The forum 2024, was an amazingly rapid progression of commitments, conversations, and conclusions. I write today, in an attempt to encapsulate portions of the experience. I was privileged to speak with an assortment of attorneys, vendors, and claims professionals. There is an incredible diversity in the attendee population. Some are more gregarious and welcoming than others.
From the perspective of a claimant's attorney, I heard concerns, focused on client, perceptions, business management, and competition. Perhaps none of these may necessarily concern those who have deep community roots, established referral sources, and business experience.
However, there are definite concerns for the young and ambitious. As critical, there seems to be concern about the depth and usefulness of educational resources available regarding those topics. Essentially, where does a young lawyer go to learn particular skills? In the back of my mind, while listening to these comments, the word "mentorship" just kept repeating.
To some extent, similar concerns are voiced by youth on the defense side. However, they are additionally focused on topics such as cyber security, contractual relationships, and client competition. In short, there are similarities, and yet differences, both in the breadth and depth of their perceived challenges. I wondered if the absence of business management curiosity was attributable to working with larger firms.
Albert Einstein came to mind Thursday morning as I took the stage for Emerging Trends. For a few years, I have been privileged to kick off Track 2 with this panel discussion. It is an honor to take the stage with Mr. Leopold Garcia, Miss Kimberly Syfrett, and Judge Jacquelyn Newman. No, none of us or our topic makes me think of physics. They make me think of relativity.
As I sit on stage, striving to contribute, I persistently find that 50-60 minutes pass with incredible speed. I can only imagine that Einstein’s theory of relativity is born out significantly in this environment. There’s no doubt in my mind that hour, which seems like minutes from the stage likely seems like an eternity to the poor attendees struggling to follow my mental meanderings.
Nonetheless, they attend. We had a great turnout this year. We had the opportunity to discuss mentoring, personal contact with opposing counsel, attorney fees, stipulations, professionalism, and more. It was an hour packed with perspectives.
Time and again at such seminars, I am concerned that we are preaching to the choir. But, there is never any harm in providing feedback and reminders to even the most experienced and adept. There are pitfalls in the workers' compensation community.
I was struck in 2024 with the number of younger community members that attended. There has been a dearth of young folks in the last decade, but a focus on their evolution and development more recently. I was pleased to see that more firms are bringing their team to such opportunities, and integrating the newer folks into the community.
I was struck by the opposite conclusion as well. There were a lot of really aged folks in the crowd (like me). We are yesterday and headed toward being last week. I remained concerned that we are not doing enough to pass the torch as we approach the inevitability of slowing down ourselves.
If the torch passing is to be successful, it is the responsibility of the aging. We cannot expect the young to pick up the torch once we eventually stumble and drop it. We have to pass it. That means stepping to the back also. That means getting out of their way. It means supporting, encouraging, and facilitating more and doing less. Some of us old folks struggle to step out of the limelight, but we must.
See The Donut Hole (February 2023), The 800-Pound Gorilla (April 2024), A Social Media Post (February 2024), and A Reminder of the Value of Mentoring (September 2016).
In one endearing moment, I spotted two lawyers engaged in an earnest conversation down the hall from the predominant gathering. I jokingly asked if they were resting up, and the response was immediate and succinct - "mentoring." I don't know who was mentoring who.
The older might have been passing on experiences and knowledge. The younger might have been demonstrating how to make technology work. The point is that mentoring can easily be a two-way street. Despite their extent of experience, we can learn much from the young. Despite our age and mileage, we can teach them much as well.
Another endearing moment was at the Wednesday afternoon meeting of the Workers' Compensation Section Executive Council. I was pleased to see some younger folks sitting at the Council table. Not enough, but seemingly more than in the recent past. I was also encouraged to see even more of those lawyers in the audience. Their presence speaks to the future and their perception that involvement in this community has value to them.
In summary, we are doing better today than we were five years ago. We are reaching some of the next generation and developing engagement. But, we are not doing enough. Possibly we will never do enough, but we need to focus this community on doing more than we are. In that, we need to focus more in this community on doing more.
For me, the Forum concluded Friday morning with the Statewide Nominating Commission voting to nominate nine judges for reappointment. I am pleased both in those judges seeking reappointment and in the Commission's nominations. I am hopeful that the Governor will agree with the Commission's conclusions!
