NUMBER 58 WINTer 2008 THE BULLETIN COLLEGE CREATES AWARD to honor JUSTICE O’CONNOR Retired Supreme Court Associate Jus- tice and Honorary Fellow Sandra Day O’Connor was present at the Annual Meeting in Denver to acknowledge and accept the College’s creation of the San- dra Day O’Connor Jurist Award. The College will present this award from time to time to a judge, federal or state, from the United States or Canada who has demonstrated exemplary judi- cial independence in the performance of his or her duties, sometimes in difficult or even dangerous circumstances. The Board of Regents chose to honor O’Connor in this way in recognition of her twenty-four year tenure on the Su- preme Court as its first female member and for her exemplary record of public service. A medal bearing her likeness will be presented to each future O’Connor Jurist recipient. During the ceremony, O’Connor was also presented with a sculptured likeness of her, created by Past President Warren Lightfoot. She has since donated that bust to the Su- Con’t on page 20 This Issue: 64 Pages In This Issue Letter to the Editorial Board I read with interest your article about the vanishing civil trial (Opinion: Before We Jump by E. Os- borne Ayscue, Jr., Summer 2007). I am familiar with issues that you mentioned and I have made several speeches about this over the last several years. It is surprising to me that the trial bar does not seem to be particularly concerned about what is happening. We are beginning to see lawyers with 10-15 years experience that call themselves trial lawyers and do not have a clue what they are doing in a courtroom. You hit on the point that I believe is the core of the problem. Because there are so few experienced trial attorneys, the Bench is beginning to be occupied by judges who have zero experience in the management of a trial/case. These judges simply cannot see the discovery abuses and the excessive motion practice and do not understand that the purpose of the rules of civil procedure is to sim- plify trial preparation. The rules which eliminated ‘fact pleading’ and embraced ‘notice pleading’ will only work under the supervision of a trial judge who understands and manages the pre-trial. I do not know if it is too late to stop the train, but let’s keep trying. Alex W. Newton Birmingham, Alabama IN THIS ISSUE O’Connor Jurist Award Created ...........Cover Upcoming national meetings ..................... 29 Letter to the Editor ..................................... 2 Life cycles and the Beatles’ music ............... 30 From the Editorial Board ............................ 3 Retiring Regents and Chairs ...................... 35 Denver Annual Meeting ............................. 4 Speakers debate global warming ................ 36 Past President Lightfoot: Sculptor ............... 7 Justice Charron made Honorary Fellow ..... 40 O’Connor: Judges Must Be Independent .... 8 In Memoriam ........................................... 44 Robinson made Honorary Fellow .............. 11 Student competition winners honored ....... 50 College elects new Officers and Regents..... 12 Your College website listing ....................... 51 Robinson: The Rule of Law and Terrorism . 13 Meet your new Regents ............................. 52 College inducts 94 ..................................... 18 Gumpert Award aids refugee and Profile: John G. Corlew ............................. 22 immigrant children ....................................54 Diamond on Jurors .................................... 24 Awards, Honors and Elections .................. 57 Phyllis Cooper: Last charter member dies .. 29 Chief Judge extols legal exchanges .............. 58 A current calendar of College events is posted on the College website at www.actl.com, as are a current compendium of the ongoing projects of the College’s National Committees. 2 w THE BULLETIN American College of Trial Lawyers F R O M T H E The Bulletin E DITORIAL BOARD Chancellor-Founder In this issue we feature the College’s annual meeting Hon. Emil Gumpert (1895-1982) in Denver. As usual, the speakers provided those in attendance with much to think about, and we Officers have attempted to make available to all the Fellows Mikel L. Stout, President John J. (Jack) Dalton, President-Elect who could not be there the substance of all the Gregory P. Joseph, Secretary presentations. Joan A. Lukey, Treasurer David J. Beck, Immediate Past President In keeping with our past practice, we have therefore Board of Regents quoted liberally from all the presentations and have David J. Beck Christy D. Jones Houston, Texas Jackson, Mississippi reprinted virtually verbatim two, those of Justice Paul D. Bekman Gregory P. Joseph Sandra Day O’Connor and new Honorary Fellow Baltimore, Maryland New York, New York Mary Robinson. J. Donald Cowan, Jr. Philip J. Kessler Greensboro, North Carolina Detroit, Michigan John J. (Jack) Dalton Joan A. Lukey At the workshops last Fall, the state and province Atlanta, Georgia Boston, Massachusetts chairs were asked to appoint correspondents who Michel Decary, Q.C. Paul S. Meyer Montreal, Canada Costa Mesa, California could report their activities to us for possible publi- Francis X. Dee John S. Siffert cation. We have heard from one State Committee Newark, New Jersey New York, New York that has appointed someone to do so. That leaves Bruce W. Felmly Mikel L. Stout Manchester, New Hampshire Wichita, Kansas only sixty states and provinces to go! Paul T. Fortino Robert W. Tarun Portland, Oregon Chicago, Illinois Recently, we solicited writers for the Bulletin. Since Phillip R. Garrison John H. Tucker Springfield, Missouri Tulsa, Oklahoma then, we have found a volunteer who will take over Robert A. Goodin Chilton Davis Varner writing one of our most well-received features, the San Francisco, California Atlanta, Georgia obituaries of deceased Fellows, in the next issue. Editorial Board E. Osborne Ayscue, Jr., Charlotte, North Carolina, Chair Susan S. Brewer, Morgantown, West Virginia, Vice Chair Some of you have asked how we go about putting James J. Brosnahan, San Francisco, California Andrew M. Coats, Norman, Oklahoma the rest of the Bulletin together. First, we look for Michael A. Cooper, New York, New York possible subjects for feature articles, which Editor Patricia D. S. (Trisha) Jackson, Toronto, Ontario Timothy D. Kelly, Minneapolis, Minnesota Marion Ellis then writes. Marion was a co-author Hon. Garr M. King, Portland, Oregon Warren B. Lightfoot, Birmingham, Alabama of Sages of Their Craft, the fifty-year history of the Simon V. Potter, Montreal, Quebec Conrad M. Shumadine, Norfolk, Virginia College published in 2000. He knows the College Michael A. Williams, Denver, Colorado G. Gray Wilson, Winston-Salem, North Carolina well. Many of you have met him at College meet- (J. Donald Cowan, Jr., Greensboro, North Carolina, Regent Liaison) ings and indeed many of our story ideas came from Marion A. Ellis, Editor conversations he had with some of you. Telephone: 704.366.6599 Emails: [email protected], [email protected] Liz Doten, Art Direction and Design The articles reporting most of the presentations at Email: [email protected] our national meetings that involve legal subjects American College of Trial Lawyers need of necessity to be written by lawyers. We do Dennis J. Maggi, CAE Executive Director 19900 MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 610, Irvine, California 92612 not want to misquote or misinterpret speakers of the Telephone: 949.752.1801 Facsimile: 949.752.1674 Email: [email protected] Website: www.actl.com caliber of those who address us at those meetings. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Con’t on page 6 THE BULLETIN w 3 COLLEGE GATHERS IN MILE HIGH CITYfor 57TH ANNUAL MEETING Fellows and guests gathered in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, October 11, 2007 for the 57th Annual Meeting of the College. The Hyatt Regency Denver was the scene of the meeting. The spectacular Denver Art Museum was the locale for the President’s welcoming reception on Thursday night. Featuring the year-old Frederic C. Hamilton Building, an addition designed by famed architect Daniel Libeskind to reflect the Rocky Mountains, the museum was a perfect setting for the event. Friday’s program began with a welcome from Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper. Lavinia Limón, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, accepted the Gumpert Award on behalf of her orga- nization’s subsidiary, the National Center for Refugee Fellows and guests arrive at Denver and Immigrant Children. Limón’s presentation was Art Museum an eye-opening look into the plight of a group of chil- dren that has remained largely out of the public eye. Her address, like many of the others from the meeting program, is summarized elsewhere in this issue. In an address entitled “The American College and the Judiciary: A Valuable Exchange,” Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Deanelle Reece Tacha, a three-time delegate to College-sponsored Anglo-American and Canada- 4 w THE BULLETIN United States Exchanges, and their guests to display Saturday’s program ended praised the College for spon- the athletic jerseys of their with a debate between soring these exchanges. own or their favorite teams David D. Doniger, Policy at a party at INVESCO Director of the Natural Re- In the course of the meeting, Field, home of the Denver source Defense Council, and the winners of the Canadian Broncos. Regent Raymond Fredrick D. Palmer, senior and United States Moot Court Brown was resplendent in a vice president of Peabody and Trial Competitions and Colts jersey, bearing his old Energy, the world’s largest the best oral advocates from number, generating a debate privately-owned coal com- each were recognized by the about whether the obviously pany. Their subject: “Global College. new jersey was necessitated Warming: The Energy and by the age or by the size of the Environment.” The highlight of the meet- the original model. ing was the creation of the The annual business meeting Sandra Day O’Connor Jurist Saturday’s program began of the Fellows and the reor- Award, the presentation of with the presentation by past ganizational meeting of the a bust of Justice O’Connor president David W.