A club I want to belong to

As a kid, my father played old Marx Brothers movies for my brothers and me. While it’s not in any of the movies, there’s a story about Groucho Marx that I enjoy. He resigns from a club, and its president asks him why he resigned. 

Groucho responds, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” 

I get a kick out of that quote. After spending the last two months advocating for our issues in the legislature and joining LAJ members and others at the LAJ Post-Legislative Conference in beautiful Carmel, CA, I have been thinking about the importance of LAJ membership. 

While the Groucho quote may apply to me for a country club or some other club, it does not apply to my membership in LAJ.  

LAJ is the only organization protecting the rights of our clients in the legislature and around the state. Without LAJ, our clients would suffer irreparable damage, and the civil justice system would no longer be an independent and level playing field for all citizens. Therefore, it is extremely important to increase our membership, stay up to date with all new laws and case decisions, and financially support LAJ. Lobbying efforts for insurance companies and their allies are well-financed and unified. LAJ is the only voice standing against those efforts for individuals, families, and small businesses.

You can accomplish each of those goals by attending our upcoming conferences. These CLE opportunities offer something for everyone in our organization. 

High Stakes on the High Seas — August 15

This is the premier maritime CLE in the state led by 2024-25 Maritime Law Section chairs Hugh P. “Skip” Lambert and Cayce Peterson. It is always well attended. 

Speakers include LAJ’s experienced maritime members as well as Judges Carl Barbier and Jane Triche Milazzo, Magistrate Judge Eva J. Dossier and Professors Thomas C. Galligan and Benjamin S. Allums.  

The topics include:

• Updates in Maritime Law
• EDLA Updates: What We’ve Seen Lately
• Seaman Status After Sanchez and Santee
• Seeking Penalties Professionally
• CWA & OPA Don’t Mix
• Recreational Boating Cases
• Handling Diving Cases 101 – Don’t Be Afraid to Dive In
• Your Client’s Best Day: Why Seaman Status or Maritime Law May Not Be Preferred

Fall Conference — September 18-20

There were a host of new laws passed in the 2025 legislative session that affect your clients’ rights and our practices. Those laws include modified comparative fault, a new collateral source rule, reversal of Housely, “No Pay, No Play” increase to $100,000, and the prohibition of undocumented immigrants from recovering most damages. 

The CLE program’s agenda is still a work in progress, but Fall Conference will include a discussion of changes in law and practice tips for handling them. We hope to have firsthand discussions about what took place in the 2025 Legislative Session. Bills that did not pass but would have affected our clients’ rights and our practices will also be discussed. We know many of these will return.

Additionally, please join us for the President’s Luncheon at Fall Conference. At this annual luncheon, I will honor LAJ friends and members with awards. The honorees have made tremendous contributions to LAJ during their careers and over the last year and deserve our appreciation. 

At the luncheon, B. Scott Andrews of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. will be installed as the 2025-26 LAJ president and we will announce the 2025-2026 LAJ president-elect. Scott is a highly successful and intelligent Baton Rouge-based lawyer and has been invaluable to Connie and me over the last year. He has a knack for understanding proposed legislation and how it modifies existing law, and his love for bourbon and tiki drinks makes it a lot of fun to hang out with him.

Last Chance — December 11-12 and CLE à la Carte — December 30-31

We have four full days of CLE in December. Last Chance offers two tracks: the traditional “Winning with the Masters” track, which features excellent national speakers, and the “Review of Louisiana Law” track, for which talented LAJ members share insights and tips about state law. 

CLE à la Carte takes place on the last two days of the year, offering you the very last opportunity to earn any credits you may be missing. 

There is nothing better than spending the last two days of the year trying to fulfill your CLE requirements. If procrastination is one of your strengths, please join us to wrap up the year.

Since I started the column with some Groucho Marx quotes, it is appropriate to end with a couple of my favorites. Groucho wasn’t known for his CLE attendance, so these really have nothing to do with the theme of the column, but they are fun to share:

“The secret to life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

“I was married by a judge. I should have asked for jury.” (Lisa: If by some miracle you get ahold of this magazine, I love you and this was just included because it is funny.)

I hope to see each of you at our many exciting conferences this year.