After returning from St. Thomas there was little time to rest. The flight came in late at about 10:30 p.m., then it was time to dash over to the law school and pick up the materials for the trip to Kansas City. I was up bright and early and left at 7:00 a.m. for Kansas City. I took Mom with me because she had not ever been to Kansas City, nor had the opportunity to visit the Negro League / Jazz Museum. She was able to do that during the day as I met with the Midwestern law deans. The drive up was a good one as the weather was perfect.

The meeting began with lunch at noon sponsored by the Law School Admission Council during which we all gathered and visited. The meal was a catered barbeque with sliced barbeque beef and sliced turkey, as well as baked beans, potato salad and cole slaw. There were rolls, but none of the deans ate the bread because of course we tend to have too many meals anyway.

The meeting was convened by Steve Willborn, the Dean of Nebraska Law School, at the request of Dan Bernstine, the President of the Law School Admission Council. It was scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., but since we were all there, we started at 1:00 p.m. The deans who attended were myself, Eric Chiappinelli from Creighton, Gail Agrawal from Kansas, Larry Dessem from Missouri-Columbia, Ellen Suni was our host dean from the law school at UMKC, Larry Hellman from Oklahoma City Law School, Barry Vickery from South Dakota, Peter Alexander from Southern Illinois, Kent Syverud from Washington University, and Tom Romig from Washburn University.

Dan Bernstine began by giving an overview of what the admissions data in terms of the number of applicants, the number of those who had registered and how many had taken the LSAT. It’s very interesting. (I will try to get the charts posted) The charts show where law school applicants are coming from, and where in the country law school applications are going to. He also gave us charts about demographic data of applicants nationally, in terms of gender and ethnicity. There was a lot of discussion around these issues by the deans. Dan also updated us on the Law School Admission Council’s initiatives in terms of globalization of the LSAT and LSAC’s services, for example, psychometricians aiding different countries in the development of their own law school entrance exam. There are a number of countries that you might be surprised to know are either interested in the LSAT itself or the services of LSAC. Dan also shared with us the work and structure of the LSAC volunteer groups and committees. I’ve shared that with you before, so I won’t belabor that point. Then he talked about the ways in which LSAC could be helpful to deans and law schools, for example the fact that there are a lot of professional development opportunities that is training (i.e., admissions professionals). Also, the LSAC is responsible for the growth of the training opportunities and programming around academic support programs. At that point Kent Syverud and I chimed in about the educational programming around the annual meeting and how valuable that can be to deans having both been very active with LSAC.

After that we took a break. The next topic on the agenda was the unique challenges and opportunities of Midwestern law schools and rather than share with you everything that we discussed, I took away from that discussion the fact that although we’re all very different schools (private and wealthy, public and not so wealthy, spread all over geographically) many of the challenges are the same. It was a very helpful conversation during which the group shared ideas. A dean would throw out a question like “has anybody ever faced this?” or “what are you all doing about that?” and then the other deans would share. I took a number of pages of notes during that session. Thanks very much to Larry Dessem, the Dean of UM-Columbia, for chairing that session.

We had another little break and then we went back to a very familiar topic that’s been blogged extensively here before – curricular change in light of Carnegie and Best Practices. We talked about changes schools are making to their curriculum in light of Best Practices, as well as things that deans felt weren’t really working very well. That was also a very useful conversation and again it generated (for me at least) quite a few notes. Dean Steve Willborn chaired that session. He introduced the topic and really did more listening than talking, but did chime in to share his experiences and ideas at Nebraska. Not too long afterwards, we adjourned, and were given a tour of the law school by Dean Suni. It had been a wonderful gathering, and in fact all of the deans said that this was something that we should do annually. I certainly would be happy to host my colleagues at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, to show them the beauty of our law school, the warmth of the people and the beauty of Fayetteville itself. Maybe we’ll be hosting the Midwestern deans at Arkansas next year and I certainly would look forward to that.

We had dinner at a restaurant called the Grand Street Café. The Grand Street Café is found on Grand Street not too far from the Raphael Hotel, which was our hotel. It is a lovely hotel. I would highly recommend it for anyone going to Kansas City. Not only are the rooms spacious and beautiful, but it’s a very easy walk to shopping, restaurants, and entertainment. When we arrived at the Grand Street Café we mixed and mingled a little bit and then the appetizers began to arrive. They were very crispy vegetarian egg rolls and pizza bread with fresh tomato and cilantro. My mom had a caesar salad, which she enjoyed very much and I had a spinach salad which was delicious. My entree was the pan roasted pekin duck breast with sweet corn soufflé, butter braised beans, with grilled white peach ginger butter. Mom had the swordfish with a rice accompaniment. Dean Eric Chiappinelli sat next to me and he had the lamb. Everyone’s meal was delicious and there were several options around the table.

But I must highlight my mom’s and Peter Alexander’s dessert. Peter had a most delicious crab and avocado appetizer, but anyway, I digress, back to dessert. There was something called a chocolate sampler that had a mini chocolate soufflé, a three tiered chocolate mousse, chocolate candy bars, little tiny chocolate brownies, and chocolate creme brulee. Mom and Peter had that and it was death by chocolate for sure (and this was coming from 2 chocoholics!). I had a chocolate soufflé. Eric had a coconut and pineapple spice cake. He said it tasted like carrot cake without the carrots. Some of the other dessert choices were a chocolate lava cake and an apple strudel. Everyone fully enjoyed their meals, there was great fellowship and a really warm gathering of deans. It was then time to head back to the hotel and pack up to return to Fayetteville on Wednesday.

Monday began with checking e-mail and returning phone calls. After that I took a last minute walk around the grounds of the hotel to say goodbye to St. Thomas, enjoy the wonderful breezes and the beautiful views. That was followed by a breakfast with Hope, Barbara and Utaam. It was a lovely breakfast. I ordered a shrimp and avocado omelet with a little side dish of fruit. Afterwards, I had time to sit directly in front of the water and to reflect on the trip. I wanted to send greetings to folks after returning to Fayetteville and I jotted down the details of my conversations so that I could personalize my notes. Erin and Steve Moore, who I’ve mentioned before, were snorkeling right off the beach and Steve had seen a manta ray, a barracuda and a lemon shark. The three of us talked about how wonderful ABA events are in terms of developing friendships and how much those friendships mean over the years. It was one of those great quiet, peaceful moments with good friends.

We realized it was getting close to time to depart, so we walked back to the Begonia building, and Steve arranged for the bellman to come and get us at noon. Our van to the airport left at 12:15 p.m. We checked out, then hopped in the van and got to the airport where it was time to hurry up and wait. In St. Thomas, you are directed to get to the airport no later than 2 hours before your flight and once you do and get through security, you wait. Steve and I ended up sitting next to each other on the plane again to Miami which is a 2 hours and 10-15 minutes flight. I hadn’t realized that St. Thomas was so far South.

When we landed in Miami, I had a quick connection to make so I ran to catch my flight to Dallas, but it turned out it was delayed. I made some phone calls and did a little bit more catching up and by then we took off for a 2½ hour flight to Dallas. It was uneventful except for turbulence. There was a storm in Miami and we caught a little bit of that on the way out. In fact, the pilot had to change routes to avoid the worst of the storm which delayed our flight arrival so that once we landed in Dallas I had to run again to the XNA flight which was also delayed. There were several service men and women on that flight. I always feel worried about them and say a little prayer for their safety every time I see them. When the flight attendants came through I offered to buy them some drinks (they were having beer and wine), but they were given complimentary drinks. It’s been frustrating to me watching our service men and women go off to the various places to be on the battle front when there’s nothing I can do about it. So, to counter that frustration I’ve adopted a policy that if I’m in an airport restaurant and I see a service person dining, I will ask my server to go over and pick up their tab which I then anonymously pay. I ask my server to tell their server that someone in the restaurant just wants to say thanks for their service. It’s a little thing, but it just makes me feel better and it lets them know that there are many of us who care about them. Anyway, I digress.

So, I was on the plane with the returning servicemen and women returning and we arrived pretty late. I drove from the airport to the law school, checked the mail, signed some correspondence that needed my signature, checked e-mail, and picked up my next travel itinerary so wonderfully prepared by my assistant, Terri Yeakley, without whom I don’t know what I’d do. There are many times that I’m so busy that I really, truly do not know where I’m going. I don’t mean in terms of the city, but I mean the hotel and my agenda. I just count on Terri to get me where I need to be. I open up the folder she has prepared and there it is, such and such hotel, this and that meeting on these days, call this person, it’s wonderful. So, thanks very much, Terri! I could not do what I do without your very capable and professional assistance.

Sunday began with the Council meeting at 9:00 a.m. There were several items of Council business yet to be discussed that morning. They included a report from the Pro Bono Committee, a report on the Trial Advocacy Moot Court Competition, the Dispute Resolution Section Liaison report, a report on our Mid-Winter Meetings, a request to look at a proposed ethics rule and also a discussion around recent ALI work on the Restatement of Employment Law.

I left the meeting before the last two reports because I was going to see Rhonda Williams-Henry. For those of you who don’t know her or haven’t met her, she is an alumna who graduated about six years ago. She and her husband Michael who is a Ph.D. physicist and their two daughters live on St. Croix. I figured since I was so close, I might as well take the time to go see her. I booked a flight on the seaplane which is very interesting. It is actually what it sounds like – a sea plane that takes off and lands on the water. The name of the airline is Sea Borne and all is does is run flights between St. Croix and St. Thomas and St. Thomas and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

My flight was booked for 1:00 p.m. but I had to be there 45 minutes early, so I arrived at about noon and not long afterwards we got in the seaplane and took off. It was an 18-minute flight for 40 miles on a prop plane. There were 15 seats and I took pictures in the plane and I found out I wasn’t supposed to have my purse. But, at least I got some good pictures of the inside of the plane. We landed in St. Croix, the city of Christiansted, of course right on the water. Rhonda and her daughters met me and we walked around the boardwalk and to a historic fort. Then we grabbed a quick lunch because she wanted to have time to make sure I got a feel for the island of St. Croix.

St. Croix is sort of the sleepy cousin to St. Thomas. It’s much more laid back and quiet, although geographically it’s bigger than St. Thomas. Rhonda told me that it’s about 85 square miles. After lunch we drove to her house and picked up her husband Michael and took off all around the island to see the various sights. We drove all the way up to Frederiksted. We went past the refinery that used to be the Hess Refinery and is now the Hovensa Refinery. According to Michael and Rhonda, it is the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere. It was really huge! It employs a number of the folks on St. Croix. Many other people work in the government and of course in the tourism business. St. Croix is famous for it’s diving and snorkeling, but the hotels on the island of St. Croix are much smaller than those on St. Thomas. If you’re looking for a quieter alternative to St. Thomas, try St. Croix.

We had a very brief visit because my flight landed there at 1:30 p.m. and my return flight was at 5:15 p.m. The very last flight at 6:00 p.m. was full, so I had to catch the 5:15 p.m. (and had to get back there 45 minutes early). Michael told me I didn’t have to be there so early and in fact that was true. But, still it was a whirlwind. I saw many parts of the island and I’m very grateful to them for taking the time out of their Sunday to share the afternoon with me. It was great to see them and know they are doing well. Rhonda is working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the island and Michael is a math and science tutor. Anyway, no alumna is too far. It was a pleasure. Thanks for lunch and for the visit.

I flew back on the seaplane to St. Thomas where I met Chris Hexter and his wife Nancy and Peter Janis and his wife Nancy. We ate dinner at Hervé on Government Hill in St. Thomas. The five of us shared a fantastic meal with a beautiful view of the ocean and the lights of St. Thomas. Chris’ wife had the special venison coated in winter spice and served in a grand marnier sauce, and he ordered the rabbit loin with tomato, mushroom, rosemary and white wine. My meal was lobster scallops and shrimp St. Jacques in a lightly seasoned beurre blanc with shallots, chives, white peppercorns and sweet vermouth. Peter Janis ordered the yellowtail snapper coated with creole spice, topped with mango salsa. His wife Nancy’s meal was the sea bass served with a mango dill beurre blanc.

The morning began with the Council meeting at 9:00 a.m. There was a long agenda. The central focus was the upcoming Labor and Employment Law Conference put on by the section in Denver, Colorado. It’s our 2nd annual CLE Conference and it will be held from September 10-13, 2008. It is a very large conference with several substantive tracks. If you’re a regular bloggie, you will remember I blogged the first one in Philadelphia, last October. It takes a lot of preparation to put on this one program, so there were many conversations around both the programming and the social events. We also received an update on the newsletter during the meeting. It’s awesome and I’ll see if we can link to it so you can see it for yourselves. For those of you who are interested in and follow labor and employment law, it’s both timely and informative. There were reports given on the section’s publications, discussions around the budget, and outreach programs to law students and academicians. That gives you a sense of some of the work of the Council.

The Council membership consists of management, employee, union, and at-large members. It operates by consensus which means we don’t take a position unless the various constituencies of the section agree. It seems unwieldily, but it’s really not. It produces very thoughtful opinions. In addition to the voting council members I’ve already described, there are administrative members. They serve on the Equal Opportunity in the Legal Profession, the Newsletter, the Budget, the CLE, and the Marketing Committees. The section’s standing committees, such as the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee which I co-Chair, are more substantive in nature. They are organized around a particular area of labor and employment law. That is probably more than you wanted to know about it, but I thought I would give you a little information about the Council.

After the Council meeting and over lunch I had a chance to spend time with Barbara D’Aquila from Minneapolis. We have both been on the Council for a while and have exchanged pleasantries, but never had a chance to sit down and talk. It was a pleasant visit. There were a group of ladies who invited me to go sailing, but I felt as though I didn’t want to do anything; sitting and getting to know Barb a little bit better quietly seemed much more appealing. One of the benefits of belonging to professional organizations is the people you meet. Professional associations provide you with an opportunity to learn a lot in terms of professional skills and resources. But more important are the friendships that you can form and the people you get to know. So I spent a nice quiet afternoon getting to know Barb better. I ordered a jerk chicken wrap in a wheat tortilla served with fries for lunch – not so good for Fabulous at Fifty.

After lunch, I went back to the room and checked e-mail. I received a number of phone calls from Arkansas and followed up on all of those before getting ready to go to the Council dinner. For dinner we took a bus to Oceana Restaurant and Wine Bar in St. Thomas. The buses left the hotel at 6:00 p.m. and we arrived at 6:30 p.m. or so. There was a cocktail hour until 7:30 p.m. It was a really good time to catch up with folks who I only get to see two, or maybe three, times a year. Sometimes I have to miss a Council meeting, so I don’t get to see them for long periods of time. Fortunately, this year our Spring Council meeting was a little bit later in the year. Anyway, it was a good time to mingle and catch up with a number of old friends and to meet new people.

During the reception we were served very substantial appetizers, including a beef saté with a honey barbeque glaze, a curried chicken salad on pita bread, conch fritters, eggplant salad (yuck!) on a cracker, and fresh veggie spring rolls. The dinner menu that night consisted of a crab cake with roasted red pepper sauce appetizer; Andalusian Style Gazpacho with fire spiced shrimp salsa; Garden Salad with pears, walnuts, and Gorgonzola vinaigrette; and three entree choices. I chose the Oven Roasted Mahi-Mahi with plantain mash and mango buerre blanc. Some of the folks at my table selected the Sesame Ginger BBQ Pork Tenderloin with sweet potato-Anna. The vegetarian entree was a Grilled Portobello Mushroom with vegetable cousous and roasted red pepper sauce. The folks who sat with me at dinner were Erin and Steve Moore, Joel D’Alba, Jim Jones, Carl Ver Beek, and Stephen Moldof and his wife Michaela. We had a lovely meal in a beautiful setting looking out at the ocean. One of the highlights of the dinner was when Section Chair Jim LaVaute recognized Pat Slovak, the immediate past Chair, for her leadership. They each shared what it had been like to work together and the many contributions each made. Jim gave Pat a Chicago based print which reflected her Chicago roots.

After their remarks, dessert was served: a mango and apple strudel with cinnamon whipped cream. Then we piled in the buses for the trip back to the hotel. Erin and Steve and I went for a nightcap and ran into several section members who were also out catching the evening breeze. We joined them for a little while, but then we went and found a quiet space and to our delight, Jim LaVaute joined us. He had been awakened by a client and decided to enjoy the evening with us for a little while. Not too long after, we all called it a night. It was a delightful one. I really feel blessed by the friends that I’ve made through my involvement with the ABA, particularly the Labor and Employment Law section. Good friends and a good evening.

It was great to awaken in the morning and look out the balcony window. Sometimes, because I travel so much I wake up and I don’t know where I am and it wasn’t any different on Friday. But once I became oriented and looked out the window at the beautiful multi-blue and green Caribbean water and all the lush foliage and flowers, I remembered. It’s a great way to wake up, with a reminder of how beautiful nature can be. I decided to check and return a few e-mails, and then I walked down and had breakfast at the outdoor café where I visited with a few friends from the Council including Steve Gordon, the former Chair of the Section. After breakfast I decided to go into St. Thomas just to take a look around with no particular agenda and no reason to rush.

I walked up to the main building and got in a cab, which looked more like a utility van and my cab driver was Randy. He had a wealth of information. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it seems that I have really marvelous conversations with cab drivers wherever I go. Randy shared with me these random facts:

• There are 62 islands that make up the Virgin Islands.
• 22 of them are owned by the Americans.
• They were purchased in 1917 from Denmark.
• There is no high school on St. John. The kids on St. John take the ferry over to St. Thomas for high school every day and then back.
• The British Islands – Virgin Islands, in Randy’s opinion, are more relaxed and friendly because they get less tourist travel and in his view, have fewer aspirations of being a big city.
• He was from Tortula, which was about 30 miles away, and if I ever got a chance, I should go and see The Baths.

Folks on St. John are concerned because property has historically been passed down from family to family, and in fact before the United States took ownership the folks who had been living on the land were grandfathered in, so that they owned their land. They had land grants. But more recently on St. John a number of very expensive houses had been built and the property taxes were going up so much that the people who have lived there forever were having a hard time holding onto their property. He thought that was a pretty big problem. I asked him about education and he said there is one university on St. Thomas and it’s called the University of the Virgin Islands. In ‘63, it took its first students. It’s a four-year liberal arts college, but I wasn’t able to see it because it was closed that day.

After that interesting ride into St. Thomas, I got dropped off in the middle of downtown, which is about 3 blocks long. There are little alleyways that you can wander in and out of, so I just walked along very casually, sightseeing and taking a few pictures. Then I headed back to the hotel because we had a dinner that evening at 6:00 p.m. It was about 3:30 p.m. when I decided to head back and I’m glad I decided to return early because I got put out of two cabs! Here’s what happened . . . I got into the first cab, we started driving and he said, “Where are you going?” I told him I was going to The Ritz-Carlton and he pulled up next to another cab, blew his horn and yelled across to the other guy, “Where are you going? Where are you going?” and then he says, “OK, he’ll take you to The Ritz” and he put me out!

So, in the middle of traffic with all these horns blaring, I had to get out of the cab and go get in the other cab. So the other cab driver says, “Where are you going?” and I say, “The Ritz” and he started laughing and said, “Why did he do that? I’m not going any where near The Ritz.” He was in fact going to a ritzy shopping center close to where the cruise ships land, which was a long way from our hotel. So, he said, “Well, I tell you what, I will drive you to a place where you can get a cab.” I guess technically I didn’t really get put out of the second cab, but I really did because he didn’t take me. Anyway, he drove me to a cab stand. It turned out that the gas there is expensive and the Ritz is so far out from downtown that a lot of cab drivers don’t want to take the fare because they don’t think they’ll make any money by the time they pay for their gas. So that was the problem. The driver who finally took me said, “If it’s just you by yourself, I’ll charge you extra,” and by that point I said, “fine” because I wanted to get back.

Dinner that evening was on St. John, which you could see from the windows of the hotel on St. Thomas. We boarded several mini buses in groups and they took us to the ferries for our trip to St. John. It only takes 5-10 minutes to get over there by ferry, but because this was to be a relaxing excursion or a little mini cruise, it took us about an hour to get there. We went all around, and the ship’s officer served champagne to us along with cheese and crackers. We saw the most amazing sunset from the ocean. It was fabulous.  Our restaurant on St. John was called Caneel Bay Restaurant. It was very lovely with a great view, looking back across at St. Thomas.

We were served a wonderful appetizer with seared tuna, shrimp and crab with avocado. It was very good. Then we had (and I’ve never had this before) an interesting sweet potato soup. In the center were little chunks of what tasted like meat, but it turned out that it was breaded (and I think maybe braised) tofu. It was good, too. The main course was surf and turf, a small filet and a lobster tail already removed from the shell. Dessert was pastry with a shell made of pecans and what tasted like toffee. It held ice cream and berries. Afterwards we got back in our boats and we arrived in St. Thomas in about 10 minutes. It was really fun and an enjoyable start to the Council meeting.

As Erin, Steve and I were walking down to our rooms in the begonia building, we passed by some bushes and I said, “Hey, what’s that? I’m not moving another step until I know what that is.” There was something in the bushes and it turned out to be a little deer. It was just standing there right outside of our rooms eating the flowers. It was a Cay deer. It is a small deer that is very common there. It didn’t move and we didn’t move, so we got pictures of it. Anyway, that was kind of a cool ending to the night.

The week began with a lovely dinner hosted by Jane and Dave Gearhart and Mary Ann and Reed Greenwood at the Greenwood residence. A number of University administrators and supporters were there, including several of our alums: Jim and Nancy Blair, Stanley and Charlene Reed, Lewis Epley and Charles Scharlau. All the Deans and Vice Chancellors were there, along with Jeff Long, Johnetta Cross Brazzell, Tysen Kendig, Richard Hudson and his wife…just everybody! It was quite an event. The Greenwoods and the Gearharts celebrated and praised the Chancellor and Mary Lib. There were several toasts to them, many thanks and gifts, and then a wonderful dinner. Everything was just lovely.

The table settings were amazing, and in fact, one of the jokes of the evening amongst the guests was how many knives and forks were actually on the table and what each was for. The menu was white bean soup with andouille sprinkles; Bertani Due Uve 2006; bibb lettuce with tangerines and almond slivers served with a cilantro vinaigrette; grilled shrimp, cheese grits and smoked tomato sauce; pomegranate frappé; seared duck breast with cognac demi-glace served with buttered apples and baby lima beans with marinated artichoke hearts; Purple Mountain Pinot Noir 2006; Stilton, Edam, and Swiss cheeses, fig jam and water crackers; Commander’s strawberry shortcake; Crème Chantilly; decaffeinated snickerdoodle coffee; and Belgian truffles. The meal was fabulous.

The dinner conversation at my table focused on the fate of Fayetteville High School, the Fayetteville mayoral race, growth and development in Rogers and Benton counties versus Washington County, the upcoming law school dedication, traveling and exotic foods. It was a delightful evening and I’m really grateful to have been included in such a lovely event. Thanks so much Chancellor White and Mary Lib for all you’ve done for the University of Arkansas, and for the School of Law. We wish you the very best as you transition into your new life. Reed and Mary Ann, as always, what a lovely event. But as you know, one would expect nothing less from both them and from the Gearharts.

Thursday morning began with a jolt – the phone rang at 5:30 a.m. I am always anxious about phone calls between say, midnight and 6:00 in the morning worried that they’re bringing bad news. Startled, I reached over for the phone and hit the light to see who was calling. It was American Airlines telling me that my flight to the ABA Labor and Employment Section Council Meeting had been canceled. I had been scheduled to leave on a direct flight to Miami and the agent was now saying I could get out the next day. The problem was that the Council dinner was on Thursday night and I really wanted to be there for that. So, I called American again and worked with the agent who got me rescheduled. But the new flight meant I had to leave a lot earlier than I had anticipated and when you are a last minute arriver at the airport, an hour is a lot.
It was also coincidentally garbage day and I had to get all the garbage out to the curb. I can’t put my garbage out the night before like most people because I have a neighbor (unknown to me) who, when I put my garbage out overnight, spreads it up and down the street and also moves my garbage can down the block. That vandalism has occurred several times, so I always put my garbage out the morning of collection. Anyway, that’s a long way of saying that I had to get my garbage out and get packed, get dressed, go by the bank and get money, and get to the airport! I got on the move, got everything done, got in the car, got to the airport, got the flight just fine and arrived at the transfer point in Dallas. Dallas was uneventful except for the fact the connection was a little bit tight, and there had been no time for breakfast earlier in the morning. The only thing close to my gate in Dallas was Popeye’s Chicken and I know that is a horrible way to start the morning, but nevertheless, that was brunch on the plane.

I had tried to get an upgrade based on my frequent flier status, but the plane was full and I ended up sitting next to the person who was number two on the wait list for an upgrade. His name is Steven Stevens. He works for Texas Dow Employees Credit Union and he turned out to be pretty interesting. He had been a manager for many, many years and we talked about managing and different ways he problem solves and his philosophy of managing.

He informed me about issues raised by e-banking and some of the new trends and the different types of products the credit union was trying to focus on marketing to younger people and trying to determine what kind of services might make the credit union more attractive to them. It was such an interesting conversation that before we knew it, we were landing in Miami. Coincidentally when I arrived at XNA Bobby Jones, our alum, was on the same plane. He and Steven (the banker) were both going to Key West. Steven was going for a managerial retreat and Bobby for a hearing. They dashed off to make their tight connection to Key West.

As I wandered through the terminal I ran into Mike Posner who was one of the very first people I met when I became involved in the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section’s Committee on Ethics and Professionalism. I snuck up on him while he was buying a sandwich and joined he and his family (his daughter Michaela and his wife Cassandra) while they had their lunch. I was still nursing the Popeye’s.

Our flight from Miami to St. Thomas was delayed and while waiting for it, I ran into a number of other people who were going to the Section meeting. Wendy Nutt, Joel D. Alba, and Christine Cooper and her husband, Ricky, and Steve and Erin Moore, were all on the same flight. Steve was past Co-Chair of our Committee and he’s now Co-Chair of the Section’s newsletter. He, Erin, and I are really good friends. I don’t see Erin as much as I see Steve, so we took that opportunity to catch up while we were waiting for our delayed flight. Coincidentally, on the flight, Steve’s seat was next to mine so we visited. He talked to me about an interesting case he’s working on. Steve is a partner at Baker Hostetler in Denver and has tried over 100 jury trials. He is a constitutional law expert, especially in terms of workplace issues. He will be representing the City of Denver during the Democratic national convention around first amendment issues. Steve is a fascinating, brilliant person, but he’s very low key so you wouldn’t know it. You’d have to get to know him to learn all the amazing things that he’s doing. That flight went by pretty quickly as well. We had one small glitch on the flight and that was that it hit a pretty rough patch of turbulence. He and I both thought it was over – and you’re talking two people who fly a lot. The thing that made it so disturbing was that it apparently spooked the flight attendant who came on the overhead p.a. system and shrieked a pretty shrill, “Get in your seats!!”

We landed safely and were met by a woman holding a sign saying “ABA,” which is always a great feeling because you know you don’t have to hassle about anything; somebody’s going to get you where you’re going. They packed us up in a van and took us way out about 15 miles from the airport to the beautiful Ritz-Carlton hotel on the water. When we arrived, there was a young man who greeted us with tropical punch fruit drinks. They felt great having been in the heat and humidity for a while. The woman who greeted us asked if our flight had been delayed. When we said yes, she said, “Oh, it’s always delayed and the one going back in the morning will be delayed, too, so count on it.” After checking in we had a guy in a golf cart drive us each to our rooms, which were beautiful. And, that was Thursday.

Wednesday started with a meeting with Teri Stafford and Mark Powers to review Teri’s six months here at the law school. That was a good meeting. It was also our May birthday celebration and in addition a very sad occasion.

We said goodbye to Macey Panach who has been a wonderful Communications Director for the past year. We’ll miss her and her excellent work very much and we wish she and Matt the very best in their new lives in Oklahoma City. Happy Birthday to our May birthdays – Professor Steve Sheppard and Sally Kelley.

We had a couple of visitors stop in unexpectedly. Professor Laurence popped in and it’s always a pleasure to see him. As you all know, he is now retired and he was talking about his jumping lessons; he’s a very big horse enthusiast. He had fallen and he was talking about that experience with Professor Judges who also rides. Then Travis Martin, one of our alums, stopped by as he was on campus briefly that afternoon. It was good to see him. Also, a new member of the law school community, Professor D’lorah Hughes, is here now and she came for birthday cake, so it was a great afternoon.

At 2:00 p.m. I had a meeting with Professor Kim Coats and she’s planning some very interesting scholarship over the summer and big news –She was recently married! Congratulations Professor Coats! It’s awesome and we wish she and her new hubby the very best. We had a good meeting and I was tickled to receive that good news and to wish them both well.

After the meeting with Professor Coats, it was time to catch up the blog. We have a new system in place and we’re working to get things posted much more promptly, so I didn’t want to be the glitch in that new process and took the time to get caught up. Also I needed to prepare for the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section’s Council Meeting which, yes I know it’s a big sacrifice, is in St. Thomas. But, that meant I would be away from my desk for a while, so I was taking time to get all the letters/correspondence done and to return phone calls before leaving.

Today got off to a delightful start (joking, joking).  Actually it was time to go back to see Dr. Henderson.  I’ve been seeing him a lot.  If you read the blog, you should have noticed that I’ve had a lot of dental work this year.  All this work would come the year that I forget to turn in my cafeteria plan paperwork.  Nevertheless, I digress.  I went to see Dr. Henderson to get a crown and for those of you who have had that specific dental work done, you know it’s no fun.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do not like going to the dentist, but I do like my dentist.  I’ll have to go back to see him again because this is a temporary crown and this time I’ll get his picture so you can see this mysterious dentist who sings and cracks jokes.  I know it sounds really strange.  He doesn’t really sing, he kind of hums.  You just have to be there.

I had a brief meeting when I got back in the building (with a half Novocaine face) with Monika Szakasits again about issues around the library, particularly our new library director’s office that has problems with leaking.  Time to be much more assertive to get those issues resolved before Randy arrives.  For lunch, I went to Taste of Thai and enjoyed the special, which was a very light chicken dish with asparagus, broccoli, green beans and zucchini (I don’t like zucchini or eggplant for that matter, so I just pushed that aside).  It was a very healthy and light meal before getting pampered later today.  Late that afternoon Teri Stafford and I had a quiet meeting around development issues.  Then it was time to spruce up a little bit that evening with a manicure and pedicure.  Summer’s begun for sure.  I’ve got to get back to working out.  I’ve fallen off the “Fabulous at 50” bandwagon – and my cruise is less than 35 days away!

Thursday, May 23

Thursday, I returned from the ALI meeting in Washington, DC, checked in with the office and learned everything was quiet.

Friday, May 24

It was a fantastic Friday. Mike Mullane came in first thing in the morning with a beautiful carved statue from Haiti – a wonderful full figured woman who sits on the corner of my desk and reminds me of the gift of friendships. Thank you very much, Prof. Mullane.That day I also received in the mail a gift from Dean Kent Syverud from Washington University. It was a little squeeze toy for stress, in the shape of a fire hydrant labeled “Dean.” It’s a reflection of both the realities of the job (sometimes) and the wacky sense of humor of Dean Syverud. Thanks Kent!

The morning was busy. It’s always that way after I’ve been out of the office for a while. In fact, I had a meeting scheduled with Professor Sheppard but we had to move that back to 11:00 a.m. and it was a very good meeting. He is working on a few projects. Cambridge University Press has agreed to publish a book based on his doctoral thesis, to be called I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials, and he is finishing his edits for that by July 1. He is also working on his new law dictionary for Aspen Publishers/Wolters Kluwer, supervising a team of twenty of our students. They collect quotations and drafting definitions, and he edits and redrafts them into final form. His hope is that the dictionary will be both easier to read and more informative than other dictionaries on the market. That dictionary should have its first edition released next year. He also has a book review column for this year’s Law Notes and is continuing to develop his article on John Locke, hopefully for publication next spring.

When my lunch plans didn’t work out, I spent that time catching up. At 3:30 p.m., I met with Mike Macechko, Angela Monts, Teri Stafford and Andrew Albertson about the anticipated changes to the Alumni Society. They are very excited and I think our alums will be pleased to learn of the new initiatives coming out of this restructuring. We’ll be sharing that with our Law Alumni Board in Hot Springs.

That evening I had a delightful dinner with Vice Chancellor Johnetta Cross Brazzell and Dean Carolyn Allen at Soul Restaurant and Lounge. Soul is located on 265 across from the Fayetteville Health Club and if you haven’t been there, check it out. It’s a quiet place to have a meal at the end of the day. The menu is interesting and there are always specials that vary weekly. Dean Allen ordered the walnut and gorgonzola salad. It was a house blend of arugula, spinach, and romaine leaves gently tossed with toasted walnuts, red onions, gorgonzola cheese, and flash fried turnip chips. Vice Chancellor Brazzell had the blue bayou crab cake, described in the menu as a sweet and succulent lump crab cake lightly fried and served alongside a bed of fresh spinach with the signature mango-curry aioli. My meal was a special item on the menu, a fish dish that was very light served with thyme and butter carrots and rice. I think Dean Allen also had the crab cake for her entree, too. It was an enjoyable meal, but what I most enjoyed about it was the camaraderie and the fact that on a holiday weekend they took time to spend it together with me visiting, catching up and being supportive of each other. There’s just no replacing that. Thank you to Johnetta and Carolyn for your continued encouragement and support and friendship.

Saturday, May 25

I think I mentioned in the blog earlier that when I arrived in DC, my luggage was pretty much destroyed, so Saturday Mom and I went to the Mall. There were big luggage sales over the Memorial Day weekend and I was able to inexpensively replace my luggage. We also took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. I have to tell you that that’s about all we did. The only other activity we engaged in was to go to the movies to see the second installment of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which was a lot of fun because we saw it at the drive-in on the big screen. If you are going to see a battle epic type film, the drive-in is a good place to see it. Other than that, the weekend was time to relax and enjoy doing nothing over the holiday. It was great.