This year has quickly flown by and it is hard to believe that the Holidays are already upon us! ‘Tis the season to take a moment to reflect on the past year and look forward to what the new year holds for the Primerus Young Lawyers Section. August 2011 marked the YLS’ one year anniversary and it just amazes me how much our group has accomplished during this time. In a little over a year, the YLS has grown to over 145 members. Last year, we published four  issues of Stare Decisis, the YLS newsletter, hosted several very successful webinars, and, again, hosted the opening reception for the Primerus Annual Conference held in Charleston, SC on October 20-22. At the cocktail party, the young lawyers greeted, mixed and mingled with the 225 attendees at the historic Charleston Place Hotel. In addition, we have a 20% increase in young lawyer attendance from last year, with 12 young lawyers in attendance. The YLS also held its annual conference meeting on Friday evening and the YLS’ immediate past chair, Andrew Gowdown, received an award during the Saturday evening Awards Dinner for his excellent service to the YLS.

Looking to the year ahead, the YLS has its first educational program, Deposition Skills Boot Camp, scheduled for January 18 to January 20, 2012, which is being held in South Beach, Miami, Florida. This three day intensive workshop offers young lawyers the opportunity to learn from experienced, distinguished faculty while earning up to 10 hours of CLE credit. Topics include: Civility During Depositions, Semantics/Questions of Depositions,30(b)(6) Depositions, Attorney Client Relationship Building, Expert Witness Depositions, Analysis of Expert Opinions, Using Depositions at Trial, Effective use of Exhibits and much more. Registration for this event is now open and available online at www.primerus.com. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn from experienced Primerus attorneys! Please contact Vanessa Crocetto at vcrocetto@primerus.com for more details. We also have several great webinars planned for the upcoming year. Details to follow!

There are many opportunities for the Primerus Young Lawyer to get more involved. The YLS is looking for committee members to serve on its Membership Committee, Newsletter Committee and its newly added Community Service and Continuing Education Committees. If you would like more information regarding committee involvement, please feel free to contact me at vmccloskey@ogdensullivan.com or Vanessa Crocetto at vcrocetto@primerus.com. Also, writing articles for Stare Decisis is a great way for young lawyers to get exposure to other Primerus members. If you are interested in writing an article for the quarterly newsletter, please contact Abbott Jones at AMJones@csattorneys.com.

Please mark your calendars for our next YLS membership call, which is scheduled for December 13th at 1:30 p.m. EST. Until then, I wish you all a healthy, happy, and joyous Holiday season!

Victoria N. McCloskey
Chair

For more information on the YLS, please visit the Young Lawyers Section webpage.