At Law Day, BAMSL President Anne Brockland unveiled her theme for the 2022-2023 bar year, Upholding the Constitution. She implored all of us in attendance to take time and explore what we could do to fulfill the promise we make in the attorney oath of admission to “support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Missouri[.]”   

For young plaintiffs' lawyers handling a case on their own for the first time, it can be difficult to focus much attention on damages from the start. Unless it is the rare admitted liability case, we know that for the jury to even get to thinking about numbers on the verdict form, they first have to agree with you on liability and causation. If you cannot get over those hurdles, then no one will be thinking about damages.

If I were to describe my father in a way everyone can understand, I would say he is Bill Nye the Science Guy, but without the bowtie. Despite growing up with little money on a farm in Worms, Nebraska, he has multiple degrees and was valedictorian of every school he has ever attended. But he would tell you it is not because he is smart, it is because he is curious and industrious.

Through its Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Plan, the Court's 2022 CJA Application Process is open. Dependent on experience, attorneys not currently on the CJA Panel, who wish to serve as appointed contract counsel on criminal cases, may apply to be members of the CJA Panel or the CJA Mentee Panel. The application and more information on CJA related processes is located on the Court's website at https://www.moed.uscourts.gov/criminal-justice-act-cja.

The Eagleton Courthouse has a new temporary Building Entry Order requiring masks in common areas. The temporary Order, put into effect based on local high transmission rates, is effective Wednesday, June 8 and lasts through Friday, June 17 at which point the prior mask-optional Order will again be in effect. Each Agency may continue to set masking rules in its own space.

BAMSL’s 2021-22 President Bob Tomaso, with approval from the BAMSL Executive Committee and the BAMSL Board of Governors, announced at the 2022 Law Day celebration that the annual Distinguished Lawyer Award will be renamed the Hon. E. Richard Webber Distinguished Lawyer Award.

On April 3, 2015, Anthony Ray Hinton was freed from prison, having spent 30 years on death row for murders he did not commit. The two victims were managers of two fast food restaurants in Birmingham, Ala., and were murdered during the course of robberies. There were no eyewitnesses to the murders. There was no fingerprint evidence. A third robbery occurred, and the manager identified Mr. Hinton in a lineup, even though during the time of that crime, Mr. Hinton was at work.

The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) hosts its annual Law Day and Awards Ceremony from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Mon., May 2 at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis in Clayton, Mo.

BAMSL is honored to have as its keynote speaker former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. BAMSL also will celebrate an important milestone in the organization’s history as the first millennial president, Anne-Marie Brockland, will be sworn in.

BAMSL has now begun sending communication emails (e.g., the weekly LegalPulseSTL) from news.bamsl.org, and transactional emails (e.g., registration confirmations and payment receipts) will begin sending from receipts.bamsl.org.

The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) is pleased to announce the addition of Shawn Davis as its new Digital Marketing Specialist as of April 4, 2022.