Miller & Martin attorney John Bode believes he’s figured out how to lure lawyers to his labor and employment seminar, which the Chattanooga Bar Association will host on December 8: free Cheerios and an open bar. Bode has placed the Cheerios on a chair across from his desk along with a tin of cookies and other assorted goodies.
They’re actually for a Las Vegas seminar he’s teaching before the Chattanooga session. “From time to time, I’ll give out worthless things. It doesn’t matter how much something costs; as long as it’s free and the participant gets one, he tends to enjoy it,” Bode says.
He’s not kidding about the Cheerios. Or the open bar. “The open bar is my hook. I mean no disrespect to the participants, but I’m hoping to set a festive atmosphere, since it’s the holiday season, and believe the open bar might bring in one or two attorneys who otherwise wouldn’t have come,” he says.
Whatever draws an attorney to the seminar, participants will receive advanced instruction on labor and employment law issues from Bode and guest speakers representing different perspectives within the legal profession. “We want to provide experienced practitioners with updates they might (have missed) as a result of their busy law practice,” Bode says.
Bode says the seminar will also serve as an introduction for attorneys who only “dabble” in labor and employment issues or have an interest in pursuing them. The seminar will take place at 212 Market Street. Registration will begin at 2 p.m., and the sessions will start at 2:15 p.m. and conclude at 5:30 p.m. Participants will receive three hours of general CLE credit approved for Tennessee.
About the guest speakers
Bode will be discussing labor and employment issues from the perspective of the defense employment bar. To “avoid speaking longer than people might want to listen to him,” he’s recruited three additional speakers to discuss the topics the seminar will cover.
Donna Mikel of Burnette, Dobson & Pinchak will discuss labor and employment issues from the perspective of the plaintiff’s employment bar. John Harrison of Evans, Harrison & Hackett will tackle the topic from the perspective of an employment mediator.
“A lot of labor and employment law matters are resolved through mediation. John has developed a practice in that area, so I thought his remarks would be helpful. He’s going to talk about how to conduct a mediation, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the presentations people have made to him,” Bode says. The Honorable Howard Peoples, former Chancellor of the Chancery Court of Hamilton County, and currently with Miller & Martin, will provide the perspective he gained on the bench. Bode is hoping the seminar will also include remarks from an investigator with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and attorney Bradford Harvey on the topic of wage and hour investigations and litigation. (This portion of the seminar was unconfirmed as this article went to press.)
About Bode (pronounced “bo-dee”)
Bode concentrates his practice on labor relations and employment opportunity. Over the last two decades, he’s served as lead trial counsel on numerous cases before state and federal agencies and courts and the National Labor Relations Board. He has extensive experience representing prominent national, regional and Tennessee employers in union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, arbitrations, strikes, decertification petitions, wage and hour and other state and federal audits.
He’s also the Chattanooga chair of Miller & Martin’s labor and employment department as well as a member of the firm’s transportation and logistics practice group. Bode received his Bachelor of Science, with a concentration in finance and human resources management, from the University of Virginia and his Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond. He’s a member of the Associated General Contractors Labor and Employment Law Council, serves as executive counsel to the labor and employment law section of the Tennessee Bar Association, and has served on the board of governors of the Chattanooga Bar Association. Bode was selected for inclusion in Mid South Super Lawyer in 2007 and 2008, and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, Labor and Employment Law, since 2007.
To register for the seminar online using Visa or MasterCard, visit the Chattanooga Bar Association Web site at www.chattbar.org.