APPELLATE PRACTICE SECTION
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
MINUTES - April 6, 2004; 12:00 -1:00 p.m.
In attendance: Judge Norman Jackson (Court of Appeals),
D. Scott Crook (Chair), Marian Decker (Past Chair), Ken Bronston (Sec'y/Treas.),
Kent Hart (Council member), Tawni Sherman (Council member).
I Section Funds: Funds of the Section stand at $10,855.29.
II Website: The website will display the upcoming workshop,
"Powerful Writing for Appellate Attorneys," sponsored by the
Appellate and Litigation Sections. There was no discussion on further
improvement of the website.
III Appellate Court Audio Streaming: Audio streaming
is currently working well within the Attorney General's Office at the
Heber Wells Building, the experimental station for this project. However,
bandwidth and firewall problems present difficulties at this time in extending
the service to receivers outside the Attorney General's Office. Thus,
the service is currently limited to the Attorney General's Office. External
receivers of the service may require independent internet service providers
to receive audio streaming. Cost precludes video streaming, and similarly,
lack of portable recording equipment precludes extending audio streaming
to supreme court arguments held at the University of Utah and Brigham
Young University. It was suggested that additional funding from the State
might be derived from reducing allocation to maintain the State Law Libraries.
When the audio streaming service is approved, the Appellate Section wants
to be involved in extending it to attorneys and firms, to wit: the solicitation
of funds to support the service. Marian Decker will follow the progress
of this project.
IV Curriculum Issues: Progress has been delayed on summarizing
administrative and appellate rules, due to workload and health issues.
Kent Hart and Chris Ballard (Utah Attorney General's Office, Criminal
Appeals) are making progress in generating a manual to assist attorneys
through the mechanics and pitfalls of moving an appeal from start to finish.
V CLEs:
A. Judge Jackson's Standard of Review CLE (February 6, 2004): The presentation
was very well received, one participant commenting that it was the best
CLE he had ever attended.
B. Upcoming "Powerful Writing for Appellate Attorneys," to
be presented by Dr. Elizabeth Francis (April 23, 2004): Dr. Francis
has especially tailored the afternoon portion of her general writing
presentation for appellate attorneys.
The workshop will have been widely advertised through one-half page
advertisements in the March and April issues of the Bar Journal, postcard
mailings to the Appellate and Litigation Sections (sponsoring sections),
and email alerts to the general Bar membership. It is hoped and expected
that the Appellate Section will increase its funds through this advertising
effort. Registration is easily accomplished through the Bar website
CLE link.
C. Lunch CLE's: The Section cannot request CLE participants to pay
in advance for lunch CLE's.
D. Lunch CLE with Judges/Justices: The Section would like to continue
to solicit Court of Appeals' judges and Supreme Court Justices for lunch
CLE's, which had gone over well. It was noted that Justice Durrant had
recently conducted an excellent CLE. It was also noted that neither
Justices Durrant or Wilkins had presented a CLE on appellate practice.
Scott Crook volunteered to approach one of them, possibly to present
on the issue of "civility," sometime in June or July. Noting
the burdens on Utah's appellate courts, Judge Jackson observed that
the Utah Supreme Court was continuing an on-going "experiment"
in pouring over to the court of appeals whatever cases its general jurisdiction
allowed.
VI Upcoming Elections:
A. Bylaws: Prior to the last business meeting in July, 2003, the chair
elect has automatically ascended to the position of Section chair. However,
the Section bylaws require the election of the chair elect. The Committee
generally felt that the bylaws should be amended to provide for an automatic
progression from secretary/treasurer to chair elect to chair to post-chair
commitment, although that process entailed a four-year commitment. However,
the proposed change will be presented for discussion, with prior notice,
at the July business meeting. Scott Crook will distribute a proposed
amendment.
B. Date of organizational meeting: It was decided that July would be
the most feasible time for the next business meeting. Scott Crook will
check the calender for appropriate dates and solicit the Committee for
a date in July.
|
