MTLA President’s Message:


A Year of Change by Bruce M. Plaxen


Bruce M. Plaxen serves as President of MTLA. He is also a member of the advisory committee to the MTLA-PAC. His practice concentrates in personal injury, workers’ compensation, premises and products liability, medical malpractice and automobile negligence. He is a partner in the firm Plaxen & Adler in Columbia and may be reached at 410-730-7737 or by email at: bplaxen@hotmail.com.


The past year has seen many changes


for the Maryland Trial Lawyers Associa- tion. Some of these changes had their genesis in the long range planning retreat held at the Wye Institute in March, 2001. Many of our board members gave up time from their practice and time with their family to attend these brainstorming ses- sions, which were coordinated and organized by Vicki Dexter and Gus Brown. With the blueprint established during the long range planning retreat, the Board set out to implement as many of the new ideas as possible. New com- mittees were formed and new sections were established. A Membership Services Committee was formed and Beth Frey was appointed chairperson of this Committee. From scratch, Beth recruited a large number of energetic and hard working MTLA mem- bers to serve on her Committee. The Membership Services Committee has reached an agreement with the Univer- sity of Maryland Medical School regarding the use of anatomical models, the Membership Services Committee has established a program for individual case evaluations and has negotiated a discount for our members with Enterprise Leasing Company. In addition to all of his other duties,


Rob Jenner agreed to chair a new Tech- nology Committee which successfully upgraded our website. The goal of the Technology Committee is to make the MTLA website a true resource for our members. Kevin Finnegan and Kevin Goldberg


helped reestablish a New Lawyers Section of MTLA. Under their leadership, the New Lawyers Section has successfully par- ticipated in CLE programs, held social events for new lawyers, contributed to several phone-a-thons and the current sec- tion Chair, Christian Mester, has reinstated a mentor/mentee program. A Medical Negligence Section, co-


chaired by Wayne Willoughby and Robert Jenner, was newly formed this year and has been a huge success. In its first year,


Summer 2002


the Medical Negligence Section attracted an incredible 161 members and it plans a series of nearly 10 breakfasts or special- ized evening workshops and exchange programs for its members in the coming year.


Another new endeavor of MTLA is a


lawyer referral service. Steve Markey vol- unteered to lead this significant undertaking and advertisements have been placed and bylaws approved by the Board of Governors. I am certain this will be one of MTLA’s great successes. In an effort to attract new members


and to be responsive to many of our mem- bers that practice family law, the Board of Governors established a Family Law Section which is chaired by Harry Siegel. Harry moderated a very successful family law seminar and it is clear to MTLA that with 50 new section members many of our members have an interest in this area of law. The Family Law Section also plans an exciting agenda of special seminar pro- grams for its members in the year ahead. Our Workers Compensation Section, chaired by Bob Zarbin, attracted a large audience for its year-end seminar in June and has exciting plans for growth in the year ahead.


As if the above was not enough, MTLA also tried a new format for our annual Presidents Dinner.


This year’s annual


convention included an all day seminar that preceded the Presidents Dinner. The annual convention was moderated by in- coming President, Rob Jenner, and the National Faculty included ATLA officers Mary Alexander, President Elect and Ken- neth M. Suggs, Treasurer and many other nationally known attorneys as well as some of the best trial attorneys from Maryland.


The annual convention began on a high note when Marcus Shar of Baltimore gave a presentation on “persuasion” that inspired everyone in the room. The day continued with an exceptional group of speakers and our thanks to all of the speak- ers from near and far who volunteered to be part of this program.


Also, much Trial Reporter


From the Editor and Publisher:


To Our Readers


Due to circumstances beyond con- trol, the Spring 2002 issue of Trial Reporter was not published. Infor- mation contained in this issue, unless otherwise noted, reflects ac- tivity and Association officers and policies through June 7, 2002. Our Fall issue will likely be in the mail in early October.


Thank You. 3


thanks to our sponsors and vendors who helped make the convention a huge suc- cess.


The convention ended on an equally high note when Rob Jenner was installed as the new President of MTLA, Dan Clements, recipient of the President’s Award, was honored for his exceptional efforts on behalf of MTLA, Leonard Orman was honored with the Distin- guished Trial Lawyer Award for his lifetime achievements and Trial Lawyers Care, represented by TLC president and ATLA past president Larry Stewart of Miami, was honored with the Civil Jus- tice Award. September 11 brought new challenges for all of us as attorneys. Leo Boyle, then President of ATLA, called for a morato- rium on all lawsuits resulting from the September 11 tragedies. Trial lawyers from across the country then banded to- gether to participate in the largest pro bono project in the history of mankind. Trial lawyers have donated countless hours and billions of dollars in attorneys fees to as- sist each and every victim of the September 11 disaster with free legal counsel. Here in Maryland, we took a leading role in the Trial Lawyers Care pro-


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