March 2024

Dear Fellows:

As I am drafting this message, I have recently completed my attendance at the National Moot Court finals in New York City, and the Gale Cup Moot in Toronto. The quality of lawyering shown by these law students instills great confidence in the future of our profession. 

By the time this message is delivered on March 1, the Board of Regents and Past Presidents will have met in Phoenix and we will be preparing for our formal induction banquet on Saturday night. I am pleased to report that 85 new Inductees have signed up for the Phoenix meeting, 26 of whom are women. The average age of these new inductees will be 56. Somehow the average age is always 56. There will be 5 minority inductees – still too few. We can do much better on that front. But the increased number of candidates overall does illustrate that the efforts of the State and Province Chairs and their Regents to push for greater numbers of worthy, qualified candidates to be identified and presented, are bearing fruit. None of our existing Fellows should be shy about informing your State and Province Committee Chairs about trial lawyers that you think ought to be considered for Fellowship but have been missed and helping to gather their trial lists for review and investigation.

For now, I am looking forward to joining with our Fellows and Inductees in Phoenix.

Best regards,

William J. Murphy

ACTL President

The College partners with the National Constitution Center in their Scholar Exchange program to give middle and high school students the opportunity to discuss constitutional topics with a lawyer, judge, or constitutional scholar and their peers from around the country. In this setting, students gain deeper constitutional understanding and engage in enhanced civil discourse.

Interested in learning more about the program? Fellows are invited to join members of the Center's Education Team on Wednesday, March 27 at 2:30 pm ET to discuss the program's logistics, best practices, and upcoming programming. In addition to reviewing our year-round topics, we will also discuss the upcoming spring season, where we welcome students eager to discuss America's Founding Documents and Landmark Supreme Court Cases that will be covered on the AP Exams. 

You are welcome to join the conversation whether you have participated in the Scholar Exchange program before or are interested in doing so in the future. We are happy to answer any questions you have and look forward to seeing you there!

NCC Scholar Exchange: ACTL Overview 

When: March 27, 2024 02:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

https://constitutioncenter.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpdeusqjsvGdK0vA6U-AstvZHD_SOcIYtV 

To learn more about the program, click here.

Advocacy in the 21st Century: The Committee co-developed and co-hosted the CLE program for the 2024 Spring Meeting with the Complex Litigation Committee. The program addressed “AI in Trial,” providing information on the current use of AI by litigators and trial and jury consultants, as well as the pitfalls and ethical issues of using AI to support trials and their preparation. The Committee is planning to study and publish guidance for Fellows on the ways to address and test the reliability, or challenge, evidence with an AI component that is introduced by an opposing party at trial.



Michigan: The Michigan Fellows will be hosting a Spring Casual Get Together on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at the Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Michigan. Additionally, the Michigan Fellows will be hosting the Region 9 Summer Meeting (Fellows from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee) on June 21-23, 2024 at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, Michigan.

Introducing Did You Know, a new eBulletin feature brought to you by the Heritage Committee. This new section brings interesting facts and history about the College to each monthly issue of the eBulletin. Enjoy our first installment in honor of Women’s History Month below:

DID YOU KNOW that a woman received one of the first ten certificates of membership to the College? Phyllis Cooper was one of about 200 women lawyers in California in 1950. She was a trial lawyer who practiced with her husband, Grant B. Cooper, one of the first Fellows of the College. Her certificate, however, was merely a nice gesture because she was a lawyer and gracious host; Phyllis Cooper was not actually asked to join the College. It would be twenty-nine more years until the College finally inducted Amalya Kearse as the first woman Fellow and the first African American woman Fellow.

Robert Garosh

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Judge Garosh

Wyoming Supreme Court

March, 2024

The College recognizes extraordinary individuals and their important contributions to the law through the awards described below. A nominator need only submit a letter of support, and the award committee will complete an investigation before deciding whether to recommend the person to the Board of Regents. Please consider nominating a worthy recipient. You may send your letter to nationaloffice@actl.com or directly to the committee chair indicated below.

Sandra Day O'Connor Jurist Award

The Award is to be given from time to time to a judge in the United States or Canada, whether or not a Fellow of the College, who has demonstrated exemplary judicial independence in the performance of his or her duties, sometimes in especially difficult or even dangerous circumstances. To view previous recipients and submit a proposal for the Committee to consider click here.

Chair: Todd N. Thompson

Tri-State Regional Meeting, Sea Island, Georgia: January 25-28, 2024

President Murphy and his wife, Pat, recently attended the Tri-State Regional meeting at the Cloisters in Sea Island, Georgia. Nearly 100 Fellows from Georgia, Alabama, and Florida were in attendance, along with their guests. Past Presidents Chilton Varner, Jack Dalton and Sam Franklin were all in attendance. The Georgia Fellows hosted the Tri-State meeting this year, and State Chair Virgil Adams and Fellow Dan Huff organized and coordinated the weekend's programs. The presentations included remarks from Benjamin Gilmer, a scientist and physician who wrote a book about a murderer of the same name; retired Four Star General Frank McKenzie, who led the U.S. Central Command during the withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan; a question-and-answer session with the Past Presidents in attendance; and remarks from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel. Judge Gergel recently authored a book tracing the events involving a Black veteran returning from active duty to the post-World War II South only to be blinded by a Southern sheriff, who was acquitted in a subsequent trial. Those events caused Judge J. Waties Waring to reexamine his own role in Charleston society, and to begin a civil rights crusade. Zelma Redding (the widow of Otis Redding) and Karla Redding-Andrews ended the weekend's presentations on a lighter note, which included footage from Otis Redding's performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1967. The packed weekend ended with a sit-down dinner on Saturday evening with all Fellows and guests. 

National Moot Court Competition, New York City, New York: January 31, 2024

President Murphy attended and was one of six Judges for the National Moot Court Competition Finals on January 31, at the New York Bar Association Building in Manhattan. The Competition, which has been held annually since 1950, reflects the best in appellate oral advocacy. The issues involved personal jurisdiction over a promoter/influencer involving a martial arts staged match between a martial artist against a bitcoin CEO, promoting those sales, with the match occurring on the border between two nations. In the SEC enforcement action, the question was whether the promotion made the influencer a "seller" of securities and whether the promotion adequately revealed the bitcoin fees the influencer received. The winning team from Fordham Law, edged out the University of Memphis. Fordham Law will receive the Fulton Haight Award at a future meeting of the Downstate NY Fellows. Interestingly, the first best oralist award in 1950, was presented to A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., from Yale, who later served with distinction as Chief Judge of the Third Circuit. Past President Joan Lukey was the first woman to win the best oralist award, in 1973, while competing for Boston College. She was also the first woman President of the ACTL.

Northern California Fellows Dinner, San Francisco, California: February 7, 2024

The Northern California Dinner was held at the City Club of San Francisco was attended by nearly 100 Fellows and their guests. State Chair Melinda Haag was the evening’s host. Regent Bill Keane introduced President Murphy with “six things to know about Bill Murphy!” President Murphy indicated a desire to continue traveling with Regent Keane to have such wonderful introductions at all venues. Fellow Jim Brosnahan was honored as the third recipient of the Committee’s Charles Renfrew Award. His partner at MoFo, Fellow Arturo Gonzalez, introduced Jim and described, among other cases, their courageous representation of John Walker Lindh (“the American Taliban’) that was led by Jim. Jim spoke next and thanked the Northern California Fellows for bestowing this honor upon him, and told a few stories about the late Fellow Charlie Renfrew, as well his awardee predecessors, Fellows John Keker and Cristina Arguedas. State Committee Vice Chair Daralyn Durie closed the evening with a report on upcoming events, including the Spring Meeting in Phoenix. Everyone in attendance enjoyed the camaraderie of the evening.

The College has been notified of the passing of the Fellows listed below. The date after each name notes the year of induction into the College, and the date following the city is the date of his or her passing. A tribute to each will appear in the In Memoriam section of a subsequent issue of the Journal.

Florida

George A. Frilot, III, ’81, Heathrow, January 12, 2024

James C. Rinaman, Jr., ’83, Jacksonville, January 26, 2024

Indiana

William C. Lee, ’79, Fort Wayne, January 20, 2024

Nevada

John S. Drendel, ’81, Reno, February 15, 2024

North Carolina

Fred H. Moody, Jr., ’99, Bryson City, September 12, 2023

Pennsylvania

James D. Crawford, ’91, Philadelphia, June 10, 2022

Tennessee

James W. McDonnell, ’82, Memphis, January 25, 2024

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Email: nationaloffice@actl.com@actl.com



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