NATLE FYI

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Registration for the GAC is up over 70 with at least another six waiting on last-minute legislative shenanigans before they commit.  Please forward the brochure to your leadership and encourage them to attend.  Stress that their counterparts from around the country will be there to participate in the informative roundtables and timely topics.  If you’d like anyone to receive the e-blast announcements directly, just forward their name/address/phone/email and I’ll make sure they get the information.  You can see the current list of registrants on the event page, once you log in.  It’s below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections.

The Planning Committee for the NATLE Winter Meeting in Austin holds a kick-off meeting this afternoon to begin brainstorming the topics and speakers.  If you have ideas you’d like considered, please let me know.

Earn your CAE Ethics credit by attending our next 4th Monday Zoom Series on October 23rd.  Brian Yacker, of Baker Tilly, will join us for an Association Law refresher he presented at our Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend [and a long one if your office is closed for Indigenous People’s Day]!

P.S. in case you’re still here…growing up, I was a wiz at solitaire and otherwise entertaining myself.  As an only child, I relished the after-school and weekend play time with friends, especially at their houses since they all had siblings and the obligatory upstairs hall closet full of board games.  We didn’t have a closet in the hallway, but it would have been stocked with sheets and towels…not nearly has fun as Monopoly or Battleship.  On the flip side, I didn’t know many friends who went fishing, canoeing, or hawk watching.  My parents divorced, amicably, when I was seven and Dad moved just a few miles away.  I spent every other weekend with him and unless the weather was bad, Dad and I were always out in nature on our bicycles, trooping through fields in waders to get to a favorite trout spot, or counting species with a pack of binocular-clutching bird nerds at the Audubon Center.  We haven’t done that in a while, so now that Dad lives just a few miles away again, I think we’ll grab our binoculars and go count hawks this Sunday while the weather is nice.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Today is the last day to register for the GAC at the Early Bird rate.  The brochure is uploaded to the site with the program of topics and panels, though we are waiting on a few speakers to confirm.  I have the first speaker/panel profile drafted and will send it out as soon as I receive headshots and bios.  I’m aware of a handful of EDs who are forwarding the brochure to their presidents.  They’ll be in good company with several attendees in TLA leadership from around the country.  If you’re not sure if you or your leadership are registered, once you log in and navigate to the event page, the real-time list of registrants is available below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections.  Please encourage your leadership to attend this unique opportunity to mingle and collaborate with their TLA peers.

Save-the-Date of October 23 (4pmET) for the next 4th Monday Zoom Series with Brian Yacker of Baker Tilly.  He’ll join us for an Association Law refresher he presented at our Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.  An announcement will be sent on Monday.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I see on my Non Sequitur daily calendar that yesterday was National Good Neighbor Day.  True to form, a neighbor from down the street, just stopped by with a card for another neighbor who had emergency knee surgery last week.  Ever since he moved in a few years ago, as soon as he gets word that someone in our ‘hood has had a medical issue or family loss, he’s out ringing our doorbells to invite us to sign a get-well or sympathy card.  When I say, "you’re always so good about doing this", he says it’s because he’s from Minnesota and that doing “good” will help him get through the Pearly Gates.  He’s a true gift to the neighborhood with ever the quick smile, friendly word, and sincere wave.  He’s also a source of heart-clutching, pray-for-no-accidents paralysis when you see him tottering up the street in roller blades.  Did I mention he’s in his late 70s??  Going up the street is one thing, but coming back down – I have to look away, just in case.  I’m not from Minnesota, but I still don’t want to lose this gem to a crack in the pavement.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

We are now nine members away from a 100% renewal rate! If you're in this group, I'll reach out to you this afternoon and/or Monday morning.

You have one more week to register for the GAC at the Early Bird rate, so save $30. As I compare the room list with conference registration, I can see there are almost a dozen folks with rooms who have not yet registered. Once you log in and navigate to the event page, the real-time list of registrants is visible below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections. If you don't see your name, this is your heads-up to get registered! Please also encourage your leadership to attend this unique opportunity to mingle and collaborate with their TLA peers.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great First of Fall weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I like to think of myself as a bit of a news junkie. I don't follow sports, though, don't tell anyone...I have two full albums of hockey trading cards from the Gretzky, Roy, LeClair era. It was a brief passion before I found more physically demanding hobbies like snowboarding and mountain biking. Instead, I have my NPR station on just about 24/7 unless I'm watching the new version of S.W.A.T. or Call the Midwife (both on Netflix, btw). My weekly foray into AM radio is after 9pm on the weekends when I tune into Art Bell: Somewhere in Time. It's a few hours of archival recordings (since Art died in 2018) mostly from the 90s, so pre-Y2K and pre-9/11...such a different world. With a straight face, he delves into the truly bizarre taking calls from around the country from people who want to talk about everything from UFOs and alien abductions to chupacabras to remote viewing. What can I say, it's cheap entertainment.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The final ½ day of the GAC will be a session from Steve Pontoni’s popular Leadership Academy all about coalition building for the good of the bench.  “In this session, we will demonstrate how any TLA can build a training and recruitment strategy for judicial candidates and potential judicial appointments. Additionally, we will look at creative ways to gain power in the judiciary affordably. LEAD for Justice, the Great Lakes Political Academy, and other like-minded groups will join us to talk through what they have found to be successful.”  Please plan to stay until after noon on Tuesday!

Valerie O'Brien and I met with Mauricio Fonseca, MemberCentral's Chief Product Advocate (and guru when it comes to planning entertaining social events) this week to brainstorm a venue for a social event during the GAC.  No details, yet, but my read of the [zoom] room tells me that it will involve a band and a wine and/or beer tasting in the on-site pavilion.  (Yes, it’s outside, but there are plenty of propane heaters…buy your carbon credits early!)  The drafted flyer is with the Planning Committee, we should have it ready later today or early next week.  There are more than a dozen folks who have rooms reserved, but haven’t yet registered for the program.  You save $30 with the Early Bird registration rate!  We have a handful of TLA presidents signed up, but a testimonial (or two) on the ListServ would be awesome from those of you who can speak to the value of having your leaders attend.

Our Zoom discussion on Monday on the topic of litigation funding was well attended and recorded.  Copy ‘n paste the passcode: u703#.y+

The idea of a handy handbook (maybe downloadable from the website) for TLAs is back on the front burner, so it would be helpful to have your thoughts on the most relevant topics, such as which departments/contacts at AAJ are important to include.  The intention is to have an FAQ with answers, ie. “Where do I go to update our PAC card information?”  The answers will include the department and a description of the information that is available.  One section will be devoted to the Partnership for Progress program for which we already have text from AAJ.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…oh, the beeping all around us these days!  I was sitting at my computer – where you’ll usually find me between 8 ’n 5 – when I heard an alarm bell that was of the “urgent” or “danger” variety.  I looked at my phone.  It was dark.  My dryer was still running, so it wasn’t that.  The sky was clear, so it definitely wasn’t the choking goose honk of a weather alert during NPR.  My attempt to discover the source reminded me of my previous home, built according to the latest code, which required smoke alarms in the hallways and every bedroom.  It also meant spending a small fortune in batteries to change them regularly, so I didn’t.  As luck would have it, a battery would always end up dying in the wee hours, never during the day.  The first beep might not have brought me out of a deep sleep, but I certainly heard the second.  With three bedrooms at one end of the hallway, I’d have to stand under each one for what felt like five minutes between each of those initial beeps just to figure out which one was getting low, hoping I’d guess right the first time so I could whack it off the ceiling with a broomstick and go back to bed.  Yah, it wasn’t pretty.  In a sleepy stupor, I once ripped a wall-mounted CO detector out of the wall – screw and all – before I realized it would have been less destructive to simply unplug it.  I used a lot of spackle repairing that hole.  So, in this recent episode, I wandered around the house looking for the source of my annoyance.  It turned out to be the blown-in insulation machine the guys were using on my neighbor’s new second floor addition.  I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have appreciated my taking a broomstick to their machine, so I turned up the volume on NPR and got back to work.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The GAC Planning Committee met this week to fill in the last few slots in the program, so watch for a flyer next week.  I have to say that the Lansdowne has exceeded my expectations as a meeting planner.  Their A/V quote is simple with just the right amount of information, and they send our room block’s reservation list every Monday morning – I typically have to beg for it at other properties – so I can compare the list with who’s registered.  (I’ll reach out today to the small handful of folks registered with NATLE who don’t yet appear to have rooms.)

I met with representatives from Esquire Bank on Wednesday to hear about their approach to banking for lawyers.  They are putting together a marketing packet with details on their products, but in the meantime, I’d appreciate hearing from the TLAs that work with Esquire.  Do you bank with Esquire or market their services to your members?  (Let me know your experience.)

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…thinking I’d (again) missed my window to reseal the driveway this summer, I mentally crossed it off my To Do list.  Instead, with temps hitting the low 90s for 3 days in a row this week, I ran to Lowes for a 5-gallon bucket and brush.  I was distracted on Tuesday and ended up working through lunch when I’d been planning to get to it, so I cracked open the bucket at 7pm once I’d changed into grubby clothes after my exercise class.  The fussy, time-consuming work is coloring just inside the lines, so I did the edges first.  By the time I could get to the “faster” sealing in the middle, the mosquitoes had come out with their stingers loaded for bear.  It’s a good thing I wore old clothes – slapping at mosquitoes, even with the back side of my gloves, left black smears just about everywhere.  It gets dark fast and early this time of year, so I had a hard time seeing if I was getting decent coverage by the time I quit at 8.  I must have been quite the sight dancing around and slapping at bugs, more than I’d imagined since even after a shower, I found a spot of sealer in my ear.  Unfortunately, in the 10 years since I last used sealer, my driveway must have gotten longer (unlikely) or the 5-gallon buckets have gotten smaller (nope) because I only made it ¾ of the way to the bottom.  I picked up a second bucket and finished the job the next day.  It’s no wonder I saddle myself with this job once a decade.  When will I hit that magic moment where I let it go and hire someone to do the nitty gritty tasks?

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The end of NATLE’s fiscal year was yesterday (8/31) and most dues renewals came in well ahead of today’s auto-renew/pay date.  With those renewals processed and accounting for the payments I know are in the mail, we only have about 25 members – or about 15% – left to renew.  Does anyone know Linda Stevens with the South Dakota TLA?  She didn’t renew last year despite the ol’ college try by me and at least one other NATLE member.  Alaska is another state that deserves to be brought back into the fold.  Their membership (Linda Shattuck and Cynthia Weaver) must predate NATLE’s current AMS since neither’s dues info is in the system.  Also, there’s no reference to an ED that I can find on their site.

Registration for the GAC started off with a bang, but has slowed to a trickle.  I’m hoping that the reminder sent yesterday about the finite room block will help prime the pump.  My new favorite person is the current president of the Mississippi Assoc for Justice, Tripp Segars.  He sent a note to the AAJ COP encouraging his counterparts to sign up.  I remember the reaction of my then-president who attended a Legislative Conference.  He came away with an appreciation for AAJ, his fellow TLA leadership and governmental affairs staff, and for my position as a TLA ED.  I’m probably preaching to the choir, but when your leadership has the chance to rub elbows with you and your colleagues away from their own TLA, they gain a valuable perspective on your experience and capabilities that can be hard to see when they’re mostly concerned with the state level.  (I’m referring to “state” TLA in the case of the GAC, but the appreciation gained certainly also applies to the “provincial” and “municipal” TLAs when talking about our other conferences.)

Today is the deadline for submitting a scholarship application for the GAC.  Please don't let the cost of attending the conference dissuade you from considering the benefits of brainstorming and networking with your colleagues.  Registration is free and travel expenses are covered up to $2500.  If there’s a reason other than availability that is preventing you from registering, financial justification is used only as one factor in determining need and kept confidential beyond the Scholarship Committee.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great Labor Day weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I was going to mention the super blue moon we had Wednesday night – the sky was clear over my corner of Vermont and it was very bright – but feel the need to process a scary event instead.  When violence hits too close to home, the brain (at least my brain) does what feels like back flips in an effort to grasp any shred of context or perspective.  My ears perked up on Monday when an NPR headline called out a shooting at UNC Chapel Hill.  My stepbrother was in his office right across the hall when the professor was shot by an advisee.  It was a targeted incident, so in retrospect Glenn doesn’t feel like he was in any direct harm, but the proximity of it and seeing “the aftermath”, as my sister-in-law referred to it, is more than disturbing.  I’ve been in those blandly painted halls and it’s hard to comprehend the evil and vitriol that also walked in my steps.  As a recent high school grad in an era when school shootings are way too common, my niece took it hard.  They got together that night for much needed family time to calm nerves and reassure each other that they’re all ok.  If only the events lined up, we might blame the behavior on the full moon, but there’s definitely more to this story than simple lunar mania.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

After a bumpy start to the dues renewal process last week, a good number of members were still able to navigate the links to submit payment.  I’ll forward a reminder early next week.

Scholarship applications are still being accepted for the GAC, but a final reminder will also go out on Monday.

Otherwise, my vacation in Michigan has been refreshing and rewarding, and I thankfully missed the (unconfirmed, but likely) tornado around Lansing by 24 hours.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…my aunt and uncle’s beloved 13-year-old Goldendoodle, Cassie, had been dealing with kidney disease and, a week ago today, found her way to the giant doggie park in the sky.  She’d made a ton of friends around the lake, mostly the two-legged kind, and because the news was shared through FB, the condolence cards started arriving right away.  She had the smarts to have a vocabulary rivaling most Mensa members, but still thought she could play with the stinky black ‘n white “kitties” or the spiky ones; she didn’t learn or suffer from PTSD, apparently.  Because I didn’t get up here until just a few days ago, I’ll remember her as the silky-soft pup who sat up in front of the pontoon boat with me on the circuits around the lake.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

I was about to type that it was a relatively quiet week in NATLE-land, but we welcomed two new members, I put the finishing touches on the comprehensive President-Elect’s Guide for Joan, and generated the FY24 dues renewals.  Not bad for “quiet”.  I also packed my car Wednesday night ahead of a wee-hour departure yesterday morning bound for Michigan to visit family.

I’m happy to report that we have over 30 registrants for the November Leah S. Guerry Governmental Affairs Conference.  We are also extending the deadline to submit a Scholarship application to September 1.

Our extra copies of Elevating Engagement by our featured speaker in Philadelphia, Amanda Lea Kaiser, were not flying off the shelf, so knowing I really didn’t have anything to lose, I asked her if I could “sell them on” to one of her upcoming group presentations.  She was totally gracious, enthusiastic even, about sharing them with her audience in Cincinnati next week, so I shipped them out yesterday.  They are available through her site.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I caught up with the rest of humanity and saw Barbie last Sunday.  The cast is great, the sets are amazing, and there’s more than one “Amen, Sister”, you-GO-girl monologue.  (I had to sit on my hands to stop myself from clapping.)  It’s not a musical, but the big dance scenes looked like they were really fun to make.  I’ve decided not to venture down to the basement to search for my Barbie house and dolls…I don’t want to be disappointed when I don’t find them.  At least, if I don’t look, then they might still be there, right?  I’m glad I saw it in the theatre, I laughed out loud with the rest of the small crowd, and I’m pretty sure no one noticed that I forgot to wear Barbie-pink.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

To put a happy cap on the Annual Meeting, the leadership transition from President Barbara Jorden to Valerie O'Brien was celebrated with a reception. Valerie thanked Barbara for leading NATLE through a very productive year and presented her with a plaque. The new Board of Directors was also recognized at the reception attended by AAJ (co-sponsor) and several guests.

The Planning Committee for our November Leah S. Guerry Governmental Affairs Conference met this week to fill out the program. We have an exciting agenda with topics like coalition-building, messaging using jury research, campaign finance, and the emerging hot button issues of AI/tech liability and online privacy protection. Registration is open and we are accepting Scholarship applications through next Friday, Aug 18.

Our new Job Bank worked through a few kinks with the help of MemberCentral and we now have two positions posted. To see and/or upload a listing, first log in to our website to enable the features.

We have several extra copies of Elevating Engagement, the book by our featured guest in Philadelphia, Amanda Lea Kaiser.  Let me know if you’d like a copy (or ten) and I’ll happily ship them and email an invoice for the cost of the book, plus shipping.  I’ve already shipped a few, so get ‘em while we have ‘em!

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…so, two days after I posted my last Weekly Wrap, my cousin Stacey (who I'll be visiting next week in Michigan) let me know that her husband - who's younger than I am, btw - had a stroke. It was deep in the center of his brain and the docs say it's a good thing that he's healthy and fit, or it could have been worse. He's in rehab now and may be there at least a few weeks while the PT/OT folks get him walking again. Stacey doesn't want me to change my plans, so I'll still head out next Thursday...we'll just skip the high energy family reunion. Feeling a bit like I need to press pause for a few hours on these harder moments in life and in the news, I'm going to the movies on Sunday to see Barbie. I think I'm among the last of my friends to see it and everyone says, "Ooh, you'll have to let me know what you think." Color me curious and I look forward to the brief escape.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

I can’t believe it’s already August.  July is a bit of a blur since it’s just about entirely devoted to the Annual Meeting preparation and follow-up.  Now that that conference is in the rearview mirror, we’re looking ahead to the Leah S. Guerry Governmental Affairs Conference.  Registration is now open and we are accepting Scholarship applications.

The minimum book order we negotiated for a reduced speaker fee with our featured guest in Philadelphia, Amanda Lea Kaiser, left us with several extra copies of Elevating Engagement.  Let me know if you’d like one (or ten) and I’ll happily ship them and email an invoice for the cost of the book, plus shipping (approx. $25ea).  I’ve already shipped a few, so get ‘em while we have ‘em!

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I’ve carved out a week this summer for a little vacation and mapped out a route for my drive to Michigan later this month.  I’ll drive the 772 miles in one day, starting in the wee hours so that I arrive by early evening.  My cousin, Stacey, always tells me to let her know when I get off the highway so she can fire up her Margaritaville machine in time to meet me in the driveway with a tall frosty beverage!  I’ll be at her place until mid-week when she goes back to work with the MI Dept of Ed, then head northwest to Frankfort to take my mom’s college roommate out to lunch before crossing the state to stay with my aunt and uncle (Mom’s brother) for the rest of the week.  That’s when the relaxing part of the vacation will start.  I love my cousin dearly, but she has Taz’s energy (remember Taz, the Tasmanian devil who bedeviled Bugs Bunny? Personal fun fact, he’s my favorite Looney Tunes character).  My aunt and uncle live year-round on a no-wake lake and, in good weather, take their pontoon boat out almost every evening before dinner for a slow spin around the lake to wave to the majority seasonal or weekend neighbors.  There are usually at least a few loons (uh, no pun intended) floating and diving, and sometimes a bald eagle soaring overhead.  It’s truly my idea of paradise.