Minutes of December 12, 2007

Litigation Section Executive Committee
Minutes for December 12, 2007

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The Executive Committee of the Litigation Section met on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 8:00 a.m. at the Utah Law & Justice Center in Salt Lake City.

Executive Committee members present or participating by telephone were:

• Lee Curtis
• Ryan Frazier
• Wayne Klein
• Bryan Pattison
• Isaac Paxman
• Mike Petrogeorge
• Dan Steele
• Tish Toombs (ex officio law school rep for U of U)

Executive Committee members excused were:

• Sammi Anderson
• George Burbidge
• Keith Call
• Jared Casper
• Jonathan Hafen
• Ryan Harris
• Elaina Maragakis
• R. Willis Orton
• Patrick Tanner

1. Minutes. The minutes of the November meeting were reviewed and approved.

2. Budget. Mike Petrogeorge reported that he and Dan Steele will attempt to arrange a meeting with Jeff Einfeldt to improve the financial reporting to allow for better tracking of the Committee finances.

3. Proposed Co-Sponsorship of Appellate Section of CLE by Jeffrey Rosen. Mike Petrogeorge reported that Sammi Anderson had a meeting with the leadership of the Appellate Section to discuss a possible co-sponsorship and using Mr. Rosen as a possible Annual Convention speaker. The Appellate Section indicated that it did not have any problem with the Litigation Section approaching Mr. Rosen about speaking at the Annual Convention.. After discussing the matter, the Committee decided to co-sponsor a CLE involving Mr. Rosen with the Appellate Section up to $1,500.

4. Financial Report. Dan Steele led a discussion regarding the Section’s finances. He reported that the Section did not receive the detail that the Section desired. He suggested that he and Mike Petrogeorge discuss this with Jeff Einfeldt when he meets with him to request more detailed tracking.

5. BYU Scholarship. Mike Petrogeorge led a discussion regarding the presentation of a scholarship at BYU. He explained that he thought the presentation was to be made at the end of March and that it would need to be coordinated during January. Isaac Paxman volunteered to take charge of making the arrangements.

6. Upcoming CLE Events.

(a) Quarterly Luncheons. Mike Petrogeorge led a discussion regarding the quarterly luncheon scheduled for today. He explained that the panel, consisting of Judge Orme, Judge Royal Hansen, and Robert S. Clark, is ready to go and that Lee Curtis will represent the Litigation Section Executive Committee at the luncheon and will introduce the panel.

(b) Spring Convention. The Committee had a quick discussion regarding the Spring Convention, the preparations of which are still moving forward. After the meeting, Mike Petrogeorge delivered an electronic mail message stating Connie Howard had informed him and Dan Steele that the Section would have two breakouts, both on Saturday morning. Mike and Dan asked Ms. Howard how to avoid a Saturday morning placement in the future. She stated that the breakouts are assigned on a “first come, first serve” basis and that the best way to avoid such a placement is to let her know as soon as possible which breakouts the Section would prefer.

(d) Annual Convention. Mike Petrogeorge reported that he has spoke to Sammi Anderson only about possible keynote speaker, but he noted that he knows that she has been actively seeking possible speakers for the Annual Convention break-out sessions. He also reported that the Litigation Section would likely be allocated 2-3 breakout sessions. Dan Steele proposed having Mike Mohrman give a presentation on mediation at the Annual Convention.

7. Bench Books. Mike Petrogeorge reported that there was nothing new regarding the Bench Books.

8. Section’s Website. Dan Steele led a discussion regarding the website. He reported that he and Sammi Anderson were hoping to push forward with the initial steps of a redesign after the first of the year, including working on obtaining bids to outsource the redesign. Wayne Klein suggested that we coordinate with Lincoln to make certain that outsourcing the website was acceptable. It was also noted that if the website is outsourced, the Litigation Section needed to take appropriate steps to ensure that it retained all rights to the website and the content.

9. New Ideas. Mike Petrogeorge led a discussion in which he opened the floor to new ideas in which the Litigation Section can get involved to better served the Litigation Section members. The Committee members made various suggestions, including an all-day CLE event with a high profile speaker that is exclusively sponsored by the Litigation Section, conducting a one to two-day seminar on practical skills like NITA and CLE events in outlying areas such as Cache Valley and the Uintah Basin, and conducting a CLE presentation of Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions. The Committee will explore some of these new ideas in 2008.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:45 a.m. The next meeting will be on January 9, 2008.

Dated this 9th day of January, 2008.

For the Executive Committee

_________________________________________
Ryan B. Frazier
Secretary