Defense Counsel Journal

President's Page - Volume 83, Number 3

January 20, 2020

The IADC remains alone at the top, separate and apart from all other legal organizations. We are well-positioned globally and for the future.

The IADC continues to offer our members an effective and expansive global platform, business development and networking opportunities, increased visibility, educational forums, and lifelong personal relationships.

As we approach our Annual Meeting in Bermuda, I’d like to take this opportunity to review the IADC’s accomplishments during the past year.

The Board of Directors, the leaders of our Substantive Law Committees, and our staff have developed and approved a framework for a five-year strategic plan for the IADC called the 20/20 Vision Plan.

We have critically examined every aspect of the organization —

— our operations, staffing, and organizational structure;
— membership, global expansion, competition, alliances, visibility, Regional Meetings, and the Trial Academy;
— Webinars, CLE, the Defense Counsel Journal, our amicus program, Substantive Law Committees, and technology;
— and budgeting, investments, and our sponsorship programs.

We have identified priorities and are working to identify criteria that will allow us to measure success in each of these core areas — what works and what doesn’t work, and whether what we consider value today will have value when we celebrate the IADC's Centennial in 2020.

Also included in our efforts this year were successful Regional Meetings in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Zurich, Toronto, Tampa, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, New York City, Dallas, Chicago, and Huntington (WV). Our International Corporate Counsel College in Vienna and Corporate Counsel College in Chicago offered top notch programming and networking opportunities for our members and their in-house counsel guests. The Professional Liability Roundtable continues to create an interactive and intimate environment for industry professionals and outside counsel. Our upcoming Trial Academy is set to be full of students ready to receive instruction from our top-notch faculty.

Our CLE Committee and CLE Steering Committee have devoted countless hours to assure first-rate programming for the Midyear Meeting at Pebble Beach and the upcoming Annual Meeting in Bermuda. And who can forget the moving presentation from Shiza Shahid, the Foundation Forum speaker at the Midyear Meeting. In just a few short months, the Social Justice Pro Bono Committee has proven that our members fully embrace our fundamental responsibility and duty as lawyers to protect and guard the greater public good, equal access to justice, and equality before the law.

The value of the many Webinars, newsletters, and CLE programs developed by each of our Substantive Law Committees reached a new height this past year. Our Amicus Committee continues to be a core asset for our members and the interests of our clients on issues that will impact our practice for years to come. In collaboration with Lawyers for Civil Justice, the Defense Counsel Journal devoted an entire issue to the recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The IADC's second annual Inside/Outside Counsel Relationship Survey is once again expected to generate unique visibility for the organization.

The IADC launched its inaugural Corporate Counsel Training Academy at Georgetown Law Center in mid-June, a program that will surely become a core of the IADC in the years ahead. Also, with the help of top IADC trial lawyers throughout the U.S., we are about to publish an all-new Defense Counsel Training Manual, a must read for any litigator.

Our alliances with DRI, FDCC, ADTA, LCJ, and the Institute for Legal Reform have only strengthened this past year. Together we represent the interests of more than 27,000 lawyers across the globe and we have collectively protected the interests of our members and clients on a number of emerging issues, including the amendments to the Federal Rules, ABA resolutions, class actions and collective redress, and several initiatives on the state and local level.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our members, those who have had the opportunity to serve a leadership position with the IADC, and our fabulous staff. Because of your countless hours and devotion to the IADC, our organization is better and more diverse than ever.

Thanks to you, we are what our logo says — superior advocates, global perspective!

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