J. Kim Wright's blog

CELRT Kim Wright
Blog 8
September 15, 2010

Cheryl: How was your ride to Denver Colorado? Are you adjusting to the higher elevations?

A. I actually have to mention that it is different! I noticed a difference and I recognize it as extremely mild altitude sickness, but I am fine. But, it is not disrupting my schedule at all.

Cheryl: Where did you speak today?

A. I visited with the Colorado Collaborative Lawyers for their annual meeting in Denver. They are quite an exciting group. We sat in a circle, which is one of my favorite things to do, and everyone introduced themselves first. It was a great inter-disciplinary group, which included financial services professionals, mortgage brokers, divorce coaches.

Q. What did you talk about?

An aside from the book tour - sort of:

In Kansas City, I stopped into a restorative justice re-entry program called TurnAround. There, I met Mary Ann Fry, a former trial lawyer who now runs the mentor program. We've been corresponding by email for at least 8 years and finally met in person!

Mary Ann connected me with a very courageous woman who is a client of hers. The client, Donna, used to be a court administrator and embezzled $30,000. She talked openly about the crime, the impact on her and her life, and the road to recovery.

Stay tuned. It will be a while before Michael is able to edit the footage I've collected since I've been traveling separately but this will be an interesting pair of videos.

Cutting Edge Law
Road Tour
Kim Wright
9/14/2010

Blog 7

Q. Kim, I have to congratulate you. You are on a roll. Gretchen Duhaime, lawyer activist in the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers started the trend of road tours for legal activism. And, you are following course, and doing a fabulous job, cutting across the American Heartland with 30 stops in 17 days. You were in Kansas today. How was it?

A. I woke up in Lawrence, Kansas at the home of Judge Kate Carter, President of Renaissance Lawyer Society. We have a fantastic time at dinner last night. We have known each other for 8 years by phone and email but just met face to face. At the crack of dawn, I went to Topeka, home of Washburn Law School where I had breakfast with a number of faculty members called together by Professor Michael Schwartz. Professor Schwartz has been active in the Humanizing Legal Education movement and one of the former chairs of the Balance in Legal Education.

Cutting Edge Law
Road Tour
September 13, 2010
Blog 6

Q. So what was your day in Columbia, Missouri like?

A. Well, I was at the U. of Missouri Law School and attended a class with John Lande and his LLM students on research. I found it interesting - partly because I have a history as a telephone researcher and census taker. Later, the ADR Organization (ADRO) sponsored a talk with me for law students at 1 p.m.

Q. How many folks were there?

A. About 80 people showed up in a court-room style classroom, and it was nearly filled. There was pizza and at first I thought that would account for the crowd but most of the students were surprised when it arrived.

Q. And did you focus your remarks on any special topic?

I didn't know much about SLU Law but my first impressions were very favorable. As I was unloading my car in front of the law school, two law students stopped and asked if I needed help carrying things in. They were on their way to class but stopped a moment to listen to my topic and what they'd be missing.

The good care continued as one of the Divorce Coaches, Barbara Koppe, volunteered to park my car in the garage - and later retrieved it. (I am getting spoiled on this trip!)