What I'm doing now
My digital pen pal, Derek Sivers, has suggested that I post occasionally about my comings and goings, so here goes...
AAML in Mexico
In March, Sue and I attended the mid-year meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers at the beautiful Mayakoba resort in Mexico.
I’m currently the co-editor of the Journal of the Academy. Our executive editor, Professor Mary Kay Kisthardt, and her team of law students and professors at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, ensure that we continue to be the foremost academic journal of family law in the country.
The Mayakoba resort was beautiful: lush trees and gorgeous beaches. I haven’t traveled to Mexico since 1980 and forgot how beautiful the country is. I’ll definitely return.
Laguna Beach
Earlier this month, Sue and I attended the annual meeting of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, where I’ve been an elected Diplomate since 2015. The College consists of the top 100 family trial lawyers in the country, and I’m honored to be in that club.
This year, our meeting was held at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. I was dying to go surfing, but it just didn’t work out. I did get a referral for a surf instructor in Oahu from Peter Maguire, one of our speakers at the conference. I hope to go surfing there soon.
In part, what makes the college unique is that we have “non-CLE” presentations by historians, journalists, chefs, musicians, and an assortment of others.
This year, our lineup included: journalist and surfer Peter Maguire, who spoke about the intersection of 1970s surf culture and marijuana smuggling; celebrity chef Richard Blais, who gave a cooking demonstration; Caleb Ziolkowski, the executive director of the Crazy Horse Monument Project in South Dakota; Jonathan Eig, author of the best-selling biography on MLK; Terry Hake, who delved into his undercover activities as the FBI mole during the Chicago Greylord corruption investigation in the 1980s; and finally, Jared Lee, an internationally renowned songwriter and performer, who talked about his career and gave demonstrations of some of his hits.
While there, we also took a field trip to the Presidential Library of Richard M. Nixon. I knew little about Nixon beyond Watergate, but I came away from the library with profound respect for his accomplishments and sadness about what could have been.
Mr. Lincoln In Missouri
Speaking of great presidents, recently I spoke to Missouri Bar Association Family Lawyers on “Lessons from Lawyer Lincoln,” where I discussed excellence in the practice of family law based upon Mr. Lincoln’s example and writings. While there, I got to spend some time with my buddies, Cary Mogerman and Rick Van Pelt. I think my presentation was well received, and I am currently working on a law review article about Lincoln the lawyer. It’s interesting to me how his central Illinois law practice influenced his leadership and, thus, the direction of our country.
What I’m reading
I continue to enjoy the assignments in my Hardcore Literature Book Club. Under the tutelage of instructor Ben McEvoy, I’m reading great literature and gaining insights into our world, past and present. Earlier this year, we read Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck, and “Master and the Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgokov. Currently, I’m reading Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Reading this book is like being transported to another century (well, in fact, it is!). On the side, I’m also reading “Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument” by Law Professor Ward Farnsworth, and I continue to pick at Shelby Foote’s massive trilogy on the Civil War. I'm almost done with volume 1!
What’s Next
Next on the horizon (besides a number of trials that I’m gearing up for) is Nashville. I’m the keynote speaker at the National Family Law Conference on May 16–18. I’ll be speaking about courtroom persuasion. I’ve presented on this topic before, and I’m eager to do so again later this month.
Quote that inspires me: "The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." Eleanor Roosevelt
Goodbye for now. Remain curious; life goes fast.
Check in when you have a minute.