President's Message

 President

 Juan M. Marquez, Jr.

 Dear Members,

 I am honored to be writing you for the first time as President of NMDLA!  As you know, 2020 was a trying year for all of us.  However, I am optimistic about 2021, not only with regard to the pandemic, but also in terms of the benefits and programs that NMDLA will strive to provide for its membership.

Before getting to that, I wanted to thank our outgoing President, William “Bill” Anderson, for his service and leadership through 2020.  Our organization was in good hands and Bill made sure to leave us in a good place.  I would also like to thank NMDLA Board of Directors for entrusting me with the reins of our great organization.  We have had great leadership over the years and I can only hope to continue the trend.  Finally, I am happy to introduce our President-Elect, Christina Brennan, and our Secretary/Treasurer, Ryan Sanders.  I look forward to working with both of you in this coming year.

While we are still uncertain about when and how things will start to get going again in 2021, NMDLA is going to do what it can to provide you with outstanding membership benefits throughout the year.  First, the hard-working NMDLA Editorial Board is continuing to publish and distribute Defense News for our membership.  We hope that you utilize Defense News as a way to keep up with recent developments in the legal world, as well as a way to distract from the long stay-at-home days that some of us have unfortunately grown accustomed to throughout the pandemic.  Second, as some of you may remember, NMDLA used to hold telephonic member lunches where our membership was invited to discuss and learn about new developments or interesting topics in the law.  We anticipated continuing the lunches in 2020, but we were side-tracked like everyone else.  Now that much of the world is accustomed to online platforms, such as Zoom, we hope to restart the member lunches in 2021 with a new look but with the same great exchange of ideas.  Third, NMDLA is going to look at increasing its online and social media presence in 2021.  We recognize that many of you likely use online and/or social media resources to stay up-to-date with the ever-changing world.  Because of this, NMDLA would like to utilize those platforms to keep in touch with you and provide you information about new developments or upcoming programs that may be offered.

That brings me to the topic of NMDLA programs for 2021.  Unfortunately, we still do not know when we will be able to gather together for in-person CLEs and social events.  Nonetheless, NMDLA is going to plan for the best and set up a full schedule for our annual programs, beginning with the Young Lawyers Seminar in the summer of 2021.  Other great programs that we will plan for this year include the biennial Women in the Courtroom (which did not take place in 2020 due to the pandemic), Civil Rights Seminar, and Bad-Faith Seminar.  Of course, we will also plan for our Annual Meeting where we present NMDLA awards for Defense Lawyer of the Year and Young Defense Lawyer of the Year.  We hope that most, if not all, of these events can take place in-person.  However, even if things move slower than we would all like, NMDLA will work on presenting content for you through alternative means and formats.

On behalf of myself and the other members of NMDLA Board of Directors, I hope that you all stay safe and optimistic for better times as we all navigate to an end of the pandemic and to better times ahead!

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