NATLE FYI

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

A Working Committee has taken a first pass through the questions in the CEO Compensation Survey conducted by The Spark Mill (TSM) in 2022.  The Group will meet again next week to finalize before forwarding to TSM for formatting and distribution.  There’s still time to submit questions if you found anything missing in the previous version.

The results of the Staff Salary Survey will be presented to the NATLE Board next Thursday.  Any additional crosstabs will be incorporated, and the slides forwarded ASAP.

An initial Planning Committee for NATLE’s 2025 Winter Meeting in Miami met on Wednesday and is off to a great start with timely topics and speakers.  If you’ve been looking for a way to get involved in NATLE and have ideas for sessions and/or events, let me know.  The Committee will meet every few weeks until we have most of the program confirmed and a brochure drafted.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend and a meaningful Yom Kippur, if you observe,

P.S. In case you’re still here…I had my first hot chocolate of the season this week.  It feels like not that long ago when I folded up the comforter and put away the electrical blanket and flannel jammies.  Frost was in the forecast, so last weekend I gladly ripped out the tomatoes and peppers, as well as the “volunteer” squash that was most likely an inedible gourd.  It’s also time to take the slow cooker off the top shelf for my favorite comfort foods like pot roast and Chicken Marbella.  I love this time of year when I can change the oil and drain the gas in the lawn mower and switch its position in the garage with the snowblower.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

I just returned from Kansas City (MO) to check out the four properties that are vying to host our GAC next November.  Through our Nashville speaker, Ricky Hopkins with ConferenceDirect, and a fantastic representative from the Visit KC bureau, Shilene Aaron, I had a whirlwind itinerary that came at no cost to NATLE.  The CVB covered my flight and one of the hotels put me up for two nights.  It was also a between-conference treat to see NATLE President-Elect Sara Schuett who drove over from Jefferson City.  Her first-hand experience with the properties is helpful to visualizing the layout of the spaces.  (More on KC in the P.S.)

Our 4th Monday Zoom Series in September was a review of the recent meeting of the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) and their continued discussion on the NCOIL Transparency in Third Party Litigation Financing (TPLF) Model Act.  Daniel Hinkle, Senior Counsel for Policy and State Affairs, has convened a task force of NATLE members to address NCOIL and the efforts that emerge from their meetings relative to our interests.

The first dues renewal notices were distributed last month and I hope to have a smoother experience (for you) when I send any reminders.  MemberCentral support is great, so I expect to have that process moving on Monday.

Registration for the Governmental Affairs Conference is comparable to previous years and are still coming in.  Our room block is available until October 15, so please don’t wait to make your hotel reservations at the Hotel Viking.  If you are holding rooms that you now know you won’t need, please release them.  Friday night of our room block may be SOLD OUT, but there are still rooms available beginning Saturday 11/10.  For transportation options from the airports (Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and TF Green Airport in Providence (PVD) is 18 miles), include a car service from PVD or visit the shared document to coordinate rides with your colleagues.

The trolley tickets are sold out for our Newport Trolley Ride & Mansion Tour, but we still have unlimited half-priced tickets ($18) for the mansion tour at 2:15pm.  They are pre-paid, so let me know how many you’d like and I’ll forward an invoice, and transportation to our first stop, The Breakers, can be a quick Uber/Lyft from the Hotel Viking.  If you have purchased a seat on the trolley and end up not needing it or are unable to make it, please let me know as soon as possible so we can fill that spot from a waiting list.  The trolley departs at 2pm on Saturday, November 9, from the Hotel and will bring us back by 5:15pm in time to get to the Happy Hour at The Fastnet Pub, sponsored by Esquire Bank.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I’m having a hard time getting my brain around the images coming out of the states affected by the most recent hurricane.  Having lived in NC and driven through some of the areas covered by the news, it looks like they’ve been completely rearranged and are truly unrecognizable.  I hope everyone in this NATLE family and beyond has been able to get through to all friends and loved ones.

P.P.S. I’ll admit that I wasn’t glued to the tube in the hotel on Wednesday night when the Kansas City Royals played the Orioles.  The final result, 2-1, would have been a high scoring soccer match, but was underwhelming for this agnostic (and only occasional) baseball fan.  At least I can say, “I was there” for the game that moved them to the playoffs.  My flight out yesterday morning had me leaving the hotel before sunrise and, in a charming show of support and unity, many of the big buildings in the city were bathed in blue light.  I even spotted a few heads of blue hair in the airport – not all of them belonging to little old ladies.  Vermont doesn’t have a direct sports correlation, so it all put a smile on my face.  Very cute.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Our 4th Monday Zoom Series this month has been pushed a week to this coming Monday, September 30 at 4pmET.  The National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) recently held a meeting to continue discussion on the NCOIL Transparency in Third Party Litigation Financing (TPLF) Model Act.  Daniel Hinkle, Senior Counsel for Policy and State Affairs, has convened a task force of NATLE members to address NCOIL and the efforts that emerge from their meetings relative to our interests.  Hear the report from the NCOIL interim meeting on third party litigation finance and planned next steps.  Click on the above link to register for the Zoom.

The trolley tickets are sold out for our Newport Trolley Ride & Mansion Tour, but we still have unlimited half-priced tickets ($18) for the mansion tour at 2:15pm.  They are pre-paid, so let me know how many you’d like (I’ll forward an invoice) and transportation to our first stop, The Breakers, can be a quick Uber/Lyft from the Hotel Viking.  If you have purchased a seat on the trolley and end up not needing it or are unable to make it, please let me know as soon as possible so we can fill that spot from a waiting list.  The trolley departs at 2pm on Saturday, November 9, from the Hotel and will bring us back by 5:15pm in time to get to the Happy Hour at The Fastnet Pub, sponsored by Esquire Bank.

Registration for the Governmental Affairs Conference is strong and the Hotel Viking has let me know that the Friday night of our room block may be SOLD OUT.  There are still rooms available beginning Saturday 11/10, so we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations.  For transportation options from the airports (Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and TF Green Airport in Providence (PVD) is 18 miles), include a car service from PVD or visit the shared document to coordinate rides with your colleagues.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I was in traffic waiting for the light to change earlier this week and witnessed a rare event.  A couple came out of a convenience store and instead of the man immediately climbing into the driver’s seat, he walked around the vehicle and opened the door for the woman.  It was so obviously a practiced move and not a surprise to her, that it told me he’s regularly a gentleman.  I couldn’t hear her expression of appreciation, but I wanted to roll down my own window and yell, “thank you!”.  It’s such a simple thing – opening or holding a door for someone – but I say “thank you” EVERY time.  I had a Swiss babysitter, Noonie, from my earliest days up to about age seven and she taught us to say “please” and “thank you” to the point that it’s second nature.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hung up on gender roles and think it’s just on the man to be chivalrous, it was simply an example of an incredibly sweet interaction between two people who care about each other and, for me, it showed a politeness and respect that is rapidly disappearing these days.  Depending upon the mood I’m in, the Snark in me comes out when I’ve held the door for someone and the rube says nothing.  I’ll not-so-subtly say, “you’re welcome!”.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Available seating on the trolley for our Newport Trolley Ride & Mansion Tour is down to one (for NATLE members and guests), so let me know if you are interested and plan to arrive at the Hotel Viking by early afternoon.  The trolley departs at 2pm on Saturday, November 9, from the Hotel and will bring us back by 5:15pm in time for Happy Hour at The Fastnet Pub, sponsored by Esquire Bank.  A minimal charge ($25) on pre-ordered tour tickets will supplement the cost of the trolley rental and admission for a self-guided tour through the The Breakers and a swing out to Fort Adams.  Once seating on the trolley sells out, we still have unlimited half-priced tickets for the mansion tour at 2:15pm, but transportation is on your own.  Let me know if you’d like to join this excursion around Newport’s historic district, as well as Fort Adams, by email and how many tickets you’d like.  Mansion-only tickets are available to all comers!

In the meantime, registration for the Governmental Affairs Conference is strong and the Hotel Viking has let me know that the Friday night of our room block is SOLD OUT.  There are still rooms available beginning Saturday 11/10, so we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations.  Also, if you’re making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and TF Green Airport in Providence (PVD) is 18 miles.  Transportation options include a car service from PVD or visit the shared document to coordinate rides with your colleagues.

We plugged the GAC on AAJ’s Council of Presidents call on Wednesday.  If your presidents and/or presidents-elect don’t hear about the conference from you, this is their only exposure to our “marketing”.  Please share our announcements with your volunteer leaders and government affairs coordinators, or forward their email(s) and I’ll make sure they receive them.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I have just a few pages to go in Louise Penny’s book, State of Terror, that she co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I LOVE Penny’s Inspector Gamache series and have laughed (and cried) through his adventures, sometimes successful, undeniably edge-of-your-seat.  State of Terror doesn’t disappoint.  We follow the main character, the Secretary of State, as the whole story spans a fast and furious few days filled with bombs, shady politicians, and relatable family dynamics.  It doesn’t take much of a leap to discern that the gullible, inept, and easily manipulable former-President character, represents a not-so-distant former President here in the U.S.  The insider’s POV surely comes care of former Secretary Clinton, but the well-crafted prose, character development, and literary timing, is all Penny.  I plan to finish it tonight, so no spoilers!
P.P.S. I was just treated to a backyard visit from a juvenile red-tailed hawk.  It sat on a branch I can see squarely between my two monitors for a few minutes.  Alas, willing it to address the squirrel population didn't work, so the critters will continue to thrive.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The Newport Trolley Ride & Mansion Tour is proving to be a welcome addition to the schedule for those planning to arrive at the Hotel Viking by early afternoon (2pm) on Saturday, November 9, ahead of the Governmental Affairs Conference.  A minimal charge ($25) on pre-ordered tickets will supplement the cost of the trolley rental and admission to The Breakers.  After the self-guided tour through the mansion and a drive out to Fort Adams, the trolley will bring us back to the Hotel Viking by 5:30pm in time for Happy Hour at The Fastnet Pub, sponsored by Esquire Bank.  (Seating on the trolley is limited and as of this morning, we have 10 seats left.  Let me know if you’d like to join this excursion around Newport’s historic district, as well as Fort Adams, by email and how many tickets you’d like.)

In the meantime, registration is open and we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations.  If you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles

The ByLaws Committee is meeting this morning to discuss language that will provide better clarification as to eligibility for membership.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I am in Maryland ahead of a wedding tomorrow.  One of my high school classmates is getting married and I couldn’t be happier for him.  We’ve never been super close, but whenever we see each other, he’s the kind of friend where we just pick up where we left off.  He came up to Vermont during the early part of the pandemic for a visit and I have photographic evidence of a very late night spent around my fire pit in the backyard with another former classmate.  The three of us caught up under a clear sky where, through the fog of a few adult beverages, the constellations were all the more fascinating.  So, I’m down here in Frederick staying with a friend from grad school for a few days.  It’s the shared experiences, whatever they may be, that create memories.  In this case, my friend Nancy, her daughter Kayla, and I walked to restaurants in a nearby strip mall for lunch the last two days and they introduced me to the local infestation of the spotted lanternfly.  This invasive species was not quite at Biblical-plague-level bad, but Kayla showed me the proper eradication method…the stomp.  Our kill rate was about 90% -- they’re quick to get out of the way at the last nanosecond – and it was satisfying to do my part.  At least I can say this trip is far from “all work and no play”.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

A blast went out yesterday about the two exciting additions ahead of the Governmental Affairs Conference.  A trolley ride and mansion tour is open to all NATLE members arriving at the Hotel Viking by 2pm on Saturday (11/9/24).  A minimal charge ($25) on pre-ordered tickets will supplement the cost of the trolley rental and admission to The Breakers.  After the self-guided tour through the mansion and a drive out to Fort Adams, the trolley will bring us back to the Hotel Viking by 5:30pm in time for Happy Hour at The Fastnet Pub, sponsored by Esquire Bank.  (Seating on the trolley is limited and as of this morning, we have 19 left.  Let me know if you’d like to join this excursion around Newport’s historic district, as well as Fort Adams, by email and how many tickets you’d like.)

In the meantime, registration is open and we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations since our program is over a holiday weekend.  If you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.

After a minorly rocky effort, the dues renewal notices went out on Friday.  MemberCentral is very aware that having a single link available to pay a TLA’s entire membership dues invoice would be appreciated, but the idea needs a bit of grassroots advocacy to bring it forward from the back burner.  Encourage your favorite MCer to drive the focus toward the dues invoices once they have the payment solutions upgrade fully implemented.  I know I’m not the only one who wants to make the process less burdensome…I have to think that law firms ask for this all the time when paying their TLA dues.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…Ever have one of those days when just about everything goes right and you feel super productive?  Yesterday checked all the boxes for me.  I really enjoy setting up the blasts that go out about our events, the latest being the trolley and mansion tour tickets for Newport.  I found the perfect images, the links worked this time, and it’s fun to offer a little extra event to look forward to as something we can do together.  Only gathering a few times a year makes these meetings feel like a salve to the soul.  By that, I mean that it’s comforting to be with friends, new and old, who “get it”.  Common knowledge of what we all experience on a daily basis in all aspects of operating and maintaining a trial lawyer association, is an immediate ice-breaker and a hurdle we clear by a mile that would otherwise slow down the introductions with someone outside the TLA arena.  So, getting back to my day, when I can cross to-dos off my list AND the weather is spectacular (mid to upper 70s and low humidity) AND I have a house project to look forward to (more on that later), I can get out of my own head and truly delight in hearing about my friend’s second date with her “Canada Guy”, aka Troy.  Their doggies get along (that’s huge) and he made her a peanut butter pie for her birthday.  Hmm, is it too soon to ask if he has an older brother?

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The 4th Monday Zoom Series on Monday was a great discussion of Event Apps: Who’s Using What & What Are the Pros/Cons?  Participants on both sides of the use-it-or-not fence indicated that there may be enough interest from multiple TLAs to be an advantage if NATLE can negotiate a base deal with the app vendors.  If you haven’t yet completed the short survey about event apps, let us know the features you’d like, ie. registration, communication, materials distribution, etc.  A link to the recording and the app comparison chart is on our website.

Speaker profiles have started to come out as eblasts for the November 10-12 Governmental Affairs Conference.  The Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, Lavora Barnes, is coming to talk with us about the election and the media, and Roger Finderson, President of WILG, will give an update on workers’ comp law including cannabis and impairment ratings. Registration is open and we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations since our program is over a holiday weekend.  If you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.

We are working on two exciting additions to the Saturday (11/9/24) afternoon when most people will arrive for the GAC.  The Board meeting has been moved up to noon to accommodate a trolley ride and mansion tour (2pm to 5pm).  A minimal charge ($25) will supplement the cost of the trolley rental and admission to the Breakers.  If you won’t arrive in time for the 2pm trolley departure from the Hotel Viking, we will gather as a group from 5pm to 6:30pm at a nearby watering hole [tbd] before we split up for dinner on the town.  More details to come!

The Scholarship application deadline to attend the GAC has been extended to Monday, September 2.  We will award the scholarship to a Regular or Associate member of NATLE, so please submit!

Dues renewal notices will go out later today.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great [Labor Day, to our US members!] weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…Last night, I finished reading Gulliver’s Travels, which I can only describe as a 2-week slog.  No offense to any English majors – I dated one in college and I had to admire his perseverance, since some of the books he had to read would top my list of kindling for the fire pit.  I stuck with Swift’s fictional romp through lands of tiny people and giants, floating islands, and countries where the horses are the ruling class, to the bitter end.  I wish I knew more than, well, next to nothing, about 17th and 18th century British politics so the metaphors would have made more sense, and I regularly regretted not having the CliffsNotes (do they still exist?!) to go along with it.  The book was in the library Mom cultivated through the years, complete with shelves labeled by genre, and I pulled the title just because I’d never read it and had to know why it endured.  You can’t go through life without hearing multiple references to Gulliver and his run-ins with the Lilliputians…heck, Lilliputian is even an adjective.  There have only been a few books that I’ve ever given up on, but I persevered with this one though every time I realized that I’d just gotten to the end of a paragraph and couldn’t recall a single word, I pushed ahead without looking back.  One question persists and that’s about the race of people called Yahoos, the hairy, “unteachable” humans in the upside-down world ruled by horses.  Is this where the term “yahoo” originated – I grew up hearing it to mean, country bumpkin – and also, what were the developers thinking when they named their search engine “Yahoo!”?

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The program for the November 10-12 Governmental Affairs Conference will be uploaded this afternoon on the event page.  The Planning Committee is waiting for a few more speaker confirmations, but we want you to see the agenda, so far.  Registration is open and we strongly suggest making your hotel reservations since our program is over a holiday weekend.  If you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.

The Scholarship application deadline to attend the GAC is Monday, August 26.  We hope to award the scholarship to a Regular or Associate member of NATLE, so please submit!

We have a few dozen registrants for the 4th Monday Zoom Series this coming Monday (August 26) for a discussion that was pulled from the ListServ as needing further exploration.  Event Apps: Who’s Using What & What Are the Pros/Cons? will be facilitated by NATLE members Karen St. Aubin and Mary Learned.  We will have a balance of current users with experience to impart, as well as those looking for answers on the end-user details, like cost.  Click on either of the links to register and join the conversation.  Let your counterparts know what you use or learn about what’s out there.  Those who have their favorite apps are encouraged to share their screen for a brief demo.

If you attended the Annual Meeting in Nashville, you know how engaging our first speaker, Beth Ziesenis, is with a topic as rapidly-evolving and malleable as AI.  She geared her interactive and entertaining presentation to the TLA audience and really appreciated the questions and scenarios posed by those in attendance.  Just for NATLE members, she is offering a $1,000 discount for in-person and online events if you are interested in having her present to your group!  This flyer has her contact info.  (Fun fact: It’s Find Your Inner Nerd Day and Beth Z is Your Nerdy Best Friend!)

Dues renewal notices will go out next week.  I have reached out to several TLAs that had credit balances and applied the funds toward dues.  As we approach the end of our fiscal year, it’s personally exciting to clean up the loose ends.  Another case in point, our total Invoice Aging line is $0.

TLA EDs: There are about 22 TLAs that haven’t yet submitted a Staff Benefits Survey.  Please take a few minutes and fill in the mostly yes/no responses in the benefits columns for your staff positions.  (No need to include the ED/CEO role, we’ll cover that position in the CEO Compensation Survey later this year.)  The results will be anonymized and compiled ahead of the Board’s meeting in September, and the final report will be distributed to the participating TLAs ASAP.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I do well with lists.  I don’t mean the electronic communication platforms, but good ol’ fashioned pen-to-paper lists of to-do’s.  There are a few days a year here at NATLE HQ (haha, that makes me think of MI-6) when I feel like I’m either trying to sip from a firehose or I’ve fallen through the ice on a frozen pond and every time I think I’ve found a solid piece to climb out on, it crumbles and I’m back to treading water.  I don’t mean it to sound quite that dire and I emphasize that it’s a rare occurrence, but when I’m just keeping up with what’s coming in, be it new members (yay), refund requests (boo), or random inquiries from what sound like summer interns at potential vendors (meh), I rely on lists to not forget the tasks I mean to tackle that day.

P.P.S. It’s National Sponge Cake Day, but I’ll let you in on one of my bugaboos.  I HATE soggy bread.  Yah, I know.  I also despise “fruity bumps”, but I’ll leave that for another time.  If someone’s serving strawberry shortcake, I’ll take mine with the strawberries and cream on the side, thank you very much, and don’t get me started on French onion soup or Indian pudding.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Our Platinum Justice Partner, SBA Funding Group, is working on a few questions/concerns brought up by the Justice Partner Working Group and as soon as they're ready, we’ll set up a time for them to present their insurance program to the NATLE Board.  If approved for a Partnership, Q&A sessions will be held by zoom to announce the program to the membership.

The November 10-12 Governmental Affairs Conference event page is open for registration and the brochure is in the works, just waiting for speakers and session titles to be confirmed.  Again, if you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.

We have 15 registrants for the upcoming 4th Monday Zoom Series this month (on August 26) that was pulled from the ListServ as a need for discussion -- Event Apps: Who’s Using What & What Are the Pros/Cons? will be facilitated by NATLE members Karen St Aubin and Mary Learned.  Click on either of the links to register and join the conversation.  Let your counterparts know what you use or learn about what’s out there.  Those who have their favorite apps are encouraged to share their screen for a brief demo.

Does anyone use AND have a contact for Asana?  We’re looking into having a Q&A / Demo, but I can’t figure out how to reach them since their recent “personnel shuffle”.

TLA EDs: There are 22 TLAs that haven’t yet submitted a Staff Benefits Survey.  Please take a few minutes and fill in the mostly yes/no responses in the benefits columns for your staff positions.  (No need to include the ED/CEO role, we’ll cover that position in the CEO Compensation Survey later this year.)  The results will be anonymized and compiled ahead of the Board’s meeting in September, and the final report will be distributed to the participating TLAs ASAP.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…it’s an official Vermont holiday today, Bennington Battle Day.  Beyond the fife and drum parades, BBQs, and 5K races, the day commemorates a battle that dealt a huge loss to General Burgoyne and his troops several miles outside Bennington (technically in NY) in 1777.  The British army was marching south from Canada toward Albany with the hopes of resupplying food, horses, and artillery on the way in Bennington.  Instead, the wily Green Mountain Boys from Vermont, plus militiamen from New Hampshire and New York foiled their plans.  For military strategy buffs, this must be a fascinating battle to orchestrate on scale models, moving about the scouts who were checking out the opposition and the subsequent attacks from the flanks that reduced the British and their German, Canadian, Loyalist, and Indigenous allies by a factor of 7-to-1, with the rest captured.  State offices are closed today, so I hope those employees take a moment to think about this Battle that’s described as a pivot toward the eventual American victory in the Revolutionary War and perhaps the reason we don’t all sound like Hugh Grant and Dame Judy Dench.
P.P.S. It's also National Backflow Prevention Day, but...is it really parade-worthy?  I mean, we all need it, but I'm not thawing the brats for this one.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The November 10-12 Governmental Affairs Conference event page is open for registration and I was reminded that the bridge over to Newport no longer has toll booths.  They opted for the much faster automatic billing via the license plate reader, so save your dollars for the vending machine…they, at least, still take greenbacks, don’t they?  If you’re at the step of making your flight arrangements, Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.

Fresh from the ListServ discussion, our 4th Monday Zoom Series this month (on August 26) will be Event Apps: Who’s Using What & What Are the Pros/Cons?  Register for the zoom link and join the conversation.  Let your counterparts know what you use or learn about what’s out there.  Those who have their favorite apps are encouraged to share their screen for a brief demo.

Does anyone use AND have a contact for Asana?  We’re looking into having a Q&A / Demo, but I can’t figure out how to reach them since their recent “personnel shuffle”.

TLA EDs: if you haven’t yet submitted your Staff Benefits Survey and you want to beat me to the punch of following up with you, please take a few minutes and fill in the mostly yes/no responses in the benefits columns.  The results will be anonymized and compiled ahead of the Board’s meeting in September, and the final report will be distributed to the participating TLAs ASAP.

If you are interested in receiving the book, JuryBall, by our Annual Meeting’s Working Lunch sponsor, Sean Claggett, please contact Julie Ostrovsky, Deputy Executive Director, Nevada Justice Association.

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

P.S. In case you’re still here…I love a good courtroom drama, think Scott Turow and John Grisham, so I succumbed to temptation and watched The Burial on Prime this week.  It may not have quite the “you can’t handle the truth” moment, but it definitely has more than a few fist-pumping “yeah, take that, you pompous windbag” scenes.  I watch a movie with a different mindset when I know it’s based on real life.  While Willie E. Gary is portrayed as a flashy, diamond-encrusted, private plane-owning, personal injury attorney – presumably a bit over-the-top for cinematic effect – he sees the injustice in the David vs. Goliath match up.  The small businessman, played by Tommy Lee Jones, starts the lawsuit to protect his legacy, but the text at the end of the movie soothes the soul by explaining that the real-life Mr. O’Keefe sets up a foundation with the money finally awarded after an appeal to help local organizations.  (Though, a deeper dive through Google leaves me a tad chilled on this count.)  The soundtrack alone is worth the two hours, from “Stand By Me” to “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” that gets me every time.  If you last through the initial actor’s list ahead of the credits, you’re treated to an awesome cameo of the actual Willie E. Gary as just Mr. G.  I’d love to shake that man’s hand some day.