2023 ATLA Convention: One to Remember

Hey there. It’s been awhile. Lots has happened since we last wrote in this space. After 20-years in the U.S. Bank building in downtown Arkadelphia, the Chaney Law Firm moved 2-blocks south to 501 Crittenden Street (more on that later). A lot happened just last week at the 2023 Arkansas Trial Lawyer’s Association annual convention in Eureka Springs.

I’ve come to look forward to these conventions every year, almost like a holiday, because each one feels more like a family reunion than an attorney convention. Growing up, Don and Terri would take Nathan and I out of school for two days to drive 5 hours one way to Eureka Springs (Hwy 65 wasn’t 4-laned to Clinton back then).

Over the years, certain locations took on a significant degree of family nostalgia to the point they must be acknowledged each year. For example, below is one of those places:

During rush hour traffic in’93 or ‘94, Nathan ran over a piece of equipment that had fallen off of a vehicle in the middle of the road on the right (Hwy 65/412 in Harrison), which caused a tire to blow out. Although there was a significant commotion in the vehicle for him to deal with immediately afterward (cough), he calmly turned onto second street and took the next right to get safely out of the traffic to deal with the flat tire. He recalled this experience to me a few weeks ago after his own 14-year old son popped a tire that required changing. There are plenty of stories about me, too. We’ll save those for another day. #IYKYK

On one of the convention days, I got to visit with an attorney friend, whose father and older brother are also practicing attorneys whom we had seen the previous night at dinner. I told him it made me happy to see the three of them together as I hadn’t seen his older brother in a long time. The younger attorney friend relayed to me that it was a special time for them; and before I knew it as he was talking to me, thoughts and memories of my own brother came flooding to mind. Many of you already know, but for those that don’t, Nathan was diagnosed with colon cancer in November/December. I can’t see the pool or gaming area at the Inn of the Ozarks (seen in the video below) without remembering Nathan and I spending a lot of time there while Don was getting his continuing legal education hours at the convention.

The same thing happened when I saw the convention koozie (pictured above); Nathan and I went fishing on the nearby Kings River early one morning on a convention day several years ago, which has been one of his happy places going back to college. It happened again another night at the incoming president’s shin-dig at the go-kart place in Eureka Springs. Nathan and I have driven a lot of miles around that track, but I hadn’t done it in a long time:

That my’s game face set to race against the incoming atla president, breean walas. I lost. :(

On the Thursday afternoon of the convention, I was extremely proud to see Jessica receive the Outstanding Legal Assistant of the year award from ATLA. For anyone that knows her or works with us, they know Jessica is the heartbeat of our law firm.

The Arkadelphian quoted me saying “we couldn’t have made it through the last year without her quick thinking, initiative and dedication.” I will always be thankful for that.

Something else happened at the convention that I’ll never forget: I was chosen by my peers as the inaugural recipient of the Ruthanne Murphy Good Works Award.

Many knew Ruthanne better than I did, but I always had a tremendous amount of respect for her. She did not care about being recognized for her actions; she did what she did because it was the right thing to do. One example given was her continuous and longstanding dedication to feeding the homeless, whether it be at a shelter or otherwise. Her obituary (left) was published on June 4, 2022. “[A] fierce warrior for justice and a beacon in a dark world” is how I will always remember her. Even as I’m trying to do so, I can’t really express in words what an honor it is have my name associated with Ruthanne’s name, much less be the first recipient of an award named after her.

To make the occasion even more memorable, my close friend Breean Walas was the one who presented the award to me as the incoming president:

Breean has taught me more about practicing law than I ever learned in law school, whch is something for which I’ll forever be grateful.

I couldn’t let the moment pass without telling the atla membership that ruthanne stood for everything the organization stands for, and is an example of what we all should aspire to be as attorneys.

A few minutes after the above photograph was taken, I walked outside the meeting hall to meet Ruthanne’s family, which was the highlight of the entire convention for me:

I’m shaking hands with Ruthanne’s husband, Jim Garrett.

As noted by the Arkadelphian, ATLA has been helping First Baptist Church’s Arms Around Arkadelphia organization. Since 2018, several ATLA attorneys from across the state have given up their time (some driving 4-hours or more one-way) to come to Arkadelphia and lend a hand in service projects around town put together by the AAA group; one of those times was detailed here. If you’re interested in seeing the results of these service projects, First Baptist Church puts together a video every year, which you can find here. This year, the AAA service projects will take place from June 12-15, 2023. If you’re interested in getting involved, contact me at taylor@chaneylaw.com, or David McAlister at davidmcallister36@gmail.com.

Doing your part: small efforts make big differences

With the recent water issues experienced in Arkadelphia during the week of July 15-19, I was reminded of a service project last summer where the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation helped provide water to residents in Flint, Michigan.

On April 25, 2014, the Flint’s municipal government decided to change its water service to the local Flint River to save money, but did not treat the water; this resulted in dangerous levels of lead leaching into the water from old pipes, and putting the public at risk. Flint’s local government eventually declared a state of emergency.

A Flint native, Asia Hill, lives in Arkadelphia, and wanted to help. Several Arkadelphia law firms provided the funding, and on September 9, 2018, the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation transported 500 cases of water to up to Michigan. The Daily Siftings Herald reported on the project, as follows:

The contributing law firms received the following certificates for their efforts:

While Arkadelphia’s water issues only lasted 4 days, the water system in Flint is still contaminated over 5 years later. State and Federal assistance totals are over $450 million. Here is what the EPA has done about it. Here is a way to help through the United Way.

I’m thankful to our local leaders and city employees who got Arkadelphia’s water issues resolved in only four days, which puts Flint’s water crises into perspective. I’m proud to have been a part of a project that contributed to the disaster in Flint, even if it was only a small part. Here is how you can make a difference.

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Like last year, several members of the Arkansas Trial Lawyer’s Association helped with Arms Around Arkadelphia (“AAA”) in 2019. This year’s project for the ATLA crew involved stripping a wheelchair accessible ramp and repainting it:

Pictured above are Jay Neal (left) and Austin King (right) finishing up the paint job.

Most of the work involved with the ramp above was getting the old paint stripped off, which required the efforts of those pictured below:

Pictured above from left to right: Ed Zellmer, Peter Miller, P.A.; Brian Trubitt, Taylor King & Associates; Jay Neal, Taylor King & Associates; Amanda Boulden, Arkansas Trial Lawyer’s Association; Taylor Chaney, Chaney Law Firm, P.A.; Jessica Mallett, Peter Miller, P.A.; Paige Edgin, Peter miller, p.a.; and austin king, taylor king & associates.

AAA completed several other projects across the community. The AAA program is an outstanding annual event taking place in late May and early June each year. If you're interested in participating in the AAA projects in 2020, contact David McAllister at d_mcallister@suddenlink.net. I’m already looking forward to it.

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At the annual meeting of the Arkansas Bar Association in June, the Young Lawyer’s Section organized a service project bringing bar members together in partnership with The Pack Shack, who’s mission is to supply provisions and opportunities for our neighbors in need, as follows:

There were several tables with four people assigned to a funnel, with each person performing an assembly line task to make individually packaged meals, as follows:

for every 1,000 meals made, someone banged the gong.

The entire legal community was represented as Circuit Judges, Court of Appeals Judges, Supreme Court Judges, and attorneys practicing in every area of law participated together. In just a few hours, we packaged over 10,000 meals for hungry Arkansas residents.

I hope the Bar continues performing service projects at the annual meeting, and starts doing them at the mid-year meeting in February each year.

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Whether it was funding for water to help our brothers and sisters in need in Flint, Michigan, or repainting a wheelchair ramp for our brothers and sisters at home in Arkadelphia, or packaging meals for hungry Arkansas residents, being able to contribute in some small part has been fulfilling for all attorneys involved, and especially me. If you have a project in need of funding or in need of manpower to get the job done, please contact us.

ATLA partners with the Church of Christ Disaster Relief Team to help flood victims in Northeast Arkansas

On May 20, 2017, members of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association partnered with the Church of Christ Disaster Relief Team of Pocahontas to help a family in Success, Arkansas with cleaning out flood damaged parts of their home. Members traveled as far as Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Sheridan, Little Rock, Arkadelphia, and Jonesboro to assist the family after record flooding occurred during the week of May 8, 2017.

Seen above is the Haggard family home. The Current River is seen in the background, which rose to approximately the bottom of the open window on the left.

Pictured above from left to right, the Mike Haggard family (in front and back); in the front in the blue shirt, Sarah Jewell, Ryan Jewell, Shayne Dobson (kneeling), ATLA President Joey McCutchen, Margaret Dobson, and Becky Dent. In the back row beginning with the gray hat, Paul Ford, Mike Gaddy, Taylor Chaney, Lewis Strate, David Dobson, Joe Denton, and Joseph Gates.

From left to right, Joe Denton and Sarah Jewell are doing their best to rip up the floors of the Haggard home so the concrete slab underneath gets the opportunity to dry out. Other parts of the home had wet joist underneath the floors. Parts of the floor were more stubborn than others, which required more elbow grease from multiple people to remove them. Here are some other tips for cleaning up a home after a flood.

The Church of Christ Disaster Response Team is immediately available to the local congregation(s) in the disaster stricken area. The purpose of the Disaster Response Team is to aid the local congregation in recruiting and receiving volunteers to assist with the emotional and spiritual needs of the disaster victims and to assist them in the clean-up and rebuilding stage. They offer a mobile kitchen, mobile shower trailer, trained coordinators, completely stocked tool trailers, health kits, clean-up kits, baby kits, and school kits.

The efforts of the Disaster Response Team are possible through the financial donations from churches and individuals across the world, and by the volunteers who work with the Disaster Response Team. You can help by donating here.