I just returned from the DRI Young Lawyers Committee http://www.dri.org/open/Committees.aspx?com=0240 leadership meeting in Chicago, and I have to say that DRI and defense bar appear to be in good hands looking towards the future. Nowadays, there are articles about law school graduates and young attorneys expecting to be coddled as they enter the work force, after all, they are the generation where everyone got a trophy. That is not the case with the 40 young attorneys I spent the afternoon with.
The meeting presented reports from 21 different initiatives and subcommittees ranging from the committee's annual seminar to a Supreme Court committee that organizes a swearing in ceremony at the Supreme Court of the United States to Diversity efforts to Women Attorney mentoring. The leadership is diverse, welcoming and definitely hard working.
These young attorneys and the thousands of other members of the Committee are the future of the defense bar. Many will go "in-house" and become General Counsel. Some will become judges and most will become successful private practitioners. In large part, they will be successful because of the skills they develop in their practices, the education and training they get from DRI programming, and the relationships they build through this committee and, as they call it "Big DRI."
Young lawyers that are starting out need a home outside their firms. The DRI Young Lawyers Committee is a big house with many rooms. Join, get involved -- from what I saw, you won't regret it.
R. Mattthew Cairns
Gallagher Callahan & Gartrell
cairns@gcglaw.com