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Looking Back
And That’s A Wrap
Reflections on Nashville
By Lauren Curtis, Convention Chair
As I write this, it’s been a few weeks since Roger Page, Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme
Lauren Curtis
the Winter Meeting in Nashville ended.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still experiencing serious music withdrawal after being immersed in live music for almost a week. I’ve been replaying Russell Dickerson’s “Essentials” on Apple Music
Court, followed by an enthusiastic introduction of
our New Members, First Time Attendees, our Past Presidents, and our Sponsors. The positive energy during the opening session was palpable and everyone was ready to begin our program, themed “Our Heroes Have Always Been Lawyers.”
As Convention Chair, I had the privilege of planning the “fun stuff ” in Nashville. We kicked off the fun Sunday evening with a welcome cocktail reception in the open space at the Omni, after which many hit the town.
The next morning, we came back from Broadway to enjoy three terrific speakers arranged by Program Chair Sean Griffin. Judge Wendy Tien from the Minnesota Tax Court taught us how lawyers can be everyday heroes. Then Judge Bernice Donald of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit gave an inspirational talk on how legal history can affect the present, and how we can use that history to become heroic ourselves. Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times, wrapped up the morning by presenting a history of the Supreme Court and a glimpse of where it may be headed.
Monday’s afternoon activities included a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry with a special singer-songwriter
along with Clark Beckham and Madison Ryann’s rendition of Tennessee Whiskey. Wow!
The passage of time always amazes me. It feels like yesterday that we were presenting our plan for Nashville in Seattle. The lyrics to the chorus of our conference song “Friends In All Places” are still fresh in my mind: “‘Cause we’ve got friends in all places. Where the friendships abound and there’s so much for us to do each day. And we’ll be okay. Now, we’re not big on social graces. Gonna grab a beer at the honky tonk places ‘Cause we’ve got friends in all places.” Maybe it sounds a little corny now that I’m reading the lyrics, but when we chose the theme “Friends In All Places” and we sang that song, it truly was heartfelt. I hope you felt the connections in Nashville.
For those of you who were unable to attend, here’s a quick summary of what you missed. We kicked off our meeting Sunday evening with a warm welcome from
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