For the Record The Official Newsletter of the John W. Peck Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Chapter Extended Edition, Summer 2018 IN THIS EDITION President’s Message, President’s Message…1 from Dan Donnellon Judges’ Spotlight … 2, 3 I continue to be blessed and Practice Tips: Filing under Seal, impressed by the dedication and Post-Shane Group…5 commitment of the Task Force on Gender Equity in the Courtroom. On Gender Equity Update …7 July 26, we completed our second Skills Training Session (CLE meeting properly as a real leader, Capitol Hill Day Recap…8 pending). The title was “Beyond Oral and select participants got to put Judges’ Night Dinner Recap…9 Advocacy: Practical Skills for Public those skills to use leading a Speaking” and it really lived up to its meeting of their group. Finally, we SDOH Practice Seminar Recap …10 name. We had over 30 registered had an exercise on attendees, the vast majority of which extemporaneous, persuasive The FBA’s SWEL Friendship…11 were women with fewer than 5 years’ speaking. It’s hard to imagine this Fall Mentor Program experience in practice. free CLE was all packed into 90 minutes. And, of course, the event Announcement…12 Judge Tim Black, Magistrate Judge was followed by a brief Happy Stephanie Bowman, and I led the CJA News…13 Hour sponsored by the FBA. faculty along with other talented, Mock Trial Updates…14, 15 younger women lawyers, Jade We also concluded another Smarda (Judge Barrett’s law clerk) excellent program for law students, UC and Chase: Presidential and Mel Matthews (KMK). We federal externs and summer Introductions…16 provided specific, practical skills to associates in private practice. They Leadership Opportunities…17 improve your public speaking, and conducted 7 Mock Trials of a gave the participants opportunities murder case before a real judge Member Anniversaries…23 to be “on their feet” and demonstrate with volunteer jurors who, in the skills they just learned. For several instances, actually reached Upcoming Events example, Judge Bowman and I gave a verdict in the short time Chapter Fall Luncheon…4 practical tips on developing your own provided. To our amazement, the “Elevator Pitch” when you have a verdicts were not consistent. Each Gender Equity CLE…8 brief opportunity to sell yourself to a of the 28 student participants had captive audience. Then, each a wonderful and educational time Annual Meeting and participant delivered their own and received a nice Certificate of Convention …9 Elevator Pitch to members of their Recognition with the FBA logo. I Naturalization small group and received would like to thank Dinsmore for Ceremonies…10 constructive feedback. Judge Black hosting the kickoff event, and the gave excellent tips on how to run a Taft/ firm for hosting a concluding SWEL Gala…11 Cont. on Page 17 Tender Mercies Gala …17 Obergefell, Three Years Later: Q&A with Hon. Timothy S. Black By Augustus Flottman, Esq., Faruki Ireland Cox Rhinehart & Dusing, P.L.L. LEAD YOURSELF Justice is bigger than any one individual, and for attorneys our sense of professional responsibility is rooted in our inclusion in a system that is larger than the FIRST self. Throughout the country, individual courtroom By Hon. Raymond Kethledge battles between litigants play out as part of a system of United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit justice in which advocating for a single individual's interest may very well result in a decision that ultimately Of all the decisions Dwight Eisenhower ever affects the interests of all Americans. Our judges, the made as a leader, none was more important than true engine in this system, are uniquely positioned to his decision to launch the D-Day invasion on appreciate how the downstream effect of a single June 6, 1944 rather than two weeks later. That decision can lead to meaningful change to our society decision brought great risk: at the time and its institutions. Eisenhower made it, there was a strong possibility that the weather would prevent any reinforcements from landing on June 7, in which case the troops who landed the day before might “I knew my rulings would be appealed to the Sixth be pushed out to sea. But a decision to delay the Circuit. But I never considered that Obergefell invasion would have brought great risks of a would become the named Supreme Court case.” different sort, not least that the Germans would Timothy S. Black find out where the Allies planned to land. Eisenhower had to weigh all those risks, and choose between them. He did so only after obtaining—through deliberate effort—the greatest possible clarity as to which choice Here in the Southern District of Ohio, the Honorable offered the best chance of success. Timothy S. Black presided over one of those few generational cases that so fundamentally altered our Eisenhower found that clarity through solitude. society that it stands as a historic manifestation of the On June 3, 1944, he went to his tent alone and nobility of our system of justice. Obergefell v. Hodges wrote a memorandum to himself, in which he asked Judge Black, at a high level, for a determination of distilled his thoughts down to a single rule that the rights of same-sex couples and the extent to which would guide him in the days ahead: “We must go those rights can be abridged by the states. The difficult unless there is a real and very serious legal questions and nuanced considerations presented by deterioration in the weather.” And it was the Obergefell case were paralleled by a contentious precisely that rule that Ike applied in the early national discourse on the social, moral, and religious morning of June 5, when he gave the order to issues implicated by the question of what rights and launch the invasion. protections same-sex couples deserve. It was against this backdrop that Judge Black crafted an opinion Solitude—meaning the state of being alone with underscored by a thoughtful appeal to human dignity, one’s thoughts, without input from others—has which evinced the court’s recognition that the Obergefell been instrumental to the effectiveness of leaders case presented not just questions of law, but throughout history. Martin Luther King Jr. fundamental questions on the integrity of our national found moral courage while sitting alone at his consciousness. table one night during the Montgomery bus boycott. Jane Goodall used her intuition while Cont. on Page 4 Page | 2 Cont. on Page 19 The John W. Peck Chapter Congratulates Hon. Thomas M. Rose On 45 Years of Service to the Bench and Bar On May 9, 2018, our sister chapter in Dayton hosted a spectacular dinner and program at the Schuster Center, where more than 350 lawyers, judges, court staff, family and friends gathered to honor Judge Thomas M. Rose’s 45 years of service to the bench and bar. After moving remarks by Judge Rose’s friends and colleagues, including Judge Susan Dlott and Judge Walter Rice, Judge Rose’s judicial portrait was unveiled. Judge Rose joined the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in 2002. Prior to joining the federal bench, he served Greene County, Ohio for 11 years on the Common Pleas bench. Judge Thomas Rose Our Chapter was thrilled to partake in this wonderful event. To show our support, we purchased a table, and several members of our Board attended as representatives of the John W. Peck Chapter. We are proud that our sister chapters of the Federal Bar Association offer such remarkable programing. Thank you, Dayton Chapter, for hosting this event. And thank you, Judge Rose, for 45 years of service! CONGRATULATIONS! Judge Susan Dlott Judge Walter Rice John W. Peck Chapter Table Judge Rose, with family and friends Page | 3 Cont. from Page 2 The Sixth Circuit, addressing like cases consolidated decision, April 14, is actually my daughter’s from Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee, reversed adoption day. Judge Black's decision by finding the issue of same-sex marriage is most appropriately decided through the Q: How challenging was it to reach the conclusion democratic process – not by the judiciary. However, that Ohio encroached on a fundamental right of the as most of us know, the Supreme Court reversed the plaintiffs in light of the fact that the majority of federal courts had found the right to same-sex Sixth Circuit in its historic decision that, like Judge marriage was not implicated in the fundamental Black, cited to the centrality of marriage to the human right to marry? condition. The Cincinnati Chapter of the Federal Bar Association sat down with Judge Black for a Q&A to A: To some degree, Obergefell presented a different discuss the Obergefell case in order to learn and set of circumstances from the other cases. First, it appreciate the perspective of one of the few judges presented a marriage recognition issue. It was who presided over a case that changed the lives of tens also post-Windsor. of millions and instantly became a part of our legal history. But the very first sentence of the first Order I issued in Obergefell started off: “This is not a complicated Q: The beginning of your opinion in Obergefell case.” I didn’t struggle with the decision, because references Justice Scalia’s prediction that, following the constitutional rights at issue were clear. And I Windsor, the question would be presented to courts do not say that because of my own personal beliefs throughout the country whether, unlike the federal or politics. The decision was not difficult because it government, states can discriminate against same-sex was what was required under the law.