Thank you to everyone who attended the Fall Meeting in Chicago last week. We on the steering committee are very excited about the annual planning session that we held on the Wednesday afternoon before the seminars began. Many potential initiatives were discussed, and all of them will need involvement, support, and participation from our Division 1 membership.
As is the case with nearly all of our national meetings, Division 1 held a lunch meeting. During the Chicago Meeting, Division 1 teamed up with Division 6 for lunch and learning about Guided Choice Dispute Resolution. National expert Paul M. Lurie of Schiff Hardin, LLP in Chicago joined Tony Lehman of DLA Piper to discuss what Guided Choice is, why it matters, and how construction practitioners can use its principles both to resolve cases promptly and, potentially, to gain new clients.
Here's a photo from that presentation (apologies for the blurriness).
If you were unable to attend or if you did attend and want more information regarding Guided Choice, Mr. Lurie graciously put together a PowerPoint presentation that you can view simply by clicking on this link.
After the first day's seminars wrapped up, Division 1 got together in the laid back atmosphere at Bar Louie for a casual dinner. Thankfully, those of us who were at Bar Louie had the decency not to take the "your mouth is full at dinner" photos!
From Bar Louie, most of the group headed over to Buddy Guy's Legends to see blues singer Nellie "Tiger" Travis in action. Buddy Guy's is surprisingly well-lit for being a blues club, so our photos of "Tiger" turned out reasonably well.
Once there, Division 1 was joined by a number of other folks from other divisions who realized the errors of their ways in not having as much of a fun itinerary as we did. Here are Division 1's Rob Ruesch and former Young Lawyers Division Chair Angela Stephens, who put the rest of us to shame by dancing their way through the show!
Division 1 Chair Nick Holmes was entranced by Tiger's show -- so much so that he bought the CD:
And yes, it's autographed!
A great time was had by all who attended.
So, don't get left out of the fun! Be sure to attend either the Midwinter Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, or both.
The Fall Meeting of the Forum is only a little over two weeks away now. As always, Division 1 is ready to provide our members with both a top-notch lunch presentation and a fun night out on Thursday evening. Here's a little information about both of those events.
Division Lunch: Guided Choice Dispute Resolution
Despite the advent of ADR, clients continue to complain about the high cost of resolving disputes -- especially since most construction disputes eventually settle before trial or arbitration. While mediation has increased in popularity, too often it is deferred until late in the adversarial process and after the parties have incurred the expense of legal and expert fees, discovery, and other pretrial activity.
Guided Choice is intended to help the parties use mediation and other dispute resolution tools more intelligently to achieve earlier settlements at less expense and with greater client satisfaction in the outcome. A brief introduction will be posted here on the blog early next week.
Our main speaker for our lunch is Paul M. Lurie. Mr. Lurie has served as business and legal counsel for major owners, developers, design firms, and contractors for over 40 years. He has written several articles regarding mediation and arbitration generally and about Guided Choice in particular. Several introductory articles are available at a Wordpress blog called Guided Choice Dispute Resolution System.
Division 1 Social Event: Buddy Guy's Legends Blues Club
Join Division 1 for a fun night out in Chicago! We'll meet at 7:30 PM for beverages, conversation, and casual dining at Bar Louie at 47 W. Polk Street in the Printers Row neighborhood in the landmark Dearborn Station Building.
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| Dearborn Station |
From there, we'll head around the corner to Buddy Guy's Legends at 700 South Wabash, one of Chicago's renowned blues venues, for the 9:30 PM show featuring blues diva Nellie "Tiger" Travis. Tickets for the Blues show are $10.
To RSVP, please e-mail Rob Ruesch by October 10 to ensure a seat. Tickets for the show may also be purchased at the door subject to availability. Both spots are a short walk from the Chicago Hilton.
Don't miss out, or you will be the one singing the blues!
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