Conference in Washington, DC — Michael & Vicki Smith

Oct 9

Oct 9 Conference in Washington, DC

I just had a great time in DC at the DRI Annual Meeting. For the conference, I saw Gen. Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright present together, and they were great. I heard a presentation from one of the Navy Seal Team 6 members who was involved in the Osama bin Laden mission. He was fascinating. Nina Totenburg was OK.

I met some really great people. I saw Peggy from Maryland again. She was at the FDCC cocktail party. I really like her. I am trying to convince her to come to Oregon and run Hagg Lake with me. I saw several other people from the FDCC that I know and met the FDCC President and another influential person in the organization who I will follow up with.

Two Oregon lawyers (Jeanne Loftis and Sam Sandmire) invited me to join the state local organization meetings and introduced me to folks. We were out until midnight last night at dinner and chasing the rumor that we must go to Barmini, which is “the” place for a cocktail. When it was full, we went to the bar owner’s second bar, which was good.

During the Friday evening event, another Oregon lawyer, Carl Rodriguez, and I skipped out and walked along the Mall. The monuments were lit up, and it was so beautiful!

The next day, Carl and I skipped some presentations and explored part of the city. We saw the Supreme Court and sat in the courtroom. That was amazing! If I become a member of its bar, I can sit in the special seats near the front of an argument. I’m doing it! We saw one of the buildings of the Library of Cingress and saw the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Gutenberg Bible (first book printed in movable type). We walked around the Capitol building and quickly popped into the Smithsonian’s Native American museum and the National Air and Space Museum, which was really cool and I need to spend more time there. I hope Mike and I visit DC for a vacation soon.

I also received my first referral for a case from FDCC. Yeah!

I wasn’t super excited about going to this conference initially but I am so glad I went. It was productive and a lot of fun.