Defense Counsel Journal

President's Page - Volume 86, Number 3

February 12, 2020

Amy Sherry Fischer

Amy Sherry Fischer

Amy Fischer is a shareholder at Foliart, Huff, Ottaway, and Bottom in Oklahoma City. She is a member of the IADC Board of Directors and practices in the areas of products liability, insurance, and commercial litigation.

2020. The Centennial Year.

If you were at the closing session for the Annual Meeting in Asheville, you heard me talk about the “about 11 men” who formed the IADC ninety-nine years ago. It always strikes me as odd that the minutes describe them as about 11 men. But who were those 11 men? As I’ve said, I have spent a lot of time this past year thinking about them. They were all general counsel and they were very different than the organization as it is today. But they stated, in their official minutes, that one of the purposes of the organization was to “encourage cordial relations…” As I have progressed through this year and as we go in to this Centennial year, I have given much thought as to those 11 men and what they would think of the IADC today. While the purpose of the Association remains, how we connect and achieve the personal and professional goals of IADC bear little resemblance to the group that formed 100 years ago. 

How will we look in the next one hundred years? I doubt any of us can picture it. I know we will look very different than we look today. Because as an organization, we are not afraid of change. We have embraced it, and it has made the IADC better year by year. How the Association will look when it celebrates its 200^th anniversary is exciting to contemplate given the progress and strength of the IADC after its first one hundred years. We stay timely as we advance.

The Defense Counsel Journal is a significant part of the contributions of the IADC during its history. Since its first issue as the Insurance Counsel Journal in April 1934, it has consistently helped keep our members up to date (or ahead) of trends in the law. This issue is no exception. There is an article on possible major changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and The Federal Rules of Evidence.  There is also a maritime jurisdictional analysis of asbestos lawsuits for certain component manufacturers.  Lastly, there is an article looking at the insurance coverage implications for inverse condemnation actions involving public water systems. I look forward to the IADC’s Centennial celebration highlighting the Journal and the rest of the vast library of intellectual contributions of our members to the important dialogue on the rule of law.

So as we enter 2020 and the IADC’s Centennial, let’s embrace where we have been and look forward to where we will take the organization in the next one hundred years. We are one world, we have one mission, because we are one IADC.

Amy Sherry Fischer
IADC President

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