September 15, 2021

President’s Address:

It has been a considerable time since I last addressed to you. I must confess that I have experienced one of the strangest years – ever!

First, I watched in absolute horror as an angry mob scaled the walls of the U.S. Capital. I could never have imagined that the U.S. Capital, a building so central to our democracy, would be the scene of an insurrection. While central to our Constitution is the freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest, what we all witnessed at our Capital was far from peaceful protest.

Then, in February, seeming relief. I received my first Pfizer vaccine on February 13, 2021. My second dose received in early March. I was freed! I began venturing out. Nothing was immediate. I continued visiting restaurants that had outdoor seating, and I still avoided large crowds. However, I was becoming more adventurous. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted. I attended social gatherings with other vaccinated people. It was great just to socialize again!

By early June I felt adventuresome enough to board a plane to Maui. As I discussed with you in my last President’s Address, the Western Trial Lawyers Association was the first “live” Conference I had attended in over a year. I felt the tide had finally turned. However, I was very wrong.

By July, I was reluctant to fly over to Las Vegas for the American Association for Justice’s Annual Convention.  Even though I had been vaccinated, the Delta variant was wrecking havoc everywhere. Ultimately, I did fly to Las Vegas for two days of meetings.  Part of my time was spent with Adam Malone putting together a TBI Conference for AAJ. The program was to take place “live” in Atlanta in September. Only about a week after I returned from Las Vegas, the American Association for Justice canceled the Atlanta conference due to the Delta variant’s spread.

And so, it was back to isolation again. Masks had to be worn in all restaurants, in all supermarkets, in all office places, virtually everywhere indoors. Unlike many areas of the country, San Francisco has a highly vaccinated population. For those above 12 years of age, the vaccination rate is close to 80%. That having been said, office space in downtown San Francisco is empty.

Since the onset of COVID, I have maintained a skeleton staff at my office on a daily basis. Receptionists, administrative clerks, filing personnel, and one paralegal staff my office daily. Lawyers and paralegals have continued to work remotely, only working “live” in the office approximately 1 to 2 days per week. Everyone has become “experts” on Zoom and other virtual platforms.  Depositions, hearings, mediations are all conducted via Zoom on a daily basis. 

I have attended Arbitration since COVID.  Masks, gloves, separate exhibits, socially distanced……….etc., etc., etc.  Fortunately, I have been able to successfully resolve client cases, through both mediation and arbitration.  Unfortunately, in many of the Bay Area Counties, our Courts can only accommodate “preference cases” given the backlog caused by COVID.  It is hard to tell when we will return to some degree of normalcy.

A very close friend of mine began a trial in mid-August in North Carolina. As I understand it, approximately nine days into the admitted liability trial a juror fell ill, testing positive. Shortly thereafter three other jurors fell ill, likewise testing positive. The judge declared a mistrial. My friend and his wife are fully vaccinated. Despite this, both came down with breakthrough cases. For over 12 days both remained very sick, even though neither had to be hospitalized.  I called them virtually every day. You could hear the heaviness in their chests. Without the vaccines, I have to question whether they would’ve made it.

Worse yet, a friend and unvaccinated lawyer from Georgia fell ill with COVID. He struggled for three weeks before leaving us and leaving behind a wife and two teenagers. Absolutely heart wrenching. And now, with something like 700,000 souls lost, absolutely real.

25 years ago, I started the TBI Med/Legal Conference on behalf of the Brain Injury Association of California along with neuropsychologist Dr. Claude Munday. The conference has grown exponentially since I took emeritus status on the Board. The program was canceled last year due to COVID, but not before approximately 1500 people had signed up for the event.

Erica Chavez with BIAC was kind enough to ask me to put together a Stalwarts Track for the event which is to be held in San Diego later this month. I had several physicians on my program. The physicians were the first to cancel. Next were most of the lawyers. Despite this, the program is moving forward with some 2000 people having already signed up. Everyone has a different comfort level. I will wait until Erica puts the event on next year before putting my Stalwarts track together again.  And to her credit, Erica is already talking about an additional program in April of next year following the program this month.

And so it is against this backdrop that I will say I believe we at ABPLA did the right thing. We did not attempt to put on our Medical Negligence/Legal Negligence program. Through Reeve’s prescience, we canceled early this year, opting to do our Seminar next year after everyone has their booster.

And so it goes, at next year’s seminar, my term as your President ends. All I can say is… “Wow!” What a very strange two years at the helm of this very special organization which is so dear to all of us. I hope you agree that we made the right move in not attempting a “live” conference, and I hope you agree that we have seen enough “virtual” programs. While it has deprived us of the opportunity to get together, I believe we are safer for it, and that when we do get together, it will be even more special.

We will be working steadily between now and next year putting the Conference together. If you have a topic in mind that you would like to see addressed during our conference, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

You know during my first Board Meeting as President of ABPLA I recognized clearly that I was in rarefied air. I hope to finish out my time serving you with a great conference next year and with the growth and success that our organization deserves.

Stay safe!

July 31, 2020

President’s Address:

We certainly live in difficult times.  Covid-19 has reshaped everything about us.  Our courts are, for all practical purposes, closed.  We will see no jury trials anytime this year, at least not here in Northern California.  Our social interaction is strangely altered, and our professional work is for the most part, remote.  Zoom depositions have become the norm.  (I didn’t even know what Zoom was before the pandemic, and yet now I spend hours on it each day). 

Just today, many states saw more Covid-19 cases than ever before.  Let that sink in – this disease is growing!!  The death count in the U.S. has breached 152,000, and continues to rise daily.  Total U.S. cases top 4.4M and continue to rise.  Predictions for the death cases in the U.S. now top 250,000.  Masks and medicine have become the latest political football. (How in the world did a pandemic become politicized?)    

Sharing time with the pandemic is widespread social unrest stemming from the George Floyd tragedy.  Peaceful demonstration (an invaluable First amendment right) has been met with disturbing response, including the deployment of federal forces, as never before seen.  And then there are those clearly out of line, looting, burning, and destroying.

Also sharing time with the pandemic, perhaps inextricably intertwined with the pandemic, is the onset of a depression-like economy.  The 3^rd quarter showed the GDP drop in excess of 30%.  Not since the depression have such drops been experienced.

So, there can be no question we live in difficult and strange times.  A plague, a depression, and social inequality rolled into one year – 2020!!  However, I am here to tell you that we at ABPLA are staying positive and looking forward to an eventual return to normalcy.

To that end we have started hosting a regular Zoom Happy Hour, with a little more substance than just a Happy Hour, as we have an introductory speaker address us on unique case issues. 

Our next happy hour, will be Thursday, August 6, 2020 (7 PM EDT/4 PM PDT) and will feature Jon Lommuro discussing how to manage Audit Trails.  I strongly encourage you to participate in this relaxed informal happy hour if you are able.  I will have Reeve circulate the Zoom invite, but please go ahead and calendar.

Due to popular response, we will regularly hold these Zoom conferences on the first and third Thursday of each month.  We have speakers lined up for the next two months already, and they will include David Drexler, William McMurry, Grace Weatherly and Linley Jones, among others.  Please shoot me an e-mail if you are interested in presenting.  Also don’t forget to get on our list serve and start a discussion about topics you would like addressed. As always drinks of all kinds are encouraged – though it is BYOB!!  

Turning to a more difficult topic, after much consideration, we have decided to cancel the National Legal & Medical Malpractice Conference this year.  It is disappointing to cancel a meeting that I believe is one of the best conferences – ever!!  The CLE is by far the most engaging, but I will miss spending time with each of you most.  I truly believe those in ABPLA have gone beyond the call to demonstrate their expertise in professional liability.  I guess we will have to remotely gather until we can physically meet. 

However, even in the face of the pandemic, the state of the union for ABPLA remains strong.  As you may be aware, the ABA has accredited the ABPLA since it began accrediting specialization programs, providing validity with the state bars and ensuring confidence in the consumers of legal services.  The ABA, while navigating its business practices during the pandemic, has recently reassured the ABPLA, and all national certifying organizations, of the ABA’s commitment to specialization. Our hope is that the ABA can provide the same recognition for board certification that Texas, Florida and California have been able to provide. 

Lastly, I have directed Reeve to design an update of the ABPLA website.  One of the luxuries ABPLA board certification affords us, is our placement in search engines when searching for professional liability.  In most markets the first organic search result for “medical malpractice” is the ABPLA.  This is no small feat, I can assure you.   

We are hoping that with the website “overhaul” we will be able to gain the same top placement for the search term "legal malpractice' as well as we currently enjoy for “medical malpractice”.  In reworking the website, the goal is to have your personal profiles (and links to your website) appear in the organic search results top ranking along with the ABPLA.  As we make progress on this we will reach out to you with a request to update your profile, and provide you with keywords and phrases that you may want to put on your own current site to increase traffic. I expect the new version of the site to be fully functioning before the end of the year.

So I end with the new admonitions of 2020 – “Stay safe and stay strong.” 

February 27, 2020

President’s Address:

I owe each of you an apology. Here it is the end of February, and I am only now dictating my first Presidents Address of the year. My, how time flies when you're having fun!

My January was an absolute blur. Monday, January 6, 2020 was my first trial call. Although I did manage to spend some quality time with family through the holidays, I will remember this time most as trial preparation, though the case did not involve professional negligence.

 Billy was only 23 years old when the scooter he was operating was struck by a negligently driven car. Billy was catastrophically injured. Traumatic brain injury of the worst kind-axonal shearing throughout the brain. Not mild. Not moderate. Catastrophic.

The case necessitated eight damage experts alone. Physical medicine and rehabilitation, case management and life care planning, neurosurgery, orthopedics, neuropsychology, vocational, and economics.  And then there was liability...

After much work, on January 6, 2020, I appeared "Ready for the Plaintiff! " Then came the inevitable letdown. No trial courts available. Come back in six months.

Sometimes it is hard explaining to our families why we miss so many family events in the service of others. An inescapable reality that we all know much too well is that as trial lawyers we have little control over our own calendars. Sometimes unknown judges seem to control our very existence. And yet none of us would trade professions.  A trial lawyer is one of the noblest professions of them all. Sometimes we need remind ourselves of that.

I know just the place where we can do that! On October 15-17th, 2020 at the JW Marriott - Desert Ridge in Scottsdale, Arizona, we will be holding our National Legal & Medical Malpractice Conference. Put it in your calendar now. I repeat, put it in your calendar now. Plan to be there. Where else can you recharge your batteries with great friends and your ABPLA family?

John Romano, Adam Malone, Grace Weatherly, Bill McMurry, Les Weisbrod, Bill Callaham, and Jim Bostwick will "WOW” you, to say the least. Moreover, our program this year is heavily weighted on the medical negligence side with physicians and other medical specialists. The legal negligence side is broad-based with emphasis on ethics. So, to be blunt, this is a conference you will not want to miss. Bring your golf clubs, your swimsuit, your suntan lotion, your hiking boots, your tennis rackets, and whatever else suits your Arizona purposes. The point is-be there.

Though I have been remiss in getting at least my January Address out to you, we have been very busy working with various accrediting organizations and board certifying organizations around the country, including the American Bar Association.  We are working to assure your board certification remains not only relevant to the accrediting organization(s), but also ensuring board certification is on the path to be the gold standard for the consumer of legal services when seeking representation. 

There have been many discussions regarding fees and outreach to the public regarding certification, during the ABA’s restructuring of the Center for Professional Responsibility (which used to house the ABA Section on Specialization).  We do know the ABA is dedicated to Board Certification and in ensuring it remains a prominent achievement for attorneys around the country.  Due to the lobbying of the ABPLA and other organizations, there will be no new fee increases this year with the ABA, which is great news for all Board Certifying Organizations and Board Certified Specialists.

The ABPLA has recently been reaccredited by California, South Carolina, and currently have conditional approval in Florida.  The conditional approval in Florida is that any attorney in Florida seeking NEW certification in Medical Malpractice or Legal Malpractice by the ABPLA must already be Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Florida Bar of Legal Specialization.  While not ideal, for seeking new Certifications, this allows the ABPLA to specifically target attorneys who are familiar with and understand the significance of Board Certification. We will keep you posted on any progress in this arena.

Bill McMurry, past President, will be representing the ABPLA at the American Civil Trial Bar Roundtable in Washington D.C. hosted by ABOTA in March.  The ABPLA is the only national certifying organization in the country who has a seat at this roundtable, which brings together leaders of the major civil trial bar organizations and the ABA to work together in the continuation and preservation of the civil trial justice system. The Roundtable remains active in developing a well-reasoned and balanced approach to civil trial justice issues and is a voice in preserving and promoting the civil jury trial right and an independent and impartial judiciary. Mary Alexander of San Francisco's Mary Alexander & Associates leads the Roundtable for ABOTA, and at a recent dinner expressed interest in working closely with ABPLA.

So, in closing, ABPLA continues to strongly represent your interests moving forward in your practice. I hope to see you in Scottsdale!

October 9, 2019

President’s Address:

I just returned from Albany, Georgia, where I witnessed our past president, Tommy Malone, being laid to rest. It was one of the most celebratory, but yet very sad, ceremonies I have ever been through.

Wonderful eulogies were given by Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, as well as by William D. Underwood, President, Mercer University.

I thought in this month's President's Address it would only be appropriate to share Tommy's obituary with you:

‘Thomas "Tommy" William Malone, Sr., entered into Paternal Life on October 1, 2019, after a long and courageous battle with cancer that he never quit fighting.

Tommy was born into this life on November 2, 1942, in Albany, Georgia, to Judge Rosser Adams Malone and Petrona "Tony" Underwood Malone. The son of a prosecutor who became a judge, Tommy dreamed of being a rodeo cowboy, auctioneer, blacksmith or farrier. Despite his earliest ambition to ride bucking horses in rodeos, Tommy completed his education in the Dougherty County Public Schools and attended the University of Georgia from 1960 to 1963. From there he went on to attend the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1965, a year before he graduated from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 1966.

After graduating from law school, Tommy returned to his hometown of Albany to begin his legal career as a trial lawyer by joining his father’s law practice. Within a few years, Gov. Carl Sanders appointed Tommy's father Director of the State Game and Fish Commission and Tommy founded Malone Law. This was the beginning of Tommy's career as a tenacious legal pioneer. As a pioneer in those days, Tommy was one of very few willing to represent regular people against the rich and powerful establishment which resulted in many losses at trial. Early in his career, after a particularly devastating medical malpractice loss for young paralyzed girl that would have made many lawyers quit, Tommy enlisted the help of the famed "King of Torts", Melvin Belli to partner with him in another suit against the pharmaceutical company which resulted in the largest settlement yet seen in South Georgia. Mel told Tommy he was the best lawyers you've ever seen in the courtroom.

Tommy either believed what Mel told him or didn't have the heart to let Mel be proven wrong and, as a result of that and what he called the "Guiding Hand" in his life, Tommy went on to launch a career of obtaining record-setting recoveries for the families of those severely injured or killed in preventable disasters occurring in hospitals, on the highways, and on the airwaves. Throughout his 50-year legal career, Tommy earned a nationwide reputation of having the highest standards of character and integrity, skill in the courtroom, and an incredible talent to simplify, solve, and explain the most complicated and complex problems. If he believed a case had merit, he feared nothing and fought until the very end. He was considered a giant in the legal arena by his peers.

In addition to being a legal giant, Tommy was a leader in numerous state, national, and international legal organizations. He was a past President of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, the Melvin M. Belli Society, and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. He was also honored to be included as a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers, which are reserved and limited to the 500 most elite trial lawyers in the United States and abroad. Tommy was included in the annual listing of the Best Lawyers in America every year for the last 30 years and he was honored as a Super Lawyer every year since the inception of Super Lawyers and was voted by his peers as the number one Super Lawyer in Georgia for the 10 years in a row until his retirement.

Among his many professional awards and honors, the two Tommy was most proud of receiving are both from the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, the coveted "War Horse Award" and, the one named in his honor, the "Tommy Malone Great American Eagle Award". In 2018, the famed author Vincent Coppola together with the Mercer Press, produced a best-selling biography of Tommy Malone's lifetime of making a meaningful difference for others entitled, "Tommy Malone, Trial Lawyer, And the Light Shone Through... The Guiding Hand Shaping One of America's Greatest Trial Lawyers”.

Tommy not only served his clients in the legal profession, but also his community including the Carter Center Board of Counselors, Shepherd Center Foundation Board of Trustees, where he and Debbie were honored with Angel of the Year Award, and the Mercer University Board of Trustees. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Mercer 2015-2017 and has been an ardent supporter of Mercer Law School, endowing the Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy at the law school.

Of his many accomplishments and successes, Tommy was most proud of marrying his life partner, Debbie, the love of his life, his soulmate, closest friend and companion. Their chance encounter in a grocery store bloomed into one of the greatest love stories ever told. Tommy believed his success in his life and career would not have been possible without Debbie's love, understanding, and support. They spent 34 years adoring each other, and their love radiated to everyone around them. They're 32-year marriage mirrored that of what fairy tales are made of; she, his princes, and he, her prince charming.

When Tommy wasn't working, he was with Debbie, traveling, entertaining, deep sea fishing and adding new chapters to their love story. Tommy was known as the life of the party. Together, he and Debbie were most known for their generosity and epic soirées. For decades, their Bahamian estate, Snapper Point in Marsh Harbour on Abaco Island, was the scene of once-in-a-lifetime memories for their family, friends, colleagues, and even mere acquaintances. Everyone who knew Tommy knew the only place to find him during the month of May was with Debbie and their Pomeranians on the 70-foot Striker aptly named "Justice," fishing the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas. Tommy and Debbie loved to travel to many of the Bahamian Islands fishing, exploring and making lifelong friends that they would meet along the way.

Tommy is remembered as a man who was larger-than-life, had an infectious smile, an incredible sense of humor, a fertile mind and integrity like no other. His last days were spent as he had lived - captivating the many who flock to visit him with his quick wit and unparalleled charm.

Tommy is survived by his loving wife, partner, and helpmate of 32 years, Debora "Debbie" Blankenship Malone. He is also survived by his two sons of whom he was most proud, Tommy Malone, Junior, and Adam alone. Adam was deeply honored and felt privileged to a practice lock together as a father/son team with his dad for 16 incredible years. He is proud to be continuing his father's legacy and the work they did together with Malone Law in making a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Tommy is also survived by four grandchildren – Maddie, Emilie, Rosser, and Kennedy. Tommy was preceded in death by his parents, Tony and Rosser Malone, and his brother, Ross Malone.” 

As you may recall the ABPLA established the Tommy Malone Distinguished Service Award in 2017 to honor the consummate professional who demonstrates the highest level of ethical conduct, civility, and professional competence in the practice of law. Not only does this honor the recipient but guarantees that Tommy’s light continues to shine upon our profession.

I do note, that as Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes delivered his eulogy, he mentioned that Tommy was his best friend. Later in the evening as the group assembled at one of Tommy's favorite restaurants in Albany Georgia, I stood up and noted that there probably wasn't one that attended the service that did not believe themselves to be Tommy's best friend. That was the beauty of Tommy Malone. He was all of our best friend. May we all be blessed to have known him.