Message from the Chair

Welcome, Section Members! On behalf of the Executive Council, it is my honor and privilege as Chair to welcome you to the 2022-2023 Bar year. Thank you for your membership in the Section and for being part of the greatest network of labor and employment lawyers in the country. This year, we hope to build on our strong network and fulfill our mission to serve and support you and others through opportunities for education, leadership, networking, professionalism, and public service. Our mission is and will remain our steadfast focus.

As we all know, the last few years have been challenging, to say the least, and we have learned many lessons that will stay with us. For me, one of those lessons is that together is better. We all know that we live in divisive and partisan times. But our Section remains a beacon of hope where we can cross that divide—whether we represent individuals, union, or management, or serve in a neutral capacity—to work together, become stronger as a Section, and provide better representation to our clients and service to the public as a whole. Our Section has a long history of overcoming partisan division to work together and, as our Hall of Fame so aptly demonstrates, we all stand on the shoulders of giants in labor and employment law.

Working together, we will have five live events this year—in September and October 2022, and January, March, and April 2023. Our first event will be the return of our litigation skills program in Tampa on September 16, 2022. As we return to court for jury trials, this CLE will provide invaluable ideas, tips, and guidance for navigating our “new normal” in a post-COVID era. I hope you can join us for one or all of these events. Each of these events will have a reception where we can gather, network, and continue to get to know and learn from one another. Of course, part of our “new normal” is that we are not always able to attend live events. In recognition of that, each of these events also will be available by live webcast or recording.

Additionally, we are working together on our 2022–2023 webinar series. For the first time, the Executive Council has authorized that these webinars be made available free to L&E Section members via Zoom. We will be publishing our webinar schedule shortly. We hope you can join us to learn from experts on cutting-edge issues facing our practices and be an active participant in these important conversations on hot topics in labor and employment law.

We cannot accomplish our goals and serve our mission without your help. Will you be part of our journey this year? You can start by following us on social media. You can join us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We also will have an Executive Council meeting during each of our live events this year, so come join us for a meeting, or, even better, volunteer for a committee! Shortly, you will be receiving a survey asking for volunteers for our committees. I hope you will consider joining your fellow members to make a difference for our Section.

I want to thank our outgoing Chair, Scott Atwood, for his dedicated and outstanding leadership over the past year. He brought us back to in-person events and led us through challenging and changing times with tenacity, determination, and humor. If you see him at an upcoming event, please thank him for his great service to the Section. I also want to thank my fellow officers—Gregg Morton (Chair-Elect), Yvette Everhart (Secretary/Treasurer), and Robert Eschenfelder (Legal Education Director)—for their dedication and partnership in accomplishing our goals for the Section. Finally, I want to thank Jennifer Fowler for her years of dedicated service to the Executive Council and welcome Jim Craig and Janeia Ingram to the Executive Council.

We are so grateful for all of the volunteers who give their energy, talent, and countless hours for the betterment of our Section. Thank you for all of your many contributions. Please reach out to me (sacha.dyson@gray-robinson.com) or any member of the Executive Council if you want to speak on a topic, write an article, or have an idea to further the mission of the Section. If you want to get involved and don’t know where to start, email me! We are very excited about our next year together!

Sacha Dyson, 2022-23 Chair
Labor and Employment Law Section