THE DISPUTE RESOLVER: What's Up with Division 1 (No. 13)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN DIVISION 1

I hope you have lots of fun with your friends and family this Halloween. In this post, I want to talk about the Fall Meeting that FINALLY occurred earlier this month. The meeting focused on project management and was originally scheduled to occur 18 months earlier in April 2020. It was great seeing everyone in person at the meeting. Congrats to D1 Steering Committee Members Rob Ruesch (Program Co-Chair) and Katie Kohm (speaker on legal project management) for their work at this meeting. Here is a photo of Katie on the stage!

We had a planning retreat at the Fall Meeting. We had a good discussion about what Division 1 is doing, what we can do more/less of, and strategies to collaborate with other organizations. Thanks to all of the steering committee and D1 members for attending the meeting. Minutes from the planning retreat are available on ABA Connect by clicking here (will need to sign-in).

We held a technology practicum in Seattle. It was planned by D1 Steering Committee Member, Joe Imperiale from Troutman. He reported that the practicum was a HUGE SUCCESS - perfect attendance, great audience engagement, and dynamic/impactful speakers. Below are some photos of the practicum - Congrats and thanks Joe!

On Thursday night after the welcome reception, we went to a German beer garden called Rhein Haus -- just a short drive from the hotel. Our local connection, Ashley Sherwood did an excellent job finding this venue. it was perfect!

We had 6 indoor bocce ball courts reserved, german prezels/meats, and drinks courtesies of JS Held. Big thanks to Erin Fallon, Jason Ulmenstine, and Andy Englehart from JS Held for sponsoring this event. We teamed up with Divisions 5 and 10 for the event, but many people were able to join us at the last minute as well. Tony Lehman and I teamed up for a bocce match against Katie Kohm and Jason Cagle. While it was a close match, I am happy to report that Tony and I won! Here are some of the photos from our social event.

On Friday, we had a lunch program focused on concurrent expert witness examination -- referred to sometimes as expert hot-tubbing. Cassidy Rosenthal did a great job planning this role-play program. I heard many positive reviews about the program and the excellent quality of the speakers.

All in all, it was a great meeting. After many months of virtual programs, it was fabulous seeing each other in person. I made many new connections and was happy with all of the Division 1 programs we put on. One of the things we did was pass out some Division 1 bling, including branded lanyards, umbrellas, and waterproof phone cases. I will bring some of those to the San Diego meeting (except the umbrellas which we will not need) if you did not grab one in Seattle.

On October 28th, we held our Toolbox Talk Series on Increasing Diversity with Construction Neutrals. Jessica Sabbath (our D1 Diversity + Inclusion Committee Liaison) and Lisa Colon led the discussion. Jen Millender with the AAA moderated the program. We came away with some practical ideas to continue the discussion and advance the goal of increasing diversity including:

Providing writing opportunities on our blog
Allowing for additional mentorship / shadowing opportunities
Providing a referral resource -- building off of D1's Neutral Database
Working with AAA and JAMS on these recruiting efforts at national meetings and through virtual programs.

Here was the flyer from the program:

Because our normal TTS dates run into holidays in November / December, we are going to combine our November/December programs into one TTS program on Thursday, December 9, 2021. Stay tuned for the registration link and program information.

Thanks to all of the Forum and Division 1 volunteers for their efforts at the Fall Meeting. We are planning out for the future meetings including the next one in San Diego on February 23-25, 2022!

Here are some additional photos from Seattle (some from the plane).