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Message from the President By: CHRISTOPHER J WINTER EDITION 2015 VOL. 24, NO. 2 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT BY: CHRISTOPHER J. ALFIERI Wishing all of you a Happy & Prosperous New Year! By the time this Winter Edition of Second, we’ve moved! I am happy to announce the Advocate reaches our members, that The Michaelle Pitard Wynne Attorney our holiday celebrations will be Conference Center has moved to its new location on behind us, and we will be awakening the second floor of the Hale Boggs Federal Building to a brand new year, 2015. What a in room B-245, which adjoins the Eastern District wonderful gift it is to begin anew! courthouse. It can be reached through the second floor Whether or not you typically start of the courthouse and is open Monday through Friday, each year with a special resolution, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. The Center is operated by January 1st invites us all to dream big the Federal Bar Association, New Orleans Chapter, for and set fresh goals, and our Chapter is no exception. I’m the benefit of all attorneys having business at the court. thrilled to announce three exciting new developments We will be notifying our members about an Open House with which our Chapter begins 2015: event which we will host in our new space sometime in First, I announce the appointment of Christina January 2015, or you can visit our website at nofba.org. Consuelo “CC” Kahr as the incoming Executive Please see William Blevins’s “Clerk’s Corner,” in this Director of the Federal Bar Association, New Orleans issue, for more information. Chapter. CC comes to us with a wealth of executive Our current facilities are newly renovated and provide management experience with non-profit, governmental attorneys with a variety of services and conveniences and educational institutions, including expertise in including a comfortable, furnished main lounge with organizational development, project management and access to telephone, restrooms and a kitchenette where program planning. CC is already known to many of you basic refreshments are available. The Center affords from her tenure as the former Program Director of the a quiet and comfortable place for attorneys to work or New Orleans Bar Association. CC has shared with me relax. The Center includes a research and copy room, that she considers it a privilege to work with members of high-speed copier and printer, and public computers the legal community, as both the lawyers and judges of the with access to WestLaw/Lexis. The Center also contains region have provided her much personal and professional furnished and private conference rooms, each with insight into the city that she has come to call home. We secure telephone service. These rooms are available by are delighted to welcome CC to our leadership team, reservation or on a “first come” basis. They are ideal for and we look forward to working with her to improve the attorney-client consultations, neutral site depositions, many benefits we offer to our members. Welcome, CC! mid-trial negotiation, witness waiting rooms, etc. Please stop by and see our impressive new space! cont’d on page 2 EDITORIAL BOARD: KATHRYN KNIGHT, STEVE GRIFFITH, MICHAEL ECUYER MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT (cont’d) Third, we’ve listened to our members, and 1 Jurisdiction; (8) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure we’re getting back to our roots by adding a new 56; (9) Fundamentals of Effective Brief-Writing; “Federal Practice & Procedure Series” to our (10) Effective Oral Arguments; and (11) Daubert annual Continuing Legal Education lineup. – Motions and Practice. The first installment of the Federal Practice and The creation of this special CLE series is Procedure series will take place in March 2015, based upon our evaluation of past CLE planning and it will be an ongoing feature of our annual and programming and the input of our members. CLE scheduling moving forward. The series We hope to ensure that every year the substantive will comprise four separate 2-hour segments content of our CLE programming covers a broad (10:00 am – 12:00 pm & 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm) over spectrum of Federal practice areas. Please let us a two-day period, and it will be held at the Eastern hear from you if there are other specific topics District courthouse. Attendees will have the you are interested in for this series, and stay tuned flexibility to participate in the complete program for details on this new program. or to attend individual sessions. Among the As our Chapter enters its 78th year, I want many Federal Practice areas to be covered in this to thank you, our members, for your continued annual series will be (1) Removal/Remand and involvement in the Federal Bar. We have a great Appeals of Remand Orders; (2) Discovery; (3) year in store for our members, and I look forward Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12; (4) Preparing to seeing you in the coming months. Above all, I Pre-Trial Orders & Trial, including verdict forms; wish all of you and your loved ones a very Happy (5) Depositions for Federal Court; (6) Post-Trial & Prosperous New Year! Motions and Post-Judgment Practice; (7) Article DEAN CHEMERINSKY SUPREME COURT UPDATE On November 21, 2014, the Federal Bar Association, Younger Lawyers Division, hosted approximately 50 attendees for Dean Erwin Chemerinsky’s Supreme Court Update. Erwin Chemerinsky, Founding Dean, University of California, Irvine School of Law, discussed the most significant opinions from the last term of the Supreme Court of the United States and some fascinating cases on the horizon for the next term. Dean Chemerinsky impressed the crowded courtroom with his ability to recall specific details about every case he discussed, including which justices were in the majority, direct quotes from the opinions, and the day of the week on which the decision was rendered. Throughout the presentation, Dean Chemerinsky answered questions, and afterward he graciously posed for photographs with and signed autographs for the attendees. THE ADVOCATE THE 2 MALCOLM MONROE FEDERAL PRACTICE SEMINAR ADVOCATE THE The annual Malcolm Monroe Federal Practice Seminar was held on December 3, 2014, at the Eastern District Courthouse. A total of 113 attorneys participated in the seminar and gained admission to Louisiana’s federal district courts and the Fifth Circuit. At the end of the afternoon, Judge Lemelle presided over the swearing- in ceremony. Speakers this year included: Larry Pugh (Pugh Accardo LLC), Sara Johnson (Law Offices of Herbert V. Larson, Jr.), Laura Ashley (Jones Walker), Chris Weema (Krebs Farley), Palmer Lambert (Gainsburgh Benjamin), Kathleen Gasparian (Ware Gasparian), and Mark Surprenant (Adams & Reese). 3 YLD HOLIDAY PARTY The Younger Lawyers Division held its annual Federal Bar Association Holiday Party on December 3, 2014. This event provides members of the Federal Bar an opportunity to meet and mingle with other members, as well as members of the Federal judiciary. The party was well attended by FBA members – old and new – as well as judges from the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Fifth Circuit. The party was held at its traditional location in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Great Hall. Adding to the holiday spirit, the YLD offered guests the opportunity to create holiday cards to be delivered to soldiers by the American Red Cross Mail for Heroes Program. Thank You The FBA would like to thank the Sedona Conference for allowing us to partner with them to present the All Voices Meeting at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans this fall! THE ADVOCATE THE 4 COCKTAILS WITH THE COURT ADVOCATE THE On the evening of November 19, 2014, the Younger Lawyers Division of the Federal Bar Association hosted Cocktails with the Court. Members of the bench and the bar gathered together at the Swizzle Stick Bar at Cafe Adelaide to share wine, drinks, and wonderful conversation. Cocktails with the Court provides members of the bar a unique opportunity to engage the judges of the Eastern District and Fifth Circuit in an open social setting. The evening was once again a successful and enjoyable experience for those in attendance. TULANE FBA HOSTS SEMESTER KICK-OFF EVENT AT NOLA BREWERY On October 16, 2014, the Tulane Law Student Division of the Federal Bar Association joined forces with the Tulane International Law Society to co-host an evening at the NOLA Brewing Company in New Orleans. The organizations’ goal was to kick off the semester by raising awareness about the FBA and International Law Society while bringing together the Tulane and New Orleans legal communities and enjoying a beer. In the spirit of these objectives, the event was open to the entire law school community, and the two organizations were joined by over 150 Liz Houts, FBA Student Chapter guests throughout the evening, including current students, recent President, with Amanda Serfess graduates, faculty members, and local practitioners. Guests partook in complimentary brewery tours provided by one of the NOLA Brewing brewmasters, top- notch cuisine by a local caterer, and even yard games. To top the night off, NOLA Brewing generously donated 20% of the beer proceeds from the evening to the International Law Society’s subsidiary organization, Global Brigades, to help fund its winter break trip to Panama, where students will provide pro bono legal assistance to under-resourced communities. 5 LUNCH WITH THE court PROGRAM In October 2014, members of the FBA’s Younger Lawyers Division lunched with Magistrate Judge North and his staff, Ms. Doll and Mr. Yager. This was Magistrate Judge North’s first time hosting the Lunch with the Court Program, and a fun time was had by all. The young lawyers learned about the role of Magistrate Judge, and the wide variety of federal matters before the Judge.
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