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TULSA LAWYER
In this Issue
A Message from
Matt Farris
October 2016
2016-2017 TCBA President
4 2016 Winter CLE Schedule
8
5 Pray Walker Softball Champions
What Does a Healthcare Lawyer Do
Healthcare & the Law
By David Hyman
11 Who You Gonna Call? By Curtis Fischer
6 VP's Corner - Holiday Challenge Ann Keele
14 Capital Campaign Update 18 Connecting in the Courtroom Aaron Bundy & Shane Henry 20 2016 ABA Annual Meeting
Molly Aspan
26 PiĂąatas and Poor Choices Stefan Mecke 27 Annual Luncheon Review 28 Grapevine 31 Classifieds
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A Message from the President Matthew S. Farris Thoughts on a Fresh and Healthy Start to the Fall Season Welcome to October! By the time you (possibly) read this article while perusing your copy of Tulsa Lawyer Magazine, we will be well into the fall season and long past the summer heat. As I draft this article in early September, however, we are enduring the final days of oppressively hot and humid weather but enjoying noticeably cooler evenings that serve as a reminder of the fresh, new season just around the corner. We make this transition into autumn and into TCBA FY 2016-17 on the heels of another successful year for our association. FY 2015-16 culminated with the annual meeting and awards banquet – more commonly known as the Annual Meeting – held on August 25th. Before I go on, it should be noted that the TCBA staff performed admirably in their organization and execution of the Annual Meeting and, as such, Kevin, Bethany, Julie and Jody are to be commended. During the Annual Meeting, Past President Zach Smith outlined our members’ many accomplishments throughout FY 2015-16, including a recap of the biennial Judicial Dinner held in February. The success of the Judicial Dinner resulted in the TCBF (the charitable arm of the TCBA) donating the evening’s proceeds to the Tulsa County judiciary, which will provide much-needed supplemental funding for the collective benefit of the judges, attorneys,
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litigants, and the public appearing in all Tulsa County District Courts. Inasmuch as the TCBA’s membership rolls include most of the Tulsa County judiciary, I am pleased the donation will benefit and assist our member judges, as well as other Tulsa County judges, in their administration of justice in Tulsa County District Court. In this spirit of providing value and benefit to TCBA members, I focused my comments at the Annual Meeting on how our association can better serve its members. As stated in my article in last month’s Tulsa Lawyer Magazine, my main goal this year is to make the TCBA more relevant and beneficial to its lifeblood: its members. In my view, if the TCBA is to remain a vibrant and healthy organization, then we must continue to reach out to existing members, as well as non-members, in an ongoing effort to refine and improve the association’s benefits and offerings. Relevance in our members’ professional lives is the key to the health of this association. Accordingly, the TCBA Board of Directors, committees and staff will be dedicating a considerable amount of time and resources to growing our membership and bolstering membership benefits as we begin FY 2016-17. In fact, the TCBA Professionalism Committee, co-chaired by Past Presidents Faith Orlowski and Ken Williams, got a head-start on this
year’s outreach efforts to potential TCBA members by hosting a professionalism panel in late August for 2L law students at the University of Tulsa College of Law. Similarly, Randy Gill and the Bench and Bar Committee recently organized a “TU Docket” held at the College of Law providing 1L law students an opportunity to experience oral argument and other courtroom proceedings - including appellate proceedings - before several judges presiding over various dockets, including Judge Jane Wiseman, Judge Daman Cantrell and Judge Bill Musseman. Both events were extremely well received and resulted in nearly two hundred new student memberships for the association. Several other TCBA committees are currently collaborating and plans are in the works for an event honoring newly licensed attorneys and welcoming them to the practice of law. There, our members will be able to introduce themselves and inform these attorneys of how the association can benefit their practices. Further, discussions are underway regarding the Lawyer Referral Service and how it can more effectively serve our members as a means of obtaining clients. In addition to our outstanding slate of CLEs scheduled for the year – such as the Sci-Fi Ethics CLE on expert witnesses to be hosted by Guy Fortney at the bar center on October 27th – requests have been made to add CLEs on topics such as fiduciary accounting and Indian law. Finally, I have already spoken to numerous attorneys who believe the bar association should organize more events to further encourage networking, referrals, peer education, increased community and collegiality, and, plainly stated, fun. We listen to every suggestion
and encourage you to submit your ideas on how the association can help you. That is why we are here. If all goes to plan, this will be my last President’s article addressing membership. My goal is to have the TCBA membership rolls in a healthy position by November so that the association can focus on our priority: providing relevant, beneficial services and offerings to our members. To that end, please encourage your non-member colleagues to join TCBA, and I again invite you to contact me personally or to contact Kevin Cousins at the bar center (918-5845243) to share any suggestions regarding additional membership services from which you or your firm could benefit. I am encouraged about the state of our association and the plans for the coming year, and I hope you are as well. So, as summer vacation and pool season wraps up, I am looking forward to the typically fantastic fall weather and the many seasonal traditions that come along with what I consider to be the best time of year in Oklahoma. I wish you a healthy and prosperous fall season. Sincerely,
Matthew S. Farris TCBA President, 2016-2017
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Contratulations to Pray Walker
for their championship win in the Summer 2016 Young Lawyers Softball League against Atkinson Haskins in the finals.
TCBA YLD
More news to come regarding YLD this Fall. We are looking forward to a tailgate with TU's Student Bar A s s o c i a t i o n sometime this football season.
Stay tuned for details!
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VP's Corner Ann Keele, 2016-2017 It’s hard to believe it, but the holiday season is fast-approaching. As we start planning our gettogethers with family and friends, let’s take time to be thankful for our loved ones, and the countless blessings that we may take for granted from time to time. Sadly, having a warm home, food to eat, clothes to wear, and gifts to open are some things that many of our area children will not have this year. The good news is, we can help!
• TCBA Board of Directors (Zach Smith, President) • TCBA Litigation Section (Shane Henry& Aaron Bundy, Chairs) • TCBA Family Law Section (Shane Henry & Aaaron Bundy, Chairs) • TCBF Community Outreach (Ashley Webb, Chair) • Dalesandro’s for donating 15% of all food purchases on December 1, 2015
Let’s make a difference by sharing with families who may be less fortunate than we are this year, and help make their holidays a whole lot cheerier. I’m pleased to announce that the 2016 TCBA Holiday Challenge is here, and I hope that we can build on last year’s success.
It’s always a good time to share some joy, so let’s get started. It’s simple. You can either choose to donate money, or you can choose to be matched with a specific family in need.
Thank you again for all of you who participated last year. I think last year’s sponsors should get one more shout out, so here you go:
Cash: Send your tax deductible donations payable to TCBF and note “Holiday Challenge” on your payment. Cash donations will be accepted through December 9, 2016.
Here’s how it works:
-or• TCBA Children & the Law Committee (Barbara Sears, Stephanie Horton, “Adopt a Family”: Miranda Calhoun, Jennifer Kern, Natalie • Select the family size that you or your Sears, and Ann Keele) team want to “adopt” and Family & Children’s Services will match • Gable Gotwals (Shelley Bradley, Erin your team with a family in need; Dailey, and Melissa Bogle) Submit your team’s information (names and contact information) and size of • TCBA Paralegal Section family you wish to “adopt” via email to (Team Leader: Debbie Woodruff) ann@monroekeele.com;
2016 TCBA Holiday Challenge • Once matched, you will be given a list of requested items from your “adopted” family. The items requested for your “adopted” family will need to be gift wrapped and dropped off to either TCBA or Family & Children’s Services in Tulsa by December 2, 2016; Family & Children’s Services will distribute the gifts to your “adopted” family! If you would like to “adopt” a family, please contact me by October 28 so we can start the matching process with Family & Children’s Services. All 2016 sponsors will be recognized in the Tulsa Lawyer Magazine as being totally awesome people with generous hearts (so let me know if you would prefer your donation to remain anonymous). The sooner you participate, the more opportunity for free publicity, since I’ll proudly give you kudos and shout-outs every chance I get. Let’s show our Tulsa area children in need that they are not forgotten. Please join us and let’s make the 2016 Holiday Challenge a huge success! Tulsa Lawyer 7
What Does a Health Care Lawyer Do? By David Hyman
I represent the people and businesses that provide medical care in the country’s most regulated industry – the complex of physicians, nurses, clinics, hospitals, laboratories, nursing homes, drug companies, insurance companies and, of course, the government. In short, I deal with the legal relationships and disputes among all of these. Representing physicians is a large part of my work. Physicians are integral to the healthcare system and their roles are varied, so they are saddled with an immense array of state and federal regulations that govern every aspect of their professional lives. Physicians, for example, are saddled with regulations on how they may prescribe medications, patient privacy requirements and the security of computerized patient’s health information, regulation of their affiliations with health insurance companies and Medicare, Medicaid, and other
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government programs, requirements for continuing education, and regulation of their relations with hospitals. Physicians not only provide direct patient care, but they are also hospital administrators, clinical managers, healthcare facility entrepreneurs, medical researchers, medical educators, and health insurance managers. In each of these roles, physicians’ duties are determined by a catalog of state and federal laws and regulations specific to these additional responsibilities. Contractual arrangements are as critical to physicians as the government’s regulatory requirements, and dealing with them is another part of my practice. Unlike the past, when physicians worked mostly in small group practices, most today are the employees of intricate multi-million dollar healthcare systems. Naturally, the abiding concern of these physicians is their comprehensive and – to them – perplexing employment contract that invariably defines their entire professional existence: their practice responsibilities and limitations, where they may treat patients, to whom they should refer patients for additional care, the equipment and support staff they will use, the often obscure calculation of their compensation and benefits, permitted
non-employment activities, reasons for the termination of her employment, their professional credentials, their participation in clinical research, standards of professional quality, their participation in managed care programs, and the intersection of the contract with medical staff rules. A healthcare law practice such as mine also involves other healthcare practitioners and businesses – nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, therapists, psychologists, hospitals, surgery centers, medical laboratories, pharmacies and drug manufacturers, and hospices. Like physicians, each of these is extensively regulated by both the state and federal governments, and the opportunities for missteps, and the risks of costly sanctions, are as great for them as for physicians. Payment for healthcare services is a recurring issue for healthcare lawyers. The healthcare payment system is a complicated maze of regulation whose complexity produces frequent errors and disputes. All of this inevitably creates a need for healthcare lawyers to guide their clients through these requirements and, when necessary, to represent them in obtaining withheld payments. Healthcare providers
are paid through a “reimbursement” system heavily regulated to encourage accurate compensation and discourage fraud and error. These regulations are imposed by the assortment of government and private payors who finance the patient’s care, such as the federal Medicare and state Medicaid programs, Aetna, United Healthcare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and other private payors. Each of these imposes its own conditions for reimbursement, including the claim forms to be used, the time limits for claim submission, the underlying medical documentation and verification of the service, standards of care quality, accurate numerical coding to identify the service, the required pre-approvals for services to be covered and the processes for appealing payment denials. Healthcare providers must adhere to the payor’s requirements and conditions for payment; failure to do so invariably delays and often prevents payment for those services. Therefore, healthcare lawyers frequently are called on to resolve billing disputes.
Having worked with healthcare practitioners and practiced healthcare law for some twenty-five years and attained some familiarity with the healthcare community, I also am an arbitrator of healthcare disputes for the American Health Lawyers Association’s Dispute Resolution Service and for the American Arbitration Association’s healthcare dispute panel. So there you are; it’s what I do. Nothing romantic or very dramatic. They never have made a TV series about a healthcare lawyer. It’s always litigators and divorce lawyers in Armanis and Bentleys. In fact, if a script ever included a healthcare lawyer, it would never be greenlighted. Still, we do keep the sand out of the healthcare system’s gears, for which I would like to think our clients appreciate us.
The relationship between practitioners and a healthcare facility such as a hospital also sometimes requires legal assistance. This relationship springs from the practitioner’s membership in the facility’s medical staff, a necessary condition to providing any medical services in the facility. The medical staff closely regulates the quality of care provided by its members, a duty it shares with the facility administrators and managers. In order to assure the quality of care, the medical staff organization may investigate and sanction members who deviate from professional standards of conduct. The results of that process can disrupt or end a practitioner’s career; therefore, federal law requires that the accused physician have due process – essentially notice of the charges and the right to a hearing – before the medical staff may sanction the accused practitioner. My work therefore entails representing both physicians and medical staffs in medical staff hearings, as well as acting as hearing officers in these proceedings.
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WHO YOU GONNA CALL? By Curtis Fisher
Many moviegoers remember the theme song from the 1984 movie about some characters helping people who were experiencing paranormal activity. When people had problems with the supernatural, the Ghostbusters were there. Knowing who to call was a help. Attorneys don’t often deal with the paranormal, but we do deal with clients' problems. Every day someone, somewhere, gets the news that a parent, sibling, child, or a close friend who, for any number of reasons, is no longer able to make vital everyday decisions. Due to injury or illness a relative or friend becomes incapacitated. Incapacity means you are no longer able to make the decisions necessary to run your own life. When that happens, who do you call?
decide the best approach for each client, but don't miss the opportunity. Be tactful and be direct, and if necessary make them uncomfortable. Ask the client: If you are suddenly unable to run your own life, what happens? Point out the daily functions that grind to a halt. Point out that they will no longer be able to decide. Who makes the call? Who answers that call? How would that person know to answer, or what to do? Who, a client business owner might be asked, would open your business in the morning if you became incapacitated this afternoon? Who would manage payroll? Does someone have the keys, literally and figuratively, to your life? continued on page 12
As lawyers we have all known, or at least heard stories, about someone who for a variety of reasons became incapacitated. Our clients perhaps have not. Some have never even considered the possibility. Perhaps they somehow have insulated themselves from illness and misfortune or simply have chosen not to be aware. How do we help clients make plans for something they won't even acknowledge? It is sometimes difficult to get clients to face harsh realities. Many people don't want to think about their mortality; their vulnerability; their death. However uncomfortable the conversation, we must talk to our clients about making advance arrangements. Children, elderly parents and even employees may suffer in the event the client becomes incapacitated. Talking with clients about such things is difficult but essential. Every client is different. Every client is the same. Every client has these interests. As a practitioner, you must
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If the client will listen, tell them this: First, in planning, impress on the clients they must actually execute the necessary documents. The operative word is "execute." The same resistance to asking (or hearing) the questions can be seen in clients' resistance to finally signing documents you have prepared. You may have had clients who took months, even years, to finally get to the table. Getting to the final step can be a delicate balance between advising and annoying your client. Second, you all know some of the documents they need: Durable Powers of Attorney (DPOA), Medical Powers of Attorney, and HIPAA releases for persons with a role in their life. Nominate a guardian in case one is needed despite your best efforts to empower the right people to act. Create a Trust to handle finances. Consider an Advance Directive for Health Care, including organ donation provisions. In the appropriate case a Do Not Resuscitate, or DNR, can be critical, both for the care the client wants and for financial reasons. Third, and this is sometimes under appreciated, how will the documents be accessed?
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Where will they be kept? To whom will copies be distributed? Make a record in the file, so when you get the call, you have a place to start. Fiduciaries and medical attorneys-in-fact need to know where the documents can be found, and should have the name of the attorney that prepared the documents. All the appointees--Trustees, Attorneys in Fact and medical proxies--should have ready access to the specific documents they will need to act quickly and effectively. Clients must make sure their appointees know what is expected and required of them when the time comes. Distribution of copies of documents can be problematic. An Advance Directive should be part of the personal medical record. Maybe copies of the documents should be distributed to appointees immediately after they are signed. But if the client changes or revokes an appointment, it is important to notify all necessary parties of that change or revocation. Will the client remember who has the now outdated copies? What happens if no one is aware of a change and the unthinkable happens? Will an outdated document in the wrong person's hands create confusion or unnecessary delay, or some worse result not wanted by the client?
We all hope we can rightfully be happy and proud when our children grow up and become (legally) adults at age eighteen. But unless children achieve early genuine independence, clients should expect a phone call or two from the kids. Take the situation of the adult child who has moved away for college. The operative (legal) word is "adult". It will help if the client's young adult has executed a Durable Power Of Attorney (DPOA), a Medical Power of attorney, and a HIPAA release. Maybe with a DPOA the registrar might discuss something important, including the bill for tuition and fees. Be aware that each institution may require its own specific form that meets its required comfort level even if the client has a properly executed document. Or maybe, when they get "that call" at 2 am, the Emergency Room personnel will say she doesn't have authority to tell the client the symptoms his child described just before going into surgery, if she says that much. A paramedic may well say the same thing about the extent of the injuries from the automobile accident unless the proper documents are in place and executed. Some clients may have children with physical, mental or emotional needs that require ongoing assistance, often referred to as "Special Needs". Such needs may require the help of parents for the kids' entire lifetime. If the parents are gone, and the funds left from the estate are not set aside in a supplemental or special needs trust, what then? Will the child receive the help she needs, or simply be disqualified for assistance by an intestate share of the estate? Many things are not within our clients' control, often including health questions. A few things are within their control. It makes sense to anticipate the probable, and do our best to plan for the unfortunate and the inevitable. There's no time but the present. Who you gonna call?
Curtis W. Fisher, The Fisher Law Office, PLLC. curtis.fisher@cwfisher.com
Say "Thank YOU" to a veteran this Veteran's Day. Let us acknowledge a special veteran in our November issue of Tulsa Lawyer. Email: tulsabarnews@yahoo.com Please Include: • Name & Branch of Service • You may also include 150 words maximum of additional information and a small photo. • Photo must be at least 300 dpi. • Please note if they are deceased.
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TCBA Diversity Committee News TU Diversity Panel & Networking Reception Sponsored by the TCBA Diverstiy Committee
Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 5 PM The Panel will be hosted by Kevinn Matthews, Attorney for Health and Safety at WPX Energy. The networking reception will follow. The law school is seeking sponsors for this event. Interested firms or individuals may contact Deborah Reed at (918) 728-1604 or deborah@reedlegalok.com.
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Don't let the flu make you sick as a dog! Get your flu shot Thursday, October 13th at the Bar Center. 11:00am - 2:00pm 1446 South Boston The Visiting Nurses Association will be providing flu shots. Check www.tulsabar.com for cost and other details. Tulsa Lawyer 17
Connecting in the Courtroom By Aaron Bundy & Shane Henry
We must make connections to be successful. We must connect with the judge and the jury when presenting our case. Without connection, trial is at best an academic exercise only good for curing insomnia. The decision maker will ultimately remember the message we convey, not the way we dress or the impressive words we use. To effectively persuade, the trial lawyer and the witnesses must connect with the decision maker. Connecting means being genuine. Trial is a social experience, albeit one with fixed rules and customs. When we are less than honest, the judge and the jury see right through us. Effective connection means being honest in that setting, especially when we are expected not to be honest. Gerry Spence says the first lie we tell the jury is that we want them to be fair, when what we really want is for them to be fair to us, or even unfairly decide in our favor. By recognizing those expected lies and discarding them, we can connect in a genuine way. Connecting also means focusing more on the “why” our client did what they did rather than only the “what” they actually did. Sometimes humans perform bad acts for justified reasons. For example, the client 18 Tulsa Lawyer
admits to killing another person then explains that it was in self-defense. In this case, the “why” your client did what they did explains the “what” of their behavior. This is often the case and something we should consider in case analysis. There are five basic stories in the human experience. The concepts of love, fear, anger, fairness and sadness have meaning for all of us. Everyone has experienced life events that give special meaning to those concepts. Everyone can relate to these feelings. They are the emotional component of the case. These emotional components can engage the decision maker and motivate a decision in favor of your client. When a client has been treated unfairly, the emotional connection will give the decision maker the motivation to right the wrong. When the client explains what happened and why they did what they did, it connects the client with the decision maker. Once the connection is established, the natural human tendency is to identify and help the person that has been wronged. Connection leads to understanding. Humans receive information and automatically begin trying to
understand the story. Without a connection, the facts are just analyzed without any emotional component of the ultimate decision. As lawyers, we have been trained to strip all feeling and emotion out and just focus on the facts and law. This unnecessary mistake can cause our clients to lose their case. On cross-examination, the trial lawyer must connect with the judge and with the jury. The witnesses are there to simply confirm the facts presented by the trial lawyer. The trial lawyer should use leading questions establishing one fact at a time. Connection is established and affirmed as the trial lawyer sets forth facts that the witness confirms. The decision maker connects with the trial lawyer and identifies her as the credible teacher of the facts. The facts are the focus. The lawyer should position herself in the courtroom so that the focus is on the lawyer rather than on the witness. Finally, as much as possible, the trial lawyer should focus on teaching facts positive to her client’s case rather than tearing down the opposing party. Humans connect with constructive, or positive facts much more than through deconstructive, or negative attacks Direct examination is the time for the trial lawyer to facilitate the connection between the witness and the fact finder. The trial lawyer should stand as
far out of the way as possible. This is the time for our witnesses to explain the “What” and more importantly, the “Why”. Allow the witness to tell why they did what they did. Open-ended questions should be utilized to facilitate the connection between the witness and the decision maker. In preparing our witness to testify, we must explain the importance of making eye contact with the decision maker. The witness should receive the question from the trial lawyer then turn and make eye contact with the jury and give her answer. Eye contact is powerful way to firmly establish connection with the decision maker. It is hard to ignore a person that looks you in the eye when she speaks. Establishing connection is the key to success in the courtroom. Please join us at the monthly TCBA Litigation meetings. This section was established by trial lawyers for trial lawyers. Trial lawyers from all practice areas are welcome. Our goal is to improve as advocates in the courtroom. Meeting dates and speakers/topics for the upcoming year will be published soon. We hope you will join us and we look forward to meeting you soon.
Aaron and Shane are active trial lawyers. In addition to their practices they write articles and present CLE's nationally focused on trial advocacy. They are also teachers and mentors at the OBA FL Trial Advocacy Institute. They are partners at Fry & Elder, Super Lawyer Rising Stars and AV Rated.
TCBA Litigation Section Meeting Schedule
Co-Chairs: Aaron D. Bundy and M. Shane Henry
Mark your calendars and join us!
Wednesday - November - December - Wednesday - Thursday Thursday Thursday Wednesday - Thursday Wednesday - August -
October 26th, 2016 no meeting no meeing January 25th, 2017 February 23rd, 2017 March 30th, 2017 April 27th, 2017 May 24th, 2017 June 29th, 2017 July 26th, 2017 no meeting Tulsa Lawyer 19
Summary of ABA 2016 Annual Meeting
Molly Aspan, Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates I was honored to serve as the Tulsa County Bar Association Delegate at the 2016 ABA Annual Meeting held in San Francisco this August. The ABA House of Delegates is made up of 589 members representing state and local bar associations, ABA entities, and ABAaffiliated organizations. New policies were adopted by the ABA House of Delegates on an array of topics, and summaries of these policies are provided below. If anyone would like further information on any of these resolutions or reports, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. In addition to the House of Delegates action, the meeting also included a plenary session featuring FBI Director James Comey, who talked about the balance between national security and law enforcement. New ABA President Linda A. Klein from Atlanta, Georgia, was sworn in, and she presented her focus areas of legal services for veterans, the importance of voting, and crucial education issues.
disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender diversity in the selection process for U.S. Circuit, District, Bankruptcy, and Magistrate Judges, and other qualified employees in the judicial branch, and to employ strategies to expand the diversity of the pool of qualified applicants, nominees and appointees, as well as the use of diverse merit selection panels.
Administrative Law Regulations. Supports legislation to require federal agencies ot provide an online source where material that has been incorporated by reference into proposed or final regulations can be accessed without charge.
Miranda Rights. Urges federal, state, local, and territorial law enforcement authorities to provide a culturally substantive and accurate translation of the Miranda warning in Spanish.
Access to Civil Justice. Urges jurisdictions to adopt court rules or legislation authorizing the award of class action residual funds to non-profit organizations that improve access to civil justice for persons living in poverty, after reasonable efforts are made to fully compensate all members of the class.
Mental Health and Criminal Justice. Adopts the black letter of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Mental Health Standards to reflect dramatic developments in the areas of legal ethics, criminal law, The following is a summary of the major and mental health since the previous standards were adopted 30 years ago. resolutions approved by the House of Delegates:
Probation. Urges state, local, territorial, and tribal legislatures to end the current system of privatized Discrimination in Jury Service. Amends Principles 2(B) and 6(C) of the ABA Principles for probation by abolishing “offender funded� systems of Juries and Jury Trials to include marital status, gender probation supervised by private, for-profit companies. identity and gender expression to the list of factors that School-to-Prison Pipeline. Urges all federal, may not be used to deny jury service, and to recommend that the court educate jurors on implicit bias and how to state, territorial, and local legislative bodies and government agencies to eliminate the school-to-prison avoid such bias in the decision making process. pipeline, in which students of color, students with Diversity in the Selection of the Judiciary. disabilities, LGBTQ students, homeless students, Urges the President of the United States and appropriate and other margnizalized youth constituencies are parties to recognize the importance of racial, ethnic, disproportionately impacted by systemic inequities
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in education and overdiscipline resulting in disparate Turkey. Opposes any state’s detention of school drop-out or “push-out” rates and interactions individuals without charge or access to counsel and with the juvenile justice or prison systems. calls on the government of the Republic of Turkey to immediately release each detained judge, lawyer, Counting Votes. Urges state and territorial prosecutor, journalist, and any other individual unless election administrators and officials to ensure that state- there is evidence establishing reasonable grounds to wide and territorial-wide ballot counting guidance is in believe the individual has committed a crime. Calls place as soon as practicable. This includes clear criteria upon the government of the Republic of Turkey to for determining what constitutes a valid vote when a provide a fair hearing before an impartial tribunal hand count is required of paper and optical scan ballots. applying established legal principles before suspending or dismissing any lawyer or judge from the bar or a Likelihood of Confusion. Supports the tribunal, and to commit to protect human rights, respect treatment in federal trademark law of the likelihood of freedom of speech and of the press, and ensure that any confusion standard for infringement as a question of measures taken that derogate from such obligations be fact in line with the Supreme Court 2014 decision in only those that are strictly necessary given exigencies Hana Fin Inc. v. Hana Bank, which ruled that the jury, of the situation. rather than a court, determines how an ordinary person or community would make an assessment to resolve Approval of Law Schools. Concurs in the fact-intensive questions. action of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in amending the ABA Trademark Registration. Supports an Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law interpretation of the federal Lanham Act concerning Schools, including elimination of the interpretation three propositions of trademark law: a determination that that prohibited the granting of credit to a student for a mark is ineligible for registration on the U.S. Patent participation in a field placement for which the student and Trademark Office’s Principal Register does not received compensation. necessarily render that mark invalid and unprotectable; such a determination does not restrict the mark owner’s Lawyer Referral Services. Reaffirms support right to use the mark in commerce; and the owner of a of lawyer referral services sponsored by state, mark registered on the Principal Register enjoys certain local, territorial, and tribal bar associations, and substantive and procedural advantages in litigation to encourages those services to adhere to the standards protect its mark that are not available to the owners of of the ABA Model Supreme Court Rules Governing unregistered marks. Lawyer Referral and Information Services. Patent Venue. Supports statutory construction of the special patent venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), that does not look to the separate general venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c), to ascertain the meaning of the term “resides,” and puts an end to improper forum shopping in patent cases by limiting venue for a corporate defendant to either where it resides or where it has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.
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Confidential Communications with Lawyer Referral Services. Urges federal, state, territorial, and tribal courts and legislative bodies to adopt rules or enact legislation to establish an evidentiary privilege for confidential communications between clients of lawyer referral services and the lawyer that would be similar to the privilege the currently exists for confidential communications between attorneys and their clients.
Discrimination. Amends Rule 8.4 and comment of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to provide that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law. Diversity. Urges all providers of legal services, including law firms and corporations, to expand and create opportunities at all levels of responsibility for diverse attorneys, and urges clients to assist in the facilitation of opportunities for diverse attorneys and direct a greater percentage of legal services they purchase, both currently and in the future, to diverse attorneys.
Online Resources. Urges courts and other governmental entities, bar associations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial entities that make forms for legal services available to individuals through the Internet to provide clear and conspicuous information on how people can access a lawyer or a lawyer referral service to provide assistance with their legal matters to prevent errors or omissions.
Advertising Rates
available at www.tulsabar.com or contact Jody at the Bar Center. 918-584-5243 Ext. 240 jodyg@tulsabar.com
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Upcoming OBA Annual Meeting to Focus on Freedoms
This year’s OBA Annual Meeting is set to take place in Oklahoma City at the Sheraton Hotel on Nov. 2-4. Presentations of annual awards and bar business including selection of officers will take place during the conference along with several social events.
“We should all be concerned for the future of American democracy,” said President Isaacs. “That’s why I wanted Jane Mayer to speak at our Annual Meeting and why I selected Safeguarding Our Freedom as the theme for this year’s bar convention.”
Social and networking events will include the President’s Reception, annual alumni luncheons for each of Oklahoma’s three law schools, committee and section meetings, Annual Meeting Luncheon, A Night in Havana reception hosted by the OBA sections. The President’s Breakfast will be slightly different with a free continental-style breakfast and a presentation by OBA President Garvin Isaacs on “Lawyers’ Duty in the Courtroom.” There will also be a Vendors Expo, where registrants can learn about new technologies and tools to help them make the most of their time, expertise and practice.
Don’t miss out on this meeting! Register for all events using the Annual Meeting registration form found in the Oklahoma Bar Journal or online at www. amokbar.org. For the best price, register by Oct. 10. Questions? Contact Mark Schneidewent at 405-4167026, 800-522-8065 or marks@okbar.org.
Serving as keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting Luncheon is critically acclaimed writer for The New Yorker and best-selling author Jane Mayer. She will speak about the influence of money on judicial and national elections. “I will talk about the way money is becoming a growing factor in judicial races and what the consequences are,” Ms. Mayer said. “I see the money as a real threat to judicial integrity and independence and am happy to talk about that.”
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Piñatas and Poor Choices My wife and I recently travelled to Fort Worth, Texas to attend a rodeo and celebrate our son’s birthday. That day, we slipped away from our family and roamed the area by foot looking for party supplies and treats. We were almost breathless when we saw the perfect piñata. We couldn’t believe our good fortune. We quickly purchased it along with all the candy and small toys we could carry. We scouted out a beautiful outdoor area, hung the piñata and informed our boy and his cousins to join us just before the city of Fort Worth would entertain us with an epic fireworks display. My wife and I looked at each other with the kind of adoration parents do when they have upon to help individuals and companies navigate through really hit a home run for their kids. Yes, we had done it bad situations that are often as unexpected, bizarre, confusing, and emotionally charged as the foiled Piñata again...or had we? party. While waiting on the kids, two cowboys approached the area on horseback. The pair slowly trotted toward the The TCBA Employment Law Section invites each tree prepped with our Piñata. I yelled over to the pair to of you to join us at meetings and share your stories. We prevent any confusion and said that the Piñata was spoken welcome plaintiff’s attorneys representing employees, for. One cowboy lifted the piñata from the tree, hoisted defense or in-house counsel representing employers, it on the back of his horse and slowly backed away from and anyone interested in getting case law and regulatory the tree. As I ran after the pair, my wife darted past me updates and learning more about issues impacting the (in her flip-flops) in pursuit of the desperados, but they area of employment law. got away. Within minutes the kids arrived for asked what Photo Credit: Stefan Mecke happened to their Piñata. My wife said it all: “Some bad boys made some bad choices”. Our profession gives us the opportunity and responsibility to help people who have made bad choices and to assist those that have been negatively impacted by them. Regardless of our practice areas, we are all called
Stefan Mecke, TCBA Employment Law Section Co-Chair
Employment Law Section meeting dates are available at www.tulsabar.com
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Grapevine News Johnson & Jones, P.C. is pleased to announce the promotions of Jon D. Cartledge, Kari A. Deckard and Sean P. Hennessee to Shareholders of the Firm, and also welcomes Jason L. Callaway, Jason M. Temple, and Joshua D. Poovey as new Associate Attorneys of the Firm. Jon D. Cartledge was named a Shareholder of the Firm on January 1, 2016. Jon is head of the Firm’s Research, Writing, and Appellate Division, and focuses his practice primarily in the areas of legal research and brief writing and appellate argument. He also practices in the areas of civil and commercial litigation, insurance defense, and intellectual property. Jon graduated with highest honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2001, earning a Juris Doctor and the Order of the Curule Chair award. He also graduated summa cum laude from Oral Roberts University and holds a Bachelor of Arts. Kari A. Deckard was named a Shareholder of the Firm on January 1, 2016. Prior to joining the Firm in 2011, she began her career as an attorney at Jones Day in Houston. Kari’s practice is focused broadly in the areas of corporate and business organizations, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiating and drafting, business litigation, and estate planning. She also regularly advises management on most areas of the employment relationship, such as wage and hour matters, employee handbook and policy development, employment and non-compete agreements, and compliance with federal and state employment laws. Kari graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2008, earning a Juris Doctor and the Order of the Curule Chair award. She received her Bachelor of Science in International Business magna cum laude from Oklahoma State University in 2004. Sean P. Hennessee joined the Firm in February 2015 and on July 1, 2016, was named a Shareholder. Sean’s areas of emphasis include estate planning, tax and business planning for closely-held businesses and individuals, choice of business entity, entity formation and dissolution, multi-entity planning, management and ownership structures, business transactions, and the federal and state tax consequences related to such items. In addition, Sean advises clients as to tax consequences associated with oil and gas transactions. Sean currently serves as a co-editor for a federal tax treatise published by CCH, a division of Wolters Kluwer, that covers
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federal tax issues related to oil and gas transactions. He has also published articles with the Energy Bar Association. Sean is a Tulsa native who attended the University of Tulsa, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Taxation, and a Juris Doctor. Jason L. Callaway joined the Firm as an Associate in 2015, following a clerkship for the Hon. Claire V. Eagan, Northern District of Oklahoma. Jason was a National Merit Scholar at Oklahoma State University where he graduated summa cum laude with Bachelor’s degrees in English and History. He also earned a Master’s degree in Sociolinguistics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Jason graduated with highest honors from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2014, earning a Juris Doctor and the Order of the Coif award. Jason practices in the Firm’s litigation section, concentrating on insurance defense, general civil litigation, and commercial litigation. Jason M. Temple joined the Firm as an Associate in 2016. He graduated from The University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2015 and was awarded the degree of Juris Doctor with honors. Jason also graduated with honors from Oklahoma State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Jason will be focusing his practice in the areas of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, business transactions, oil and gas, contract negotiation and drafting, taxation and estate planning. Joshua D. Poovey joined the Firm as an Associate in April 2016. Prior to joining the Firm, Joshua began his career as an associate with a premier litigation firm in Tulsa. Joshua graduated with highest honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2014, earning a Juris Doctor and a certificate in Sustainable Energy & Resources Law. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Political Science from Pittsburg State University in 2011. Joshua’s practice will focus on complex commercial litigation, insurance defense, and products liability.
Gregory R. Rasnake has recently joined Crowe & Dunlevy as a director in the firm’s Oklahoma City office. A member of the firm’s Aviation & Commercial Space, Administrative & Regulatory and Criminal Defense, Compliance & Investigations Practice Groups, Rasnake has experience in government policy and regulations, commercial space transportation compliance, airmen certification and aircraft certification. Prior to joining Crowe & Dunlevy, Rasnake served as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator, Deputy Director of Strategic Planning and Chief of Staff of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation. As Deputy Director of the Budget Office at the FAA, he served as the agency’s lead liaison to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees. A United States Army veteran, Rasnake also served in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs at the Department of Transportation and played a key role in the confirmation of many department presidential appointees. He held positions in human resources and Congressional affairs at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States Department of Justice, including serving as Chief of Legislative Affairs at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Rasnake received his Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and his bachelor’s degree at Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia. McAfee & Taft has announced that trial lawyer Daniel Aizenman has joined its Litigation Group. His practice is focused on business litigation, insurance litigation, personal injury, product liability defense, and healthcare litigation in both state and federal courts. Aizenman graduated magna cum laude from the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2012 and also holds an M.B.A. from the Oklahoma City University Meinders School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Oklahoma. While in law school, Aizenman interned at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma. McAfee & Taft is one of the nation’s 250 largest law firms as ranked by the National Law Journal and serves clients locally, nationally and internationally in the areas of appellate, aviation, banking and financial institutions, bankruptcy, business restructuring and workouts, business transactions and finance, employee benefits and executive compensation, energy and oil & gas, environmental, healthcare, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, real estate,
securities, subrogation recovery services, and tax and family wealth. The firm employs nearly 350 Oklahomans, including 176 attorneys, and has offices in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Cliff Magee is pleased to announce the opening of a new office of Magee ADR. The firm provides mediation, arbitration and other ADR, (alternative dispute resolution), services in civil litigation and disputes with an emphasis on aviation, aerospace and attorney fee matters. Mr. Magee is a recent graduate of Pepperdine Law School’s Straus Institute having earned an LL.M. in ADR and International Commercial Arbitration. He holds the Federal Aviation Administration’s highest certification as a pilot with an Airline Transport Pilot in addition to its Mechanic Certificate with airframe and powerplant ratings. The firm’s web site is mageeadr.com<http://mageeadr.com/>. He may be contacted at cliff@mageeadr.com<mailto:cliff@ mageeadr.com> or (866) 747-1747. Crowe & Dunlevy recently named Jessica Patterson, Amy Schutza and Jackie Shubitowski paralegals in the firm’s Oklahoma City and Tulsa offices. “Our paralegals are excellent and provide a great value and resource to our clients,” said Timila S. Rother, president and CEO of the firm. “Jessica, Amy and Jackie bring great experience to the firm, and we are proud to promote them to their new roles.” Located in the Oklahoma City office and a member of the firm’s Aviation Practice Group, Patterson’s duties as a paralegal include serving as the firm’s communications liaison with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Her previous experience involves serving as a legal secretary at the firm, as well as work in the mortgage industry. Patterson received her associate of science degree from Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Serving the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Oklahoma City office, Schutza previously served as a legal secretary and document clerk for the firm before moving into her new role as paralegal. Her new duties include filing and maintaining patent and trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She is a graduate of Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska and volunteers with Victory Family Church. With more than a decade of experience as a legal
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secretary and paralegal, Shubitowski is located in the Tulsa office and provides support to the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attorneys, assisting in trial preparation, file management and other paralegal tasks. She served as a legal secretary for Crowe & Dunlevy for three years and worked for several other law firms prior to joining Crowe. She received her Certified Legal Assistant/Certified Paralegal certification and her Advanced Certified Paralegal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Trial certification from the National Association of Legal Assistants. The Tulsa law firm of Atkinson, Haskins, Nellis, Brittingham, Gladd & Fiasco announces that Cathleen W. McMahon, Whitney M. Rodich, and Wynoka M. McClellan have joined the firm as associates. Cathleen W. McMahon graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2015, after receiving a B.S. in Medical Ethics with a minor in Psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 2012. While in law school, Ms. McMahon was an executive board member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity, a member of the Faculty Honor Roll, and received a CALI award in Energy Regulation. Ms. McMahon is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and currently practices in the area of civil litigation, with an emphasis in insurance defense and medical malpractice defense. Wynoka Middleton McClellan graduated with highest honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2016, after earning a B.S. in business with a major in accountancy from Wright State University in 2012. While in law school, Ms. McClellan served as Production Editor of the Tulsa Law Review and was a member of the legal honor society, Phi Delta Phi. She received a CALI Award in Copyright in the Digital Age and was awarded Order of the Curule Chair. Ms. McClellan is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and currently practices in the area of civil litigation with an emphasis in research. Whitney Morgan Rodich graduated with Honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2016, after earning a B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma in 2010. While in law school, Ms. Rodich served as Editor of the Tulsa Law Review and was a member of the legal honor society, Phi Delta Phi. Ms. Rodich also enjoys volunteering in the community and served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for four years. She currently serves as a member of the 30 Tulsa Lawyer
Youth Services of Tulsa, Blank Canvas Committee and as a member of the Tulsa Colon Cancer Coalition. Ms. Rodich is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and currently practices in the area of civil litigation with an emphasis in research and writing.
The Bar Center will be CLOSED
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Tulsa Lawyer 31
Tulsa County Bar Association 1446 S. Boston Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119
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~ John F. Kennedy
September 17, 1960
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