Dear Members,

We know you have questions about what the next year will look like for the Bennett Inn. Many of you have held off renewing your membership due to the uncertainty. We are committed to safely and meaningfully continuing the Inn in the coming year. Your Board of Directors has met and prepared the following framework for a way forward. As with anything, we ask for your patience and flexibility as we adapt to changing conditions.

Meetings: We anticipate most of our meetings will occur virtually with opportunities for small groups to meet in person as they are comfortable. We plan to bring the entire Inn together for several virtual meetings over lunch for an educational program. The format will be similar to our virtual meeting in April of 2020. We are hopeful that conditions in our community will improve to allow small groups to network and to bring the entire Inn together in person for one or more outdoor happy hours or dinners in 2021.

Small Groups: Because of the logistics involved in bringing the entire Inn together, much of the Inn’s focus this year will be on facilitating opportunities for engagement in small group settings. Groups will still be responsible for a program they will present to the full membership at a virtual meeting. However, we will also be taking steps to encourage networking, social activities, and mentorship within the individual groups. Group leaders will take on a particularly important role this year and we need volunteers to serve as group leaders. If you are interested in volunteering to help coordinate these efforts, please contact Magistrate Floyd, our program director.

Cost: Moving meetings online will result in a significant cost savings to the Inn. Therefore, we will reduce our membership dues for attorney members to $150 for the 2020-21 Inn year. Dues will be waived for student members of the Inn. The majority of your dues will be used to pay National Inn dues with the remainder covering overhead and planned social activities. We understand that circumstances for everyone have changed and do not want cost to be a barrier to joining the Inn. If Inn dues presents a hardship, please reach out privately to our Inn Administrator, Jennifer Lester, to discuss options.

Save the Date: Our first two events of the year are already planned to occur via Zoom. Please save the following (tentative) dates:

September 11, 2020 at Noon: We will have a virtual meeting featuring Chief Judge James Nilon, Trial Court Administrator Paul Silverman, and other members of the Judiciary to discuss how the Circuit is operating in light of the current public health emergency.
October 15, 2020 at 5:30 PM: (date subject to change) Members of the First District Court of Appeal will join us for a panel discussion

Membership: If you have not yet renewed your membership for the upcoming year, you can do so through our website at: https://www.bennettinn.com/membership

We know the upcoming year will be unlike any other in our Inn’s history, but now more than ever, we believe it is important to continue the Inn’s mission of bringing together judges, lawyers, and law students to tackle the newest technologies in law practice and improving the skills, professionalism, and ethics of the bench and bar. We hope that you will join us.