President
- William R. Anderson
Happy New Decade! As I take over the 2020 presidency of NMDLA from Cody Rogers, I want to express my thanks and the thanks of the entire Board for her willingness to step up over the previous two years. Cody has served the organization with dedication and we are grateful.
I also want to thank the hard-working NMDLA Editorial Board which publishes quarterly issues of Defense News. Please consider writing an article, suggesting topics of concern, or joining the Editorial Board. It is an excellent way to contribute to the civil defense bar, and you may even earn CLE credits for writing contributions.
I am honored to serve as president of NMDLA in 2020. This year’s Executive Board will include Juan Marquez as President-Elect and Christina Brennan as Secretary/Treasurer. We will, as always, be supported by a hard-working and dedicated Board of Directors.
Over the years, our organization has had many successes, and with the support of the Board we can continue to build upon that success. Significantly, our Annual Civil Rights seminar has always been successful, and we will continue this tradition. We also intend to host the biennial Women in the Courtroom. We will also continue to hold our informal member lunches with speakers addressing current issues with innovative ideas. We encourage all members to provide us with topics of interest to assure that we continue to serve our membership to address the latest ideas and issues. In 2019 we held a bad faith seminar which was well-attended and welcomed by both lawyers and insurance industry representatives, providing excellent educational and networking opportunities. We intend to continue to develop this program.
In addition to our successes, we have also learned from our mistakes. In 2019 we experimented with hosting our Annual Meeting at Santa Ana and combining it with a golf outing. Our experiment did not have the expected result, and we will return the Annual Meeting to downtown Albuquerque. We will also look to increase the NMDLA’s collaboration with the UNM School of Law in 2020 and to continue to develop our social media presence.
Most significantly, I am committed to increasing communication and collaboration amongst the NMDLA membership. While our website has been a successful site for sharing information related to expert witnesses, judicial decisions, and current legal issues, we are not sharing our defense victories. In my discussions with our membership it is apparent that we have much to share in this regard, not only as it relates to trial victories, but also with regard to dismissals and summary judgments. I encourage our members to share your successes!
Finally, and importantly, I am committed to having our organization participate in community service projects in 2020. While I recognize that we, as individuals, and our law firms give generously to our respective communities, I want to encourage our membership to contribute as a group. The Board is actively seeking organizations that can benefit from our service, and I am encouraging all members to provide suggestions for our consideration.