Page 5 - FDCC Flyer Winter 2023

Officer Reports
the most enthusiastic comments the FDCC has had in years coming out of New York! Our attendance was strong, and most attendees stayed glued to their seats until the program’s conclusion.
Heading into the holiday season, our teams will be hard at work -- continuing our re-vitalized Diversity work on Leadership in Inclusion. The FDCC is approaching recruitment, headed by Huntington, WV’s Lee Hall, and leadership assignments purposefully to assure our Federation is developing leaders matching what our clients expect so that all of our members can be excited about their prospects for leadership in our Federation. Our Member Outreach Initiative, led by Baltimore’s Marisa Trasatti and Birmingham’s Kyle Turner,
is preparing to work through our State Representative Organization to personally speak with every one of our members and learn what drives them, how they approach leadership, and how best the FDCC can serve all of our members’ needs. With our FedLife work, we will release the Federation’s book of insights in dealing with Aging Parents.
In late 2023/early 2024, we start the Federation’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative, the AII, led by Louisville’s Steve Embry and Frank Ramos of Miami. The AII will raise awareness of how best AI can be embraced
by our members, their firms,
and their clients on the Defense Counsel side, with a similar focus for our Corporate Counsel and Industry Members and their
work. The FDCC’s leadership
in AI teachings first came to our members at the 2018 Amelia Island Winter meeting. The following
year, our 2019 Austin meeting keynote kickoff speaker, Jan Ryan, of the University of Texas’ Business School Center for Creativity and Entrepreneurial Innovation, then highlighted AI’s future impact on our profession, which became a major focus of that plenary. Since then, AI has inexorably crept
into our programming as a ‘force majeure’ topic. We look forward to the AII’s programming efforts via podcasts, webinars, and traditional programming as the Federation strengthens its lead on AI learning and use in the defense bar.
There is much good
in this FDCC Year
Our Federation then looks ahead to the February 2024 Winter Meeting featuring the amazingly restored shining Vinoy Hotel in
St. Petersburg, Florida. Chaired
by Washington, DC’s Sean Griffin with Program Chair Frank Ramos, the program theme is “Leading from Where You Are.” The meeting already has advance registration outpacing the FDCC’s record predating COVID! “Walking In Sunshine” is Sean’s theme for the meeting, and even if it rains, the energy and enthusiasm our two leaders bring to the meeting will assure no one could possibly be disappointed in St. Pete as the Federation takes a break from Winter!
Jimmy Wilkins of Jackson, Mississippi will be leading our TechU Evolve program in late April in Philadelphia, with a focus on AI in trial preparation for the paperless trial. Meantime, our leadership
is determined to move the CCS back to the third or fourth weeks
of September 2024, and take the CCS out of Philly for the first time
in years. More news on this is yet to come. FDCC President-Elect Heidi Goebel and I recently met with our 2023 CCS leadership to prepare
for success with the 2024 CCS leadership now forming.
Our 2023-24 year crescendos to its zenith as our July Annual Meeting roars into the magnificent elegance of Canada’s largest city, its mecca on Lake Ontario: Toronto. Our membership has asked for great sites and seldom is one greater than the Royal York Hotel, once the Empire’s largest hotel, and the only hotel where British Royalty stays when visiting Canada’s financial engine. Chair Marisa Trasatti and Program Chair Tiffany Alexander of Philadelphia are assembling a meeting unrivaled in grace with
a fantastical dinner in a castle overlooking the City, along with an action-filled family friendly theme party at the Hockey Hall of Fame along with other events at this hotel of grandeur! Our year of Leadership comes to a wrap with Tiffany’s incredible Program, “Inspirational Leadership.” Sotakemyhand, come aboard, and get involved! We look forward to including you!
Craig A. Marvinney is President of the FDCC and Of Counsel with Bricker Graydon in Cleveland, OH. Contact him at: cmarvinney@brickergraydon.com.
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