GREAT SPEAKERS FEATURED AT SENIOR COUNSEL LUNCHEONS
Senior Counsel Section Chair: Thomas Newcomb Hyde – Attorney at Law
The Senior Counsel Section is fortunate to have such enthusiastic support from the lawyers and judges of our legal community. We are proud to have had interesting and informative speakers for the 2016 – 2017 Bar year and look forward to more in the coming year.
At our first luncheon last year, Second District Court of Appeal Judge John Badalamenti thrilled us with the tale of Captain John Yates, the fisherman who was charged under the Enron statute, which criminalized the destruction of“ any record, document, or tangible object.” The story began with Captain Yates fishing for red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles west of Tampa Bay. Charged with destroying evidence because he threw undersized grouper back into the gulf, Captain Yates was ably represented before the United States Supreme Court by then public defender, John Badalamenti. The Court overturned Yates’ conviction and held that a“ tangible object” under the Enron statute covers only objects used to record or preserve information— not a fish.
In November, we were grateful to Ed Waller, who arranged for Senior Counsel members to attend a luncheon and tour the Tampa
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
The Senior Counsel Section is fortunate to have such enthusiastic support from the lawyers and judges of our legal community.
Museum of Art. Michael Tomor, Ph. D. the museum’ s executive director, briefed our members on the museum’ s history, its permanent collection, and its current exhibits, before leading us on a marvelous tour of our own museum of art.
Paul Tash, the publisher of the Tampa Bay Times, was our March luncheon speaker. While Tash had experience as a reporter, an editor, and a bureau chief before becoming a publisher, he also has a background in the law with a bachelor of laws degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland. As the chairman and CEO of the Times Publishing Company, Tash described many of the legal and ethical concerns of publishing“ leaked information.”
Leonard Gilbert secured our next speaker. His friend, Dennis Archer, is the former president of the National Bar Association, former president of the American Bar Association, and former mayor of Detroit. Archer shared with us some of his experiences in each of these roles. We were also honored to have as our special guest, the Honorable Bob Buckhorn, mayor of Tampa, to speak to us about his vision of Tampa and to welcome Archer.
Morgan Streetman, the president of the Tampa Bay Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, was the speaker at our final luncheon in May. Streetman explained the Federalist Society’ s core principles: the preservation of freedom, the separation of powers, and the duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what the law should be. Several members of the judiciary were present for Streetman’ s presentation, including U. S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich.
Finally, I wish give a special thank you to David Reith for serving as co-chair of the Senior Counsel Section last year; to Donald Cox for volunteering as the Section’ s representative to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee; and to Leonard Gilbert for serving as the Section’ s representative to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Professionalism Committee.
Author: Thomas Newcomb Hyde – Attorney at Law
�� ��������������������������������