Trial lawyers try cases. The American College of Trial Lawyers, founded in 1950, recognizes and honors those trial lawyers in the United States and Canada, who are the very best. They come from every facet of the trial bar: plaintiffs’ lawyers and defense lawyers, prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers. And they try every kind of case--from antitrust to securities and from patents to environmental.

Membership is only by invitation after an intensive investigation to confirm that a candidate is a truly outstanding trial lawyer who demonstrates the highest degree of professionalism, ethics, and civility. Fellows must have been active in the trial practice for at least 15 years and recognized as being among the very best trial lawyers in their state or province by the judges they practice before and the opponents they try cases against. In addition, they must have the important quality of collegiality.

The College is unique in that all of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court and all of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada are Honorary Fellows. Each of them has accepted Fellowship and has addressed the College at one or more of its national meetings.

The mission of the American College of Trial Lawyers is to maintain and improve the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice, and the ethics of the profession.

To help improve the standards of trial practice, the College has for many years published its well-known Codes of Pretrial and Trial Conduct in both the United States and Canada. The introductions to these Codes were written by the Chief Justice of the United States and the Chief Justice of Canada, respectively. College committees have developed materials to teach lawyers how to be more effective trial advocates and to teach judges how to be more effective trial judges. Fellows of the College are frequently called upon to give CLE seminars on the art of trial practice.

The College is also involved at the law school level. College committees help administer and judge the national trial competition and the national moot court competition in the United States and the Sopinka Cup and Gale Cup competitions in Canada.

Because the Fellows comprise all areas of the trial bar, the College can speak with particular authority on issues involving the administration of justice. Through its committees, the College has published white papers on many important subjects including the attorney-client privilege, judicial elections, and judicial compensation. College committees review and comment on proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and the Federal Rules of Evidence.

The College has also been at the forefront of discovery reform. In 2009, the College Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice, together with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), published a report on problems associated with discovery and suggested principles for reform. That effort led to rule changes and pilot projects in many states and federal districts that were designed to curtail the cost and delay associated with discovery. The Task Force and IAALS, along with the College’s Judiciary Committee and Jury Committee, recently published “Working Smarter, Not Harder: How Excellent Judges Manage Cases.” The publication contains practical suggestions how judges can help reduce costs and delays in the civil justice system. The Task Force will publish its final report on discovery and civil justice reform in early 2015.

Thanks to the generosity of College Fellows, the Foundation of the American College of Trial Lawyers funds an annual $100,000 prize which is awarded to an outstanding program that is designed to improve the administration of justice. The award is named in honor of the founder of the College, Emil Gumpert.

The 2015 Award is being given to the ”Extra Judicial Measures Pilot Project” of Peacebuilders International. The Project employs ”Talking Circles” or ”restorative justice” for conflict resolution of young offenders as an alternative to arrest and criminal charges. The proposed Project seeks to establish the prototype in Toronto for a pre-charge, youth diversion program that will divert youth identified as having likely committed a non-violent offense, who have no prior criminal record, to a community-based diversion program. Previous awards have gone to equally deserving and innovative programs. Each year the Emil Gumpert Committee reviews scores of applications and personally visits the top candidates to determine the winning recipient.

This year the College will begin the process of planning and conducting a retreat to consider important issues facing the College and to plan for the next ten years. The last retreat was in 2002 and since then much has changed in the practice of law. A Retreat Planning Committee will seek input from Fellows on topics of concern, determine the issues to be studied, and recommend subcommittees to study each issue and to report to College leadership at the retreat.

I am thrilled and honored to serve as President of this remarkable organization and I look forward to meeting as many Fellows as possible in the coming year.