President Day and his wife Joy joined the Iowa Fellows for a gathering in Marshalltown that included a reception, dinner, a general meeting, and a morning program on jury service. Marshalltown, the Marshall County seat and a community of 27,000, was chosen for reasons connected to two Fellows: Joel Greer, who completed ten years as the city’s mayor in January, and Hon. Sharon Greer, a judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals whose offices are in the Marshall County Courthouse.
Roughly thirty Fellows and guests attended the opening cocktail reception, and State Chair Bill Graham and Vice Chair Laura Roan hosted dinner that evening. Regent Rob Adams and retired United States District Judge Mark Bennett also attended.
The general meeting convened the following morning at the Elmwood Country Club. President Day reported on registration for the Annual Meeting, and reviewed the Reputation Project, the CORE Task Force, and the process by which the College issues public statements. State Vice Chair Roan is arranging speeches at Iowa’s two law schools as part of the Reputation Project. Regent Adams also addressed the group and thanked the Fellows for attending.
Judge Bennett delivered the morning program, describing steps he adopted on the federal bench to improve the experience of jury service. They included permitting beverages in the jury box, imposing time limits on trials, allowing juror questions, requiring counsel to limit exhibits, and running a trial day from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with two breaks and no lunch recess. The meeting, attended by Fellows beyond the state committee, then turned to candidates for fellowship.
The group closed the day with dinner at the local Civics Center. At State Chair Graham’s invitation, Jacob Bylund, who will be inducted into the College in New York City, joined the Fellows for the day’s events.