Nursing Home Litigation
Executive Director's Message
David B. Walls, CAE, CMP I
attended this summer’s American Association for Justice (AAJ) and National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives (NATLE) conference in New York City. It was a wonderful
trip to a wonderful city, but it was not all fun and games. With other trial lawyer association executives from across the county, I attended critical educational sessions where some executives spoke of their declining membership or the lack of engagement from their members. I felt out of the norm: MAJ’s membership is increasing, we just finished a strong financial year, and our members continue to collaborate on seminars and projects designed to fulfill the Association’s Strategic Plan. What I observed in New York is that associations, no matter the industry or purpose, are created under the idea that the power of many is stronger than the attempts of the few.
MAJ’s Strength What is MAJ’s power? Simply, its strength comes from you,
its members. Tis year, 277 new members joined the Association, resulting
in our year-end total of over 1,250 strong. Interestingly, the largest gain in any single area was in the New Admittees category. Tis explosion is not totally unexpected since a part of the MAJ strategic plan focuses on reaching out and recruiting new members with an emphasis on new attorneys. Te benefit: by recruiting new plaintiff attorneys into the community, the experienced members of MAJ can mentor them with both the practical side of becoming more effective in their profession and in helping them become more involved in their Association: Te Power of an Association. Te second largest gain of membership was those attorneys
who have practiced for less than 10 years. Tis category grew by 65 new members. Growth in this area is encouraging because these new members have been practicing for several years and see the value of MAJ’s resources and are committed to becoming better attorneys:Te Power of an Association. However, the biggest surprise for me was to see that attorneys
practicing for more than 25 years grew by an additional 22 members, representing eight percent of all new members. Tis increase demonstrates that at any level of practice, MAJ brings value to its members and their practices: Te Power of an Association. Across the board, as the Association membership expands, I am pleased to see the diverse population of members and their participation in our committees, sections and programs. Te MAJ leadership recognizes the value of all segments of its membership, and continues to strive to identify and offer programs, networking opportunities and services
that reflect our diverse community:
Te Power of an Association. As MAJ grows as an association, so does our voice in the Te 2011 legislative session ended successfully for
legislature.
critical industry issues thanks, especially, to the efforts of MAJ’s legislative team and involved members. Over 2,300 pieces of state legislation were reviewed, and over 100 pieces of legislation were actively monitored or lobbied. Tese efforts resulted in obtaining a number of legislative gains; moreover, many significant immunity proposals were successfully defeated.
Tis could not have
happened without the collaborative efforts of a unified effort: Te Power of an Association. If you attended any of the MAJ’s educational programs
this year, either in-person, by teleconference, or SeminarWeb, you experienced the strong topics and speakers offered to help strengthen insight in key issues of the profession. Te knowledge
Trial Reporter / Fall 2011 5
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