It has been an honor to serve as the Midyear Meeting CLE Steering Committee Chair this year. I really had an opportunity to see the hard work and creativity of the staff and IADC leadership in putting on the two yearly meetings. As my wife is fond of saying: “These things don’t just happen!”
I have been fortunate to be supported by a terrific Steering Committee composed of accomplished IADC lawyers from around the country. These lawyers sacrificed their time to participate in our bi-weekly calls vetting the program proposals and then volunteered to shepherd the approved programs into final form. It was gratifying to be able to work with lawyers in the midst of their practice and delegate the program details to them. They exemplify the maxim: “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” I was also grateful for the guidance and oversight by the CLE Committee. I was a neophyte at program planning and had not thought through some of the details. The CLE Committee provided the second set of eyes that helped take these programs from good to great.
The Midyear Meeting theme is “The Primacy of the Rule of Law,” and the programming revolves around that theme. We will kick off the major CLE program with a timely analysis of connecting with jurors in the “alternative facts” era of motivated reasoning. How do we, as advocates, persuade jurors who prefer to believe what they already believe? We will hear from Sherry Knutson and Lori Leskin, accomplished trial lawyers who have represented corporate defendants in high profile drug and toxic tort litigation. Sherry and Lori will be joined by Christopher Dominic, a jury consultant, and will offer advice on how to focus the jury on the law and away from their biases and emotions.
We will also have a full scale presentation on human trafficking and how governmental regulations to control and mitigate human trafficking obligate multi-national corporations to investigate their suppliers to insure that the suppliers are not using trafficked labor. We will also do a deep dive into ageism and sexism in the courts with a panel from the bench and bar and a diversity expert.
We will round out the major CLE program with three practical programs on a) preparing corporate witnesses for deposition (from a corporate witness who has been through the process many, many times); b) improving and maximizing the relationship between attorneys and their experts; and c) “Judicial Hellholes” – how to spot them, how to survive them, and how to improve them.
The Midyear Meeting CLE Committee has endeavored to present thoughtful and compelling programs that will engage and entertain the IADC membership.
We look forward to seeing you in Palm Springs.
If you would be interested in helping with future CLE programming on either the 2019 Midyear Meeting or 2019 Annual Meeting Steering Committees, please send an email to Professional Development Manager Melisa Maisel Vanis at mmaisel@iadclaw.org. Committee members will be appointed in 2018.