On a day when gay marriage was the lead 1A story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, one could see Judge Wendell Griffen's face through the Plexiglas of a newsstand outside the Hot Springs Convention Center and then again inside at the state's 117th annual bar association meeting in Hot Springs.
The President's Reception on June 10 featured Griffen alongside new president Eddie Walker Jr. of Fort Smith (technically installed June 12) and some of the other thought leaders in the state and in the association, such as onetime Supreme Court candidate John Fogelman of Jonesboro and attorney general candidate David Sterling, both of the state's law school deans -- Stacy Leeds in Fayetteville and Michael Hunter Schwartz in Little Rock -- and association president-elect Denise Reid Hoggard.
At 7:30 p.m. the Arkansas Bar Foundation Fellows black-tie dinner was called to order.
The joint two-day meeting with the Arkansas Judicial Council brings together more than a thousand lawyers and judges in the state for continuing legal education, as well as entertainment and receptions. Walker's investiture took place Friday just before lunch.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson addressed the meeting Friday morning, and that afternoon, keynote speaker and former presiding justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court Oliver Diaz discussed his positions on tort reform (his marquee theme).
Late afternoon cocktails concluded every day of the conference. On June 11, the Friday, Eldredge & Clark firm of Little Rock hosted its traditional close-of-day at the Arlington Hotel. The next afternoon it was back at the convention center for drinks at 4:30 sponsored by the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, the Arkansas Bar Association, Cornerstone Settlement Services, and Rainwater Holt & Sexton.
High Profile on 06/21/2015