one million, there could only be one ADTA member. They are also unique in that they are all trial lawyers; no corporate counsel are members. Their membership is a very close knit group and they do an outstanding job of networking and referring work to each other. It's no wonder that even in this tough economy, their members are here in Scottsdale in big numbers and enjoying the hospitality that has made the ADTA famous.
This meeting is also the swan song of ADTA President Kevin Kelly and his wife and law partner, Gail (both DRI members!). Kevin and Gail practice in New York City, are passionate Mets fans, and two of the nicest and most generous people you would ever want to meet. One of the best parts of being DRI President is that my wife Nancy and I have been able to get to travel with the Presidents and spouses of the sister organizations. The eight of us have become a close group as we all participate in each other's meetings. Wednesday night, for example, Gail and Kevin hosted a Special Friends dinner here in Scottsdale, where they invite the sister Presidents and Presidents-elect, along with others from the ADTA leadership. The dinner was organized by Tom and Mary Burke, the program chairs for this meeting (Tom is a former DRI board member as well). The dinner ended with Kevin introducing everyone at the dinner, followed by toasts (and a bit of a roast) from the sister organization Presidents. Kevin is one of the funniest men I've ever met, so Rob Hunter (IADC President), Steve Barney (FDCC President) and I had our hands full trying to send Kevin off with an appropriate recognition of his achievements this year, while also trying to match Kevin's legendary wit. It was a glorious evening in a beautiful setting.
DRI works with the sister organizations on many projects of mutual interest, including Lawyers for Civil Justice. This morning we had a breakfast of the Presidents and Presidents-elect to discuss other ways we could help each organization be more efficient and helpful to our members. While we all have plans and goals for our respective organizations, it is nice to know that we can share information and help each other be successful.
I'll have more information this summer as I blog from the Annual Meetings of the IADC and the FDCC.
One more thing about this week in DRI before I sign off. The DRI Products Liability meeting is currently going on at the new Hilton San Diego Bayfront. DRI President-elect Cary Hiltgen and I left the ADTA meeting here in Scottsdale yesterday and flew over to San Diego to spend a few hours at the Products seminar. If you've never been there, the new Hilton is a stunning hotel and I'm sure we'll be back for more events there. The Products meeting is always a flagship event for DRI and this year is no exception. We took care of some business in a meeting with DRI's outstanding Executive Director, John Kouris, and then enjoyed the networking reception before flying back to Phoenix. The attendees report that the seminar is well-received again this year, which reinforces the message from my last blog post that in this economy, you need to be taking advantage of every opportunity to build your network. DRI seminars offer the best value to achieve top education and networking. If you're spending smarter, this is where you need to be. If you want to read updates on the Products seminar, check out the Cal Biz Lit blog and the posts from Business Litigation whiz Bruce Nye. He's posted on several of the speakers live from San Diego.
More next week from Chicago where I'll be attending a fly-in meeting of the DRI Diversity Committee, a DRI Executive Committee Meeting, the DRI Commercial Intellectual Property Litigation Symposium, and then on to Charleston, South Carolina for the DRI Southeastern Regional Meeting. Another busy week for DRI! |