In this fourth message in The Brief, I wanted to share a special note concerning a meaningful event for our Section. Hopefully, you were one of the 400 people in attendance. If not, the TIPS 10th Annual Section Conference was held in Washington, D.C., May 7–10, 2025. It featured important CLE panels featuring insurance, defense, corporate, and plaintiff’s attorneys, as well as the judiciary. This year, we were honored to partner with our friends from the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (GPSolo) and the ABA Judicial Division.
Our Conference Cochairs and TIPS members, Jordan Howlette, Michelle Worrall, Chris Ward, and Victoria Alvarez, deserve our praise and admiration for putting together incredible programming. It was only possible thanks to the incredible efforts of our TIPS staff, led by Director Theresa Livingston and Associate Director Janet Hummons.
We have a good deal to be grateful for. Our gala provided unlimited access to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Section’s Lifetime Liberty Achievement Award was given to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and the Liberty Achievement Award was awarded to the Honorable J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The awards, presented by our TIPS partner, Thomson Reuters, featured a fireside chat with Justice Sotomayor and Judge Childs, joined by our own Janet Hummons, the recipient of the Section’s Andrew C. Hecker award. Finally, we toasted more than 90 years of Section service by recognizing the 18 Chairs Emeriti in attendance. Their leadership provided the sound foundation upon which we flourish as a Section.
For those who were not in attendance at the gala, I cannot do justice in summarizing the poignant speeches and messages of support provided by our award recipients. Of particular note, we are fortunate that Justice Sotomayor chose our Section gala to provide a message to the legal community, read far and wide thanks to 15 news organizations and news aggregators in attendance. Please enjoy key portions of the ABA’s summary below (full article available), and I look forward to sharing my final message as Chair in the next edition of The Brief.
The legal profession and the judiciary are at a crossroads, and lawyers and judges must fight to preserve the system, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Judge J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in a wide-ranging talk at the ABA TIPS 10th Annual Section Conference . . . .
Sotomayor said the legal profession “is poised to show its greatness,” adding: “I tell law students if you’re not used to fighting losing battles, don’t become a lawyer. Our job is to stand up for people who can’t do it themselves. Our job is to be the champion of lost causes.
“But right now we can’t lose the battles we are facing,” she said. “We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight. With all the uncertainty that exists at this moment, this is our time to stand up and be heard. For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity,” she told the audience of more than 400 attorneys and judges.
Childs said the legal profession is at a crossroads, but that the frustrations of the moment also present an opportunity. “You should be concerned about justice and equity and what your role is in all of that,” she said. “You should be concerned that there is a poor reception of the transparency, of the trust and confidence in our court and in our public institutions. You should be concerned about civics education and how our children are growing up and [should] have the opportunity to learn about what government is, what it should do and how they can participate in it.”
She urged the audience to remember why they went to law school: “To fight, to be there to represent those who can’t artfully represent themselves,” she said. “So you have to stand tall and strong and ethically and civilly and professionally as you put yourself forth before the courts in representing your clients.”
