The ceremonial passing of the gavel signaled the transfer of the leadership of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section. Outgoing Chair Roy A. Cohen handed over the chair’s duties to Thea M. Capone. The event took place at the TIPS annual business meeting, held at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on August 10, when officers for the 2019–2020 bar year were officially elected.
The TIPS Leadership Academy Class of 2019 met for their fourth and final session of the year during the Annual Meeting. The class heard from speaker Mark Curriden, author of Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism, as well as Janice Brown, who spoke on “Priorities: The Responsibility of Leadership.”
The class organized and participated in a public service project to support St. Anthony Foundation, a nonprofit social service organization that works to feed and clothe persons in need. Class members volunteered at St. Anthony’s Free Clothing Program, San Francisco’s largest free clothing initiative, which provides warm clothes, interview or employment apparel, and children’s clothing to homeless and low-income families and individuals. The group helped sort, organize, and prepare donated items for distribution by the program, which serves more than 3,000 men, women, and children per month.
Leadership Academy members were lauded at their graduation dinner on August 10 at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The Section looks forward to welcoming these new leaders at the next TIPS meeting.
The TIPS Leadership Academy is held every other year and is a unique program designed to increase the diversity of leaders within our communities; nurture effective leadership with respect to ethical, professional, and community-service values; build relationships among leaders from across the country and from disciplines within the profession; and raise the level of awareness among lawyers regarding the broad range of issues facing the profession. Nominations will be accepted for the next Leadership Academy, which will be held during the 2020–2021 bar year beginning in November. For questions about the Leadership Academy, please contact TIPS Director Theresa Livingston at theresa.livingston@americanbar.org.