Appellate Practice

Meeting Minutes: October 2007

Appellate Practice Section Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
October 10, 2007

Present: Jeanne B. Inouye (Chair); Troy L. Booher (Chair-Elect); Tawni J. Sherman (Committee Member); Debra Nelson (Committee Member); Erin Riley (Secretary/Treasurer); Judge Gregory Orme (Judicial Liaison)

Absent: John Bogart (Committee Member); Ken Bronston (Committee Member)

Action and Information Items:

1. Minutes: Approval of minutes from the section meeting and executive committee meeting on August 23, 2007.

2. Bylaws: Ken previously asked the section to vote on a few changes to the bylaws, and all of the proposed changes passed. A copy of the amended bylaws, showing the changes, was provided to all of the committee members present. This includes the change that annual section dues shall be $15.00.

3. Bi-Annual report to the Board: The Board of Commissioners has requested that the appellate section provide them with a bi-annual report including the following items:

a. A list of current membership (as of Sept 2007 – 137 paid and 92 courtesy memberships)
b. A schedule of meetings, CLE or other activities of the section conducted during the preceding 2 year period (Tawni will provide this to Jeanne)
c. A schedule of section funds collected and expenditures (note Troy’s report)
d. A schedule of anticipated activities for the upcoming period
e. Any other information regarding actions of the section to meet its objective.

4. Financial Report: A copy of Troy’s financial report, showing the section’s balance sheets from 2004 through August 2007, was provided to each committee member present.

5. McConnell CLE: Judge McConnell spoke about “Sentencing After Booker.” This CLE appeared to be quite successful. It was interesting and was attended by a fairly large and diverse crowd. However, there was a problem with not having enough lunch for everyone. A few people might request return of money.

6. CLE planning for 2008:

November 29, 2007 – CLE with panel of judges (JJ. Judy Atherton, Paul Cassell, Ronald Nehring, Gregory Orme, moderated by former J. Michael D. Zimmerman) – “How Judges Really Read Briefs.” Jeanne will handle the announcement and arrange the lunch for this event.

Spring 2007 – CLE event. Judge Orme will ask JJ. Christine Durham and Matt Durrant if they would be willing to come and speak about “The state of State Constitutional analysis,” sometime between January – June 2008. The Constitutional law section would probably agree to co-sponsor.

Other possibilities were also discussed, and Jeanne provided a list of suggested names and topics. Troy will check with the U of U to see who is coming to speak at their spring symposium, and if it is someone who we would want to ask if they would come an extra day and also speak to us. Erin will check with BYU for the same purpose.

Erin will also check with some of the bloggers on the list to see how much they would charge to come and speak.

Fall 2008 –“Star of the Bar” CLE – Jeanne contacted Jeff Rosen, who generally charges a speaker’s fee of $5,000 plus travel expenses. It was determined that we could not pay this much. Jeanne will contact Mr. Rosen again to find out what activities he is interested in (snow skiing, mountain biking, etc.). The committee will then try to put together an enticing package offer – for example, 2 days at Deer Valley, ski passes, meals, etc. and a fee of only $1,500.00, to see if he would be willing to accept. Troy and Tawni will check with some contacts concerning this.

7. Fees for CLE with lunch: It was determined that standard fees for CLE meetings where lunch is provided will be $30 for non-section members, $20 for section members, and $10 for Judges. However, Judge Orme sent an e-mail up-date, prompted by Bar CLE director Connie Howard’s assistant calling him with the corrected information that attendance at Bar-sponsored events, (including lunch CLEs), is always complimentary for judges.

Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held after the CLE on November 29th.