Many have asked for my remarks at the Promotion Marketing Association Law Conference honoring Steve Durchslag, with whom I practiced law for 35 years. Here you go: IT IS MY PLEASURE TODAY TO INTRODUCE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER STEPHEN P. DURCHSLAG, SPUD, TO THOSE OF US WHO KNOW HIM WELL. WHEN I STARTED PRACTICING LAW WITH STEVE, BACK IN 1976, THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS A PMA MARKETING LAW CONFERENCE, LET ALONE A CONFERENCE THAT BOASTS 600 ATTENDEES AND A FIVE POUND BINDER OF CONFERENCE MATERIALS THAT COULD ALSO FIT ON A THUMB DRIVE. IN FACT, THE FIRST SWEEPSTAKES PROJECTS I REMEMBER DOING FOR STEVE CONSISTED OF GOING TO A SINGLE FILE DRAWER OF PAPER FILES AND TRYING TO FIND THE ANSWER TO A SIMPLE QUESTION LIKE WHETHER A 13 CENT STAMP—THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID A 13 CENT STAMP, WAS CONSIDERATION. THE FILES WERE PRETTY THIN, THE ANSWER WAS NEVER THERE, THE PHOTOCOPIES OF THE RELEVANT STATUTES WERE MURKY, THE FIRM DIDN’T OWN ALL THE STATE STATUTES, I HAD TO GO TO THE COOK COUNTY LAW LIBRARY TO FIND AN OUT OF DATE VOLUME, AND IN THE END STEVE WOULD DIRECT ME TO CALL SOMEONE AT A STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE WHOSE ANSWER WAS INEVITABLY, THEY COULDN’T ANSWER ME. IT DIDN’T MATTER. STEVE HAD ALREADY DECIDED WHAT THE ANSWER SHOULD BE AND HAD GIVEN THE ADVICE. I HATED IT. WHERE I SAW A 50-STATE SURVEY, LOST WEEKENDS AND A LOT OF FRUSTRATING GUESSWORK OVER VERY PICKY SWEEPSTAKES QUESTIONS, STEVE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY. HE SET OUT TO MASTER THE LAW OF MARKETING AND PROMOTION, AND THAT HE DID. HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO CALL ON PMA TO OFFER A MARKETING LAW CONFERENCE, WHICH WAS INITIALLY A ONE-DAY AFFAIR, AND HE GAVE 30 CONSECUTIVE MAJOR ADDRESSES AT PMA MARKETING LAW CONFERENCES, CHAIRING 5 OF THEM. TRUTHFULLY, HE IS THE REASON SOME OF US DREADED NOVEMBER AND PMA. DURING THOSE YEARS, ALL YOUNG ASSOCIATES SUFFERED FOR A GOOD MONTH BEFORE PMA BECAUSE SPUD INSISTED ON MAKING SURE THAT WE HAD IN FACT FOUND EVERY DEVELOPMENT THAT HAD HAPPENED THROUGHOUT THE PREVIOUS YEAR, NO MATTER HOW TRIVIAL, AND HE WAS DETERMINED TO REPORT TO YOU ON IT. REMEMBER THIS WAS BEFORE THE INTERNET, LEXIS, WESTLAW AND GOOGLE. MANY ASSOCIATES—MANY OF YOU IN TODAY’S AUDIENCE, INCLUDING MYSELF—CONTRIBUTED TO THESE SPEECHES AND TRIED, TO NO AVAIL, TO CONVINCE HIM THAT HE COULDN’T POSSIBLY DELIVER 110 PAGES OF INFORMATION IN 45 MINUTES. HE ALWAYS TRIED, AND HIS AUDIENCES ALWAYS BEGGED FOR MORE. TO HIS CREDIT, SPUD PULLED SEVERAL ALL-NIGHTERS HIMSELF GETTING HIS SPEECHES IN ORDER, AND ANYONE WHO CROSSED HIS PATH THE WEEK BEFORE WAS LIKELY TO BE CALLED INTO HIS OFFICE TO HEAR HIM REHEARSE. WE OF COURSE NEVER HEARD MORE THAN THE FIRST COUPLE OF PAGES, BECAUSE STEVE COULDN’T RESIST PICKING UP HIS PHONE THE MINUTE IT RANG, AND IT RANG A LOT. IN ANY GIVEN YEAR, STEVE REPRESENTED A COUPLE HUNDRED ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION AGENCIES, REVIEWED COUNTLESS SETS OF RULES AND PUT OUT ANY NUMBER OF FIRES, FROM MISPRINTS TO CRACKED CODES TO OUT AND OUT FRAUD. HE SHARED EVERYTHING HE LEARNED WITH PMA, WRITING A MONTHLY COLUMN FOR PMA AND PERIODICALLY SENDING OUT CLIENT ALERTS ON A REGULAR BASIS, LONG BEFORE ANYONE HAD HEARD OF A BLOG OR A TWEET. BOTH ON BEHALF OF CLIENTS, AND THE PMA LAW COMMITTEE WHICH HE CHAIRED FOR 8 YEARS, STEVE ALSO MET WITH LEGISLATORS AND ATTORNEYS GENERAL AROUND THE COUNTRY TO REPRESENT THE BEST INTERESTS OF PRODUCT MARKETERS. MANY OF THE SWEEPSTAKES RULES WE TODAY KNOWS AS STANDARD ARE THE DIRECT RESULT OF STEVE’S INTELLECTUAL TENACITY, UNIQUE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS, AND DEDICATION TO CLIENT SERVICE. THERE AREN’T TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WHO WILL DRILL DOWN INTO THE LAWS OF BINGO WITH THE SAME LASER ANALYSIS AS THEY WOULD THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH OR DUE PROCESS, BUT IF BINGO WAS IMPORTANT TO A CLIENT, IT WAS IMPORTANT TO STEVE. LAST FEBRUARY, AFTER FIVE OR SIX YEARS OF TRYING, STEVE RETIRED, STILL AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME, AND NOW SPENDS HIS TIME PURSUING HIS LIFELONG INTEREST IN JEWISH STUDIES IN THE DIVINITY SCHOOL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. HE LEFT THE 10 OF US REMAINING IN WINSTON & STRAWN’S ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW GROUP INSPIRED WITH THE HIGHEST AND MOST DEMANDING STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONALISM AND CLIENT SERVICE. INSTEAD OF A SINGLE FILE DRAWER, WE INHERITED A REMARKABLE 20 BY 20 ROOM WITH 100 SHELVES OF SUBJECT MATTER FILES ON EVERY CONCEIVABLE QUESTION IN PROMOTION LAW. I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU THAT THESE FILES ARE THOROUGHLY INDEXED, CROSS-INDEXED, AND ACCESSED THROUGH A TABLE OF CONTENTS. I WOULD BE STETCHING THE TRUTH. BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE THOROUGH AND COMPREHENSIVE, AND STEVE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING THAT’S IN THEM. WHEN BRIAN HEIDELBERGER, WHO NOW CHAIRS OUR GROUP, WAS A YOUNG ASSOCIATE, STEVE DIRECTED HIM TO THESE SUBJECT MATTER FILES FOR A MEMO HE REMEMBERED ON A CLIENT’S FDA QUESTION. BRIAN FOUND THE MEMO AND BROUGHT IT TO STEVE, BUT HE HAD A FUNNY LOOK ON HIS FACE. HE HAD FOUND THE RIGHT MEMO, AND STEVE HAD REMEMBERED IT CORRECTLY, BUT, BRIAN SAID, YOU DO REALIZE, STEVE, YOU WROTE THIS MEMO BEFORE I WAS BORN? A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, TWO FORMER ASSOCIATES, NOW AT A MAJOR NATIONAL ADVERTISER, ASKED STEVE OUT TO LUNCH. HE THOUGHT MAYBE THEY HAD AN ISSUE THEY WANTED TO RUN BY HIM, AND HE WAS FLATTERED. HE WAS SURPRISED THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE LUNCH WAS SIMPLY TO THANK HIM FOR EVERYTHING THEY’D LEARNED FROM HIM AS YOUNG ATTORNEYS. IT IS APPROPRIATE THAT ON THE OCCASION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF PMA, WE, TOO, PAUSE TO THANK AND TO HONOR SOMEONE WHO HAS GIVEN A LIFETIME TO THE STUDY AND ADVANCEMENT OF MARKETING LAW AND THE PROMOTION MARKETING ASSOCIATION, MY RETIRED PARTNER, STEPHEN DURCHSLAG.
