“Common Threads”: Tips from Inn leaders, for Inn leaders

InnSight | August 2025

“The common thread of a good program is one that builds relationships,” said Daniela Walters, Esq., of the Michigan Intellectual Property Law Inn in Detroit. This was just one of the insightful tips, ideas, and strategies that Inn leaders shared at the Leadership Networking Breakfast during the Inns of Distinction Gala  weekend. Nearly 100 Inn members representing 66 Inns around the country brought their questions and solutions around membership engagement and recruitment, program development, and mentoring to the networking event. Here are some of the highlights.

Membership Engagement and Recruitment

Recruiting younger members was a common challenge among attendees. Leaders recommended going out and meeting potential members where they are: Inns could sponsor law school events or present during a class to get law students interested, or personally contact newly-barred attorneys with a congratulatory note and information about how to join the Inn. Host lunchtime events (which may be more convenient for potential members with young children), and enlist judges to model consistent and participatory attendance. Some Inns shy away from instituting attendance requirements, but many Inn leaders remarked that the attendance requirement reinforced the importance of being a participatory member and emphasized community, teamwork, and camaraderie as part of their Inns’ cultures. Judge Sherine Thomas said the Robert W. Calvert Inn in Austin, TX, gives members an opportunity to “make up” missed meetings through participating in community outreach events, Zoom Inn meetings, and attending other Inns.

Educating members about their national American Inns of Court benefits is “a value-add to members”, said Jacqueline Botchman, Esq. of the Daniel Webster-Batchelder Inn in Manchester, NH. Younger members may be particularly interested in applying for the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, the National Advocacy Training Program (NATP), or the Pegasus Scholarship—now in it’s 35th year. These national awards and programs often see participants going on to leadership positions in their local Inns and in the national American Inns of Court organization. Awardees’ and participants’ experiences can serve as inspiration for future Inn programs, and indeed, leaders found membership engagement is closely correlated with program quality; many shared ideas for their best programs and how to increase pupillage team participation as another “value-add” of membership in an Inn.

Program Development

Sometimes, breaking the mold when it comes to programming is the way to a higher-quality member experience. Steven Lockhart, Esq. said the Southwest Inn in Murrieta, CA, keeps their programs “purposefully kind of ridiculous” as a way to break down barriers between members who would otherwise not interact with one another outside the Inn and to build camaraderie between judges and attorneys. Gameshows, skits, and mock trial programs were cited as popular program formats, and more than one Inn injects a little friendly competition into their program development by offering an award to the pupillage team that puts on the best program of the year. The William H. Stafford Inn in Tallahassee, FL, provides a scorecard to all members after each program, which includes the American Inns of Court’s mission as one of its criteria. At the last meeting of the year, the winning team is presented the “Stafford Cup”, and other awards are presented for best actor and actress, best theme, and more.

Programming can start before members sit down for the official CLE presentation. Phillip Hays, Esq. of the Texas Tech University School of Law Inn in Lubbock, described how his pupillage team provided ethics BINGO cards to all members during the networking time before a meeting. The questions on the BINGO card corresponded to different membership categories—Associate, Barrister, and Master of the Bench members—which encouraged people to interact with other members outside their typical professional or social groups, and it was an easy way to break the ice for new members. The Robert J. Turner Inn in Oklahoma City, has found recent success in increasing member attendance by increasing their CLE presentations to two hours, as members can earn the year’s CLE for the price of their Inn dues payment, plus unique mentoring and networking experiences.

Better programs lead to more member engagement and a higher-quality member experience, which in turn increases the Inn’s reputation in the legal community and furthers the American Inns of Court mission. But Inns perpetuate their shared mission through more than monthly meetings.

Mentoring

Mentoring is a core function of any Inn of Court, and leaders observed that Inns can fill a critical need in providing mentoring for young attorneys in particular, who are often working remotely and do not have as many opportunities to interact with senior attorneys—let alone judges—in-person. Mentoring takes many different forms as Inns adapt their mentoring models to their Inns’ cultures. The informal speed mentoring program is popular with the Judge William Wieland Inn in Orlando, FL. On the other hand, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Inn serves a statewide membership, so in-person mentoring is not especially convenient. Lynne Ferris, Esq. described the Inn’s “phone a friend” model of mentorship, where each mentee is provided with the phone numbers of three mentors from across the state that they can contact with questions throughout the year. The Inn supplements virtual or phone-based mentoring with periodic “chamber chats”, where judges host young attorneys in their chambers for an informal Q&A-style mentoring session. Mentoring is an integral part of the pupillage team experience, as well. Allowing student members in particular an opportunity to research, present, and teach a program gives them a voice and a sense of community, and it may lead to new and interesting program topics.

One of the distinctive benefits of the American Inns of Court is that individual Inns are never alone; as part of a national movement, Inns around the country mentor and collaborate with each other, exemplifying a more civil and collegial legal profession. Events like the Leadership Networking Breakfast and Leadership Labs provide opportunities for Inn leaders to exchange ideas, but if you are looking for a collaborative partner for your Inn, you can also search the national Member Directory or contact your director of chapter relations for assistance.

Save the date for next year’s Leadership Networking Breakfast and Inns of Distinction Gala : July 25, 2026!