R. Howard Jump
2008
Distinguished Member
Award Recipient

R. Howard Jump of the Chicago office of Jump & Associates, P.C. has been selected for the IDC’s 2008 Distinguished Member Award. To find out why his peers nominated him for the honor, consider his remarkable list of contributions to the association. A longtime member of the IDC, Howard has been active in numerous leadership roles, including chairing a defense tactics seminar, serving as faculty of the Trial Academy, co-chairing the Long Range Planning Committee, serving on the Membership Task Force, and planning and presenting the 2007 Construction and Coverage Symposium. Howard is a contributing author to articles on insurance coverage issues for the IDC Quarterly and also serves as the Board Liaison to the Insurance Law Committee. He is now in his third term on the association’s Board of Directors and has just joined the Board’s Executive Committee. 2007-2008 IDC President Jeffrey Hebrank calls Howard an invaluable board member. According to Hebrank:

We have had and still have a number of excellent board members that contribute mightily and regularly to the IDC. None have surpassed Howard's efforts in the last few years. It was an easy decision to nominate Howard into the officer ranks. Howard's contributions are endless, but Howard's dissents are as laudable as his assents. Howard is one of the most thoughtful, caring and analytical board members in recent memory. Nothing gets past him and no issue is too difficult to tackle. He will make an excellent officer and future president of the IDC.

Howard is an unabashed supporter of the IDC, although how he himself came to join is a subject of some debate. To the best of his recollection, Howard says it was the late 1980’s and his former boss took him to an annual IDC luncheon. He introduced Howard to Jill Berkeley, an active committee member and said, "Do what she says.” Howard relates, "I was an associate at the time and I didn’t take the directive as optional.”

Joining the IDC has paid off in a number of ways for Howard. "I was amazed at how much I could learn about the substantive areas of my practice from IDC members. To this day I learn something new at every committee meeting. That opportunity alone is worth the price of the admission to the IDC.”

His practice has benefited from his membership in the association. Howard says on occasions he has been vetted by clients who were familiar with the IDC and viewed his active participation as a very positive reference. He adds, "Yes, I got the work!”

Howard practices in all areas of insurance defense and coverage at the trial and appellate levels. His practice concentrates on ADR solutions to complex tort and coverage litigation. While his practice is highly specialized, Howard says he takes a broad view of defense law in his work with the IDC Board. According to Howard:

Serving as Director has required me to think, not only about IDC’s role in the civil justice system, but also about IDC’s role in the day to day work lives of its members and their communities. This perspective has kept me from becoming too complacent with the status quo as I approach my 30th year in practice.

So just what work lies ahead for the IDC? Howard lists the top three challenges facing defense counsel today.

The primary challenge for all of us is economic. How do we, as private practitioners, maintain and grow firm profitability and our business base? How do we do those things and at the same time address the insurance industry's goal of cost containment? How do we best serve the insured we represent while at the same time balancing firm economics and industry cost containment? For most of us, we did not learn anything about the economics of law practice in any school of law.

The second challenge for defense lawyers may turn out to be tort reform. It is up to defense lawyers to make sure that tort reform efforts are geared toward improving the quality of the civil justice system by keeping the system fair and impartial for all. We cannot let tort reform become a tool for those whose motive is to use tort reform as a means of avoiding the consequences of wrongdoing.

The third challenge is somewhat new and could be the most interesting one going forward. "Diversity” is looming large in all aspects of private practice. I think we owe it to the true meaning of diversity to avoid using "diversity” to simply exchange one exclusivity for another. If we want to encompass "diversity” in our professional and private lives, I think we need to understand that true diversity is in human thought and ideas. If we promote that kind of diversity it leads to more open mindedness and willingness to think beyond our own individual worldview. I think it also avoids a certain divisiveness that can be an inherent byproduct of "diversity” at times.

Howard Jump receives the 2008 IDC Distinguished Member Award at the Annual Meeting in June. Jump may be honored for what he has already accomplished, but he remains eager to take on the challenges that lie ahead, commenting, "I am proud to be an ‘insurance defense attorney.’ I have spent my entire career in that area of practice. I am proud the IDC owes its creation to a small band of insurance defense attorneys long ago. How can I not be obligated to carry on their legacy?”