Page 46 - FDCC Flyer Spring 2022

FDCC News
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
since 1990 – 65 in all. Dan’s dedication to the Federation and
its members knows no bounds. Many of Dan’s and his wife Chris’s closest and life-long friends are members of the Federation.
Dan served as a member of the board of directors, as an officer,
and as our president during the period of 2006 to 2007. He has actively participated in scores of committees and substantive law sections, written scholarly papers, chaired conferences, mentored, presented and been instrumental in guiding the organization’s growth. He has and continues to contribute to the FDCC website, technology, exhibitors, membership development, finance and budget, publications, admissions, and nominating committees and has served as FDCC Foundation Board President. Dan has always done what is best for the Federation.
Dan, as a young lawyer was urged by his mentor, Mr. Hurwitz, a member of the IADC at the time, to join what was then known
as the Federation of Insurance
and Corporate Counsel or FICC. Colleagues in Rochester and Syracuse, New York nominated Dan for membership, and he attended his first conference, the Winter Meeting in 1990 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples, Florida. The rest, as is often said, is history as Dan (and for the most part, his fiancé and
Isaac Newton
wife of nearly 30 years, Chris) has attended every one of the FDCC’s Winter and Annual Meetings since that first gathering in Naples in 1990.
A significant achievement during Dan’s years of leadership in FDCC was the development and implementation of its website.
A Technology Committee was initiated by FDCC President John Trigg in 1995 and included amongst its members Lewis Collins, Steve Barney, John Intondi, Rich Traub, and Dan. The Federation was the first major defense bar group to operate a website. The initially preferred domain name, FICC. com, had already been taken by a Florida bar group. The Technology Committee therefore chose as the domain name “TheFederation.
org” which proved to be a wise decision given the later change
in the organization’s name from
the Federation of Insurance
and Corporate Counsel to the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel.
Dan observed that the Federation of today is a remarkably more diverse organization then when
he joined thirty-plus years ago.
The Federation was exclusively Caucasian and had only three women members, one of whom was admitted to the membership with Dan, in 1990. The most significant
change in the Federation Dan has observed is how the organization today, with so many more women and individuals of color as members, more closely reflects our broader society than was the case when he joined. When Dan became president of the Federation in 2006, one of his first items of business was to personally call each woman and person of color who was a member to solicit their views and encourage their participation. Dan estimates this effort led him to contact about twenty-five members, a much smaller group than today’s FDCC president could communicate with if making a similar undertaking. Another change of significance
for Dan in the FDCC are the many opportunities for social interaction and relationships outside the traditional confines of the practice of law or meetings represented
by such groups as FedServes, FedCooks, and Ladder Down.
The FDCC movement to virtual meetings and social gatherings necessitated by the Pandemic led by Mike Glascott is in Dan’s opinion a confirmation of the FDCC’s continuing effort to evolve, grow, and remain relevant to its members and the wisdom of its leadership.
“Success in the practice of law and the Federation is all about the personal relationships one develops.” Thus did Dan Kohane explain at least in part his
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