AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TORT AND TRIAL ENTRANCE PRACTICE MEDICINE AND LAW COMMITTEE

February 6, 2016, San Diego California Meeting Minutes

I.Welcome and Introductions - Chair Cindy Wyrick welcomed all attendees at the meeting, who were as follows: Nita Luis (facilitator for Strategic Plan), Tasha Blakney, Jim Wells, Phyra McCandless, Ray Panneton, Jonathan Steen, Mariel Taylor, Gail Ashworth, and Jan Mulligan (via telephone).

II.Newsletter Report– Cindy Wyrick provided the report in the absence of Stephen Still. She shared the following information regarding that newsletter:

  • Louise Derevlany is preparing an article on Death with Dignity
  • Johnathan Steen is preparing an Medical-Legal Partnerships
  • Ray Panneton is preparing an article on the sources of the standard of care
  • Stephen Still is preparing the Spotlight article – Because the young lawyer population on our committee is thin, the Chair suggested that the Spring Spotlight be on Ray Panneton, with a focus on why his involvement in the Medicine and Law Committee as a young lawyer is important to him. A motion was made and duly seconded to approve Mr. Panneton as the choice, which was unanimously approved.
  • The word count for the articles submitted should generally be between 800-1,000 words.
  • Nita Luis who was the SCOPE representative assigned to assist the committee with strategic planning also provided the suggestion that a future article regarding medical marijuana and insurance coverage could be of significant interest to the committee’s members. She suggested that Manny Munson-Regala, who recently served as the CEO of Minnesota’s largest medical marijuana company, might be the person to write for us.
  • The committee also unanimously approved, upon motion duly seconded, adding a practice tip section to the newsletter.

III.Strategic Planning– Cindy Wyrick, with the excellent assistance of Nita Luis, led the committee through a review of the current strategic plan, committee statistics and a discussion of how the plan should be amended to maximize the committee’s long term success.

Chair Wyrick reported that currently as a committee the following statistics are of note:

-We have 757 members

-In 2005-06, we had more than twice that number, at 1,856 members

-Diversity of membership from varying firm sizes is good but a bit thin on in-house counsel

-We are an “old” committee, as emphasized by the fact that from 2000 to present, only have 82 members who have joined who have graduated from law school during the same time period

-Most of our members fall into the mid-50s to Early-70s category

-We need to make changes to reach out to young lawyers and law students

-Out of the 757 members, only 146 are females, which could result from us being an “old committee” as opposed to one that doesn’t embrace diversity given the female members serving in leadership roles

-Of those where the member identified race, we have only 45 diverse members, which is also unacceptable

In light of these statistics, the committee formulated goals to address the areas where the committee is challenged as follows:

-Programming: Provide CLE programs at a min 1 per year via telephone or live. Directed to practice areas of members – medmal, pharma, med device

-CLE: The committee determined that there was a need to broaden CLE offerings, and Mr. Panneton suggested that the best way to accomplish this might be by establishing a CLE committee. The committee would like to see the CLE committee comprised of members who have substantive ABA CLE knowledge and also members who are from diverse age groups and practice backgrounds. It was suggested that Jan Muligan could be an excellent choice for chair if willing to serve, and that Rich Turbin would be a good member. The chair and chair-elect were tasked with further considering the composition of the committee. The CLE committee should create a timeline and suggestions for programs, both as to substance and format. The group also thought it was important for the CLE committee to partner with other groups to produce quality CLEs. Jim Wells also suggested reaching out to products liability subcommittee on medical devices to see if there were ways to partner with them on CLE offerings. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the formation of a CLE committee was unanimously approved.

-Publications: Continue to publish annual survey article, newsletter, member profiles, and emphasize to young lawyers opportunity committee provides them to publish

-Leadership: Continue to maintain long succession line of leaders to allow for long range planning, with an eye toward identifying diverse leaders. To maximize the value of the long leadership line presently in place, we will add a chair-elect report to the committee’s meeting agenda.

-Communications: Monthly calls, increase use of social media, including LinkedIn. The Chair noted that Phyra McCandless has really helped bring the committee up-to-speed in this area but all agreed that there is more that could be done if additional hands were on deck. Ray Pannetonthen proposed a communications sub-committee.Upon motion duly seconded, a communications subcommittee was formed to serve under Phyra McCandless as Communications Chair, with Ray Panneton serving as its Chair. Chair Wyrick will send a call to arms for members and Subcommittee Chair Panneton will also work to identify committee members by mid-March. Mariel Taylor suggested more usage of the listserv. The listserv is moderated by TIPS with about a 1-day turnaround. Ms. Taylor also suggested creating a membership directory, and Ms. McCandless reminded the group that there is a Roster on the website, which provides some information.

-Membership:The issue of recruiting members was the most thoroughly addressed as it is the most critical to the committee’s long term survival.

  • Chair Wyrick noted that the committee’s current Strategic Plan includes the goal of recruiting more diverse members, and that this is an issue of continuing concern
  • The committee determined that it should try to liaison with TIPS task forces that promote membership, the Task Force on Outreach to Young Lawyers, and the Leadership Academy. It was noted that Wes Sunu and Mike Miller might be good resources for reaching out to the Leadership Academy.
  • We should also contact new TIPS members as they join and try to get them active, as well as look for co-sponsorship opportunities with non-ABA groups where member recruitment opportunities would be present.
  • The committee also discussed the importance of reaching out to law students, with Ms. Luis suggesting a law student writing competition, with the article being published in the newsletter.
  • Jan Mulligan also made the suggestion that we should try to identify law schools with concentrations in medicine and law and personally reach out to students in those programs. Ms. McCandless followed this suggestion up with the idea that we could possibly reach out in person during the TIPS Spring Conference to students at Emory, and Gail Ashworth advised that she had a lawyer in her firm that might be able to make this contact.
  • Ms. McCandless also suggested reaching out to in house counsel with the CDC and the Georgia Bar in conjunction with the Spring Meeting as a membership recruitment effort, and offered to contact both.
  • Upon motion made and duly seconded, Chair Wyrick was given authority to request the opportunity to co-sponsor CLE/program opportunities in Atlanta as a membership recruitment tool
  • The committee acknowledged that it cannot enjoy long term success without attracting new, younger members who are diverse and come from diverse practice backgrounds.
  • One goal which was identified is to recruit a vice-chair who is racially or ethnically diverse who would hopefully ultimately being willing to serve as chair. We would also like to make this person the focus of a newsletter “spotlight” article. Committee members suggested that Scott Reed would be an excellent choice if he was willing to serve, as he had been an active committee member in the past. Eliot Tracz, a former active law student member was also suggested as someone who could be good in this role.
  • Mr. Wells proposed reaching out to the Diversity in the Profession Committee to see where there might be opportunities to work together.
  • Ms. Ashworth reported that she attended the Diversity in the Profession Committee’s meeting, and that they are hosting a CLE addressing LGBT employment law issues and requested that we co-sponsor it. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the committee approved the request for co-sponsorship.
  • The committee also determined that it would be very helpful to have a liaison to the Diversity in the Profession Committee.
  • Mr. Pannetonalso agreed to reach out to the National Bar Association liaison to the YLD and set-up a conference call to discuss the diversity issues facing our committee.He further advised that he would make contact with TSU law school and determine who to put Chair Wyrick in contact with in order to try to recruit diverse law students from TSU.
  • As to gender diversity, because the committee was unsure as to whether any problem actually existed, Chair Wyrick agreed to reach out to Linda Wiley regarding whether the committee’s female membership percentage compares favorably to the Section’s membership as a whole.
  • The committee also discussed the importance of personally reaching out to those members who have recently been dropped from the committee’s roles when the list is released.
  • The committee also discussed how committee brochures would be helpful in recruiting and Chair Wyrick agreed to contact Linda Wiley regarding whether any of the committee brochures previously printed are available.
  • The committee determined that all vice-chairs should have a goal of recruiting a least two new members by mid-March, with an eye toward diversity. Sherie Edwards and Jesse Harris were mentioned as good possibilities as recruits, and Ms. Blakney offered to reach out to Mr. Harris.
  • Ms. Taylor suggested that a member survey would help

IV.Next Meeting– Cindy Wyrick announced that the Committee’s next meeting will be the regularly scheduled conference call which will take place on Wednesday March 2, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. EST, and that the proposed Strategic Plan will be taken up at that time.

Thereafter, in the absence of any new or old business brought to the attention of the Committee, the meeting was then adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Panneton

YLD Liaison