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By Guest Blogger, Matt Cairns, DRI President-elect, Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, Concord, New Hampshire
As we start a new decade and DRI's 50th year, I want to provide a brief update of all that has gone on since the outstanding 2009 DRI Annual Meeting in Chicago.
First, the Executive Committee said farewell and thanks to Immediate Past President John "Dad" Martin and Secretary Treasurer Kim "Diesel" Baker, and outgoing Board Members Tom Segalla, Jay Barry Harris, Pat Sweeney, Janice Lai, Gerry Toner, and David Davis. These leaders of the defense bar deserve all of our thanks for their tireless work on behalf of DRI and each of you. Second, we welcomed Mary Massaron Ross as our Second Vice President and Chuck Cole as our new Secretary Treasurer. We also welcomed new Directors James Holland, John McDonough, Steve Schwegman, Kevin Driskill, Donna Burden, Neva Lusk, David Chamberlain and John Cuttino.
There was no rest for the weary after the Annual Meeting because Cary Hiltgen and I were promptly dispatched to Bermuda to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Excess/Surplus Lines Claims Association (which has now changed its name to the International Association of Claims Professionals www.xslca.org). While this may seem like lite duty, it was harder than you might expect, primarily because I forgot that Bermuda was a foreign country and did not have my passport with me in Chicago. After a brief detour back to New Hampshire I met up with Cary in Bermuda. The event was impressive as the legal and industry leaders of the excess and surplus insurance markets from around the world gathered for education and strategizing on how to deal with the current economic stressors that are affecting our clients and how they handle litigation exposures. The International Claims Professional Association is an important partner with DRI and I encourage all of our members to become more familiar with the group.
Mary Massaron Ross was dispatched to Virginia to attend the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys in late October and First Vice President Henry Sneath headed even deeper into the South for the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association meeting. Not to be outdone, Chuck Cole hopped a plane to Connecticut to speak at the Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association. These visits with our State and Local Defense Organizations are vital to maintaining the connection between DRI and the states and events the Officers look forward to.
November saw 4 big events for the Officers. I had the pleasure of heading to San Diego to begin the planning for the2010 Annual Meeting that will run from October 20-24. Your Steering Committee is energized and is well on the way to putting on a great event. As I mentioned at the Annual Meeting, we have secured the US Aircraft Carrier Midway for our Thursday night event and will be entertained by Atomic Groove, one of San Diego's premier bands on the flight deck that night. While I was enjoying the warmth of San Diego, Cary and Marc Williams crossed the pond to dark and blustery Copenhagen to meet with the leadership of DRI Europe (www.drieurope.org). The European defense leaders are actively engaged in planning another fantastic program focusing on legal issues unique to our European colleagues as well as the developments her in the US that might be headed to the EU. The seminar is set for April 22-23 and all DRI members are invited to attend.
Following those 2 meetings, the officers convened at the always popular and successful Asbestos Seminar to do 2 things – honor Al Parnell for 30 years of service to DRI and to have a dedicated officers planning retreat. The retreat was facilitated by Steve Morrison and focused on the concept of "Dead Ideas," a concept described by Matt Miller in his book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Two days of intense meetings resulted in identifying each officer's passions for DRI, current DRI processes and projects that are "dead" or "dying," and how we can position DRI for continued success and value going forward. The guiding principle for evaluating the retreat ideas was how everything fit into DRI's 6 pillars of Education, Justice, Balance, Economics, Professionalism and Service. Everyone at the retreat thought it was one of the most productive DRI meetings they ever attended. We expect that you will be seeing these ideas and transformations in the coming months and years, and will be reporting to you on what we are doing in future Blogs, and FTD and Voice articles.
Later in November, for the first time, DRI and the ABA had a high level meeting of officers and their executive staff. Cary, Mark, Executive Director John Kouris and I met with ABA President Carolyn Lamm at her offices in Washington DC. With President Lamm were President-elect Steve Zack (via video conference since he apparently has to still practice law), Past Treasurer and candidate for President – elect Bill Robinson, and Chair of the House of Delegates William Hubbard. Issues that we discussed included the preemption debate, judicial funding and attacks on the judiciary, healthcare and medical liability issues, our mutual commitment to diversity, and how each organization is working to provide increased value to its members. Following the meeting, there was consensus that regular, more frequent discussions need to and will be scheduled for the future. Clearly, by being invited to this meeting, DRI is being recognized as the Voice of the Defense Bar.
December brought the Lawyers for Civil Justice Meeting and the DRI Budget Meeting in New York. If you don't know about the LCJ, I encourage you to visit www.lfcj.com. Cary, Marc and I are members of the LCJ Board and John Martin is the President-elect. LCJ provides a vital service to the defense bar and our clients by working on various initiatives including revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Sunshine in Litigation Act, and State E-Discovery Legislation and Rule Making. The meeting included panel presentations on the various initiatives, commentary from leading general counsel and a Q&A with the Honorable Mark Kravitz from Connecticut on the status of the civil rules revisions.
The Budget meeting was a tough time for all of us. The economic climate this past year has been tough on everyone, including DRI. However, coming out of the meeting, I can report that your Executive Committee and DRI Staff has put together a realistic budget that does not sacrifice in any of the areas of our core principles, and in fact will provide even more for you in these areas. While the budget still needs to be approved by the Board of Directors, we are confident that you will see DRI continue to be the leader of the Defense Bar in services, advocacy and education and be in an even stronger position when the economy turns around.
2010 saw us hit the ground running with our first Executive Committee Meeting followed by the Committee Leadership Meeting in Chicago. The EC meeting continued our work from the Retreat and Budget Meeting and we began planning for the Winter Board Meeting, new initiatives and new strategies for improving your organization. Henry Sneath ran a superb Committee Leadership Meeting that focused on DRI's core principles, the "Dead Idea" concept and the leadership principles of Jim Collins. The Chairs, Vice Chairs and Board Liaisons of DRI's Substantive Committees uniformly found the meeting energizing and full of content that they will be using to take their committees "to the next level." Whew....that was a lot to cover in my first guest Blog, and I am sure I forgot some of the things my colleagues did. I hope you come back to the President's Blog often to see what Cary and the rest of us have been up to or are thinking. I am honored to be the President-Elect and look forward to working with and for you in 2010.....Best Wishes, Matt. |