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JOURNAL
INDUCTEE
LUNCHEON
AT EVERY MEETING, AT THE NEW INDUCTEE LUNCHEON, A PAST PRESIDENT TELLS THE INDUCTEES HOW THEY CAME TO BE ADMITTED TO OUR FELLOWSHIP. THIS YEAR’S REMARKS, SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED BELOW, WERE DELIVERED BY RODNEY ACKER.
Well, welcome! Welcome to both the new inductees and duced his friend Morris Harrell, the most famous lawyer to their guests, to the Fellows, and to Justice Barrett. This in Dallas for many years. And he mentioned some oth-
is the closest I will ever be to talking before the Supreme Court. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time in Rome so far and I hope you’re looking forward to the induction tonight.
I was inducted twenty-five years ago in Boca Raton. I’m sure we had great speakers but I don’t remember a sin- gle one of them. Except, maybe, Sandra Day O’Connor. I remember the black-tie induction but mostly just that it happened; that there was a very distinguished Past Presi- dent that gave the charge and some lawyer, from our class, gave what was probably way too long an inductee response.
So I don’t really remember a lot of details, but the one thing that I do remember is this lunch. The purpose of the lunch is to tell you how you got to be a Fellow.
Now, when I got inducted, my now good friend, Andy Coats, was the President. Back then, at forty-seven, I hard- ly had my name on the door; he had a law school named after him. But then again, it was Oklahoma. Andy started with introductions of the Past Presidents and the Regents. He introduced Bob Fiske of Whitewater fame. He intro-
er famous Past Presidents like Leon Jaworksi, Watergate. Griffin Bell, former attorney general and Fifth Circuit judge. Earl Silbert, who you heard just passed away last week, the chief Watergate prosecutor.
The point is that you inductees should enjoy every minute of this weekend. All the accolades that come your way are all very well deserved. But remember, when you get back home, your spouses may not be that impressed and they certainly won’t think you’re too important to take out the trash.
So now the point of this talk; the explanation of how you got here and how you became a Fellow. Fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers is by invitation only.
At age forty-seven, I was starstruck. So I leaned over to my wife Judy and said, “Do you know how many famous lawyers are in this room? Do you know how many great lawyers are in this room?” Without missing a beat, she looked at me and said, “One less than you think.” It’s surprising that we just celebrated our fiftieth anniversary two weeks ago.