For The Defense, July 2010 - DRI Today

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C E L E B R AT I N G 5 0 Y E A R SEducation: The First PillarDRI—Its LawInstitute andIts SeminarsBy Chrys A. MartinJust what is the DRI “Law Institute”? Some kind of think tank? I getasked this question almost every time I mention the DRI Law Institute.It’s a funny name, but serious business for DRI. It is simply a fancy namefor the “seminar committee” that evolved out of DRI’s educational efforts.The initial reason for the creation of the “DefenseResearch Institute” was the goal of providing qualityeducation for the defense bar and the public, initiallydealing with matters such as high verdicts andimportant issues within the insurance industry. Thevery name of the organization was intended to reflectits origins as the “research arm” of the IAIC, a defensebar organization for lawyers that was DRI’s foundingentity. The research was to include education;thus resulting in the title “Institute” in DRI’s name.Monthly newsletters were the first tool used to providesuch legal education and sharing of information,but the evolution to high- quality legal education seminarsoccurred rapidly.The Law Institutes Committee was formed in 1965and started the DRI Defense Practice Seminars; a programthat has been so successful over the years thatit now brings in a substantial percentage of DRI’s revenue,allowing the organization to bring so manyother quality programs and services to the defensebar and general public. The Law Institute’s activitieshave mushroomed from a few seminars each year to asmany as 25 or more annual programs, many of whichhave become regular fixtures on the calendar and arerecognized as the preeminent legal educational eventsin their respective substantive areas of the law. Somedraw over 1,000 attendees, and each adds to DRI’s reputationfor presenting the highest quality live continuinglegal education.Currently, Law Institute, or “L.I.,” members arecarefully selected based on their prior outstandingservice to DRI and their proven expertise in runningsuccessful committees and seminars. Each member isassigned to work with substantive law committees toselect seminar subjects to educate members on emerginghot topics, review new developments in traditionalsubstantive law areas, and bring outstanding speakersto our members and attendees. Law Institute memberseach have responsibility for at least two seminarsa year and work year-round with the committees, as it8 n For The Defense n July 2010n Chrys A. Martin is a partner with Bullivant Houser Bailey PC in Portland, Oregon. Her many contributions to DRI include serviceon the board of directors and as chair of the Employment Law Committee. She is currently chair emeritus of DRI’s Law Institute.
YEARS50 CELEBRATINGLEADERSHIP ■ EXCELLENCE ■ EDUCATIONtakes a full year to plan and market a qualityseminar. Most seminars are sponsoredby a substantive law committee or a combinationof committees who join forces toprovide cutting- edge legal education.The committee leaders appoint seasonedvolunteers to form a program committee,which works closely with an assignedLaw Institute liaison to ensure that DRI’sstandards are reflected in the topics andfaculty selected. The program committeeand Law Institute liaison assure that seminarsfeature a diverse selection of DRImembers, outstanding judges, corporaterepresentatives, and other specialists intheir fields, such as government leaders orexpert witnesses. This unique combinationof speakers has lead to rave reviews by ourattendees. Some recent comments include:Asbestos:“Excellent venue, facility, organizationand presentations all the wayaround—Thanks Al, for the 30 years,you’ll be missed at the helm!”“My first DRI seminar and it wasexcellently run. Can’t believe youstayed on schedule so well. Materialand speakers were excellent.”Insurance Coverage:“This seminar is typically one of thebest presented by DRI. This one did notdisappoint.”Nursing Home:“All of the medical speakers wereexcellent and very helpful.”The Law Institute’s goals are to providehigh quality legal education to both inhouseand outside defense counsel. Ournationally recognized speakers on cuttingedgetopics help our attendees learn the lawin depth, keep up with new cases and statutes,learn the latest in best practices fortrial work and improve their personal aswell as professional lives. The Law Institutemust follow legal trends to offer newseminars, and more recently webcasts andwebconferences, on the hottest legal topics,as well as maintaining tried and truelegal education programming. Recent seminarofferings include Commercial Litigation,as many of our members transitiontheir practices from traditional insurancedefense to business disputes, intellectualproperty issues and protecting businesstrade secrets.DRI has shown itself to be a “thoughtleader” by helping its members recruit, retainand advance minorities and women,and by offering seminars that specificallyaddress issues of particular importanceto those groups. Theannual Diversity forSuccess Seminar hasdrawn over 500 attendeesevery yearand features a uniqueoffering, the DiversityExpo, where businessescan interviewdiverse attorneys for potential retention asoutside counsel in efforts to diversify theirlegal vendors. Also, in the mid-1990s, DRIwas one of the first legal professional organizationsto offer programming geared towardsthe female trial attorney, providinglegal education on tough issues such as genderdiscrimination in the courtroom, trialtactics that women could use that mightbackfire on a male advocate and work-lifebalance issues. The success of those seminarsjumpstarted DRI’s ability to diversifyits membership and leadership, encouragingwomen to get involved. Many of thewomen who participated in those seminarsare now in leadership positions in DRI includinga past president and officers. Therenewed need for training specifically for femaleattorneys led the Law Institute to reinstitutethese seminars again in 2008 to assistwomen in advancing in the profession andto provide guidance for law firms and corporatelegal departments on retaining andadvancing women in their organizations.DRI’s seminars also have the addedbenefit of providing opportunities for ourmembers to interact with their clients andpotential clients at these seminars. The programsfeature breaks and receptions fornetworking with clients, colleagues, speakersand expert witnesses. Dine Aroundsare another common feature of DRI seminars.Attendees can sign up on site forthese no-host dinners, which ensure anopportunity—especially for the first-timeattendees—to join in the fun and camaraderiethat these seminars provide. Manyattendees have met lifelong professionalcolleagues who have also become closeOver 1,600 sites registeredfor DRI webcastsand webconferencesin 2009 alone!personal friends. Others have met crossreferralsources from across the country.Clients use these seminars to meet outsideattorneys, who are experts in the particularsubstantive law area, for potential hire.The biggest problem that program chairsface is getting the seminar restarted ontime due to the networking going on duringbreaks! And yet,another hallmark ofDRI seminars is beingon time. Speakersuse all, and only,their allotted time, includingtime for audiencequestions todelve into complextopics in greater depth as dictated by attendeesophistication level. DRI seminarsprovide something for both the experiencedpractitioner as well as the novice attorney.Some seminars offer dual tracks for “newbies”and seasoned trial attorneys, alike,such as “primers” on the area of law or separatesessions that delve into more sophisticatedtopics.Speakers are invited to speak only aftersignificant vetting and DRI never uses“pay to play” tactics where speakers can“buy” their way onto the podium. Whileexpert witnesses and other vendors criticalto a trial attorney’s success are speakers,they are not allowed to “sell” and must beproven experts on their topics to be invited.All speakers are required to provide thoroughwritten materials to supplement theirpresentation and attendees use these topquality educational tools as resources intheir firms, for briefing and trial tactics.It is impossible to describe accuratelythe myriad of tasks performed by LawInstitute members in their dual roles ofleading the strategic direction of DRI’s educationalefforts and in helping to run eachseminar. You simply have to attend to seefor yourself the excellent educational offeringsthat DRI provides, which continue tomake it a top notch provider of continuinglegal education in our country. Our seminarsare reasonably priced and reach over9,000 attendees per year, providing attendeeswith the MCLE credits required by moststates and, more importantly, the opportunityto learn the law from the defense perspectivein a safe setting with colleaguesand clients in the defense bar.For The Defense n July 2010 n 9
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