Minutes of February 14, 2001 Meeting

The Executive Committee of the Litigation Section met on Wednesday, February 14, 2001, at 8:00 a.m. at the Law and Justice Center in Salt Lake City.

Attendance. Present were Frank Carney, Tracy Fowler, Justin Toth, Deno Himonas, Rod Snow, Willis Orton, and Brian Babcock. Also present were Charles Gruber from the Office of Professional Conduct, and Connie Howard from the Utah State Bar CLE Department.

Approval of minutes. The minutes from the last meeting were reviewed and approved with minor changes.

Web Page. Frank Carney reported that the web page is slowly progressing. It would be better for now to keep the page a part of the Bar's page; none of us has the time or the knowledge to make the continued updates needed. Frank Carney will, however, lobby for more exposure to our page within the Bar's page so that it's not so difficult to find.

Judges' "Bench Book." Frank Carney reported that this continues to progress, albeit slowly. We have about two-thirds of the Third District judges finished and next will finish the First and Second Districts. The thought is that more judges will want to participate once they see their colleagues doing so.

"Mentor" Page. We discussed putting a section in our web page where lawyers can ask questions about civil procedure and practice. A panel of experienced lawyers could respond to the questions forwarded to them by email. Then the questions and answers would be posted and saved on the web site. Eventually, it might be a very useful resource for the younger members of the Bar. This will take far less effort than the Judges' Bench Book. Frank Carney will get a draft page set up with Lincoln Mead, the Bar's web page manager.

Appellate Mediation Seminar on January 19th (Fowler) Connie Howard said that the turnout was excellent, perhaps seventy attendees.

Mid-Year Meeting (Badger). Tracey Fowler reported on this. Kent Scott has requested that all Sections advise their members of the event. We are sponsoring the keynote speaker, Dr. Capra, as well as a breakout session on economic damages by Merrill Norman.

Email to members. Frank Carney will put together an email to the members on current projects and the upcoming seminars. Tracey Fowler will mail it.

Utah State Legislature Status. Scott Reed could not attend the meeting and so there was no report on this topic.

CD Continuing Legal Education (Carney). Connie Howard discussed putting together a CD-Rom on trial techniques specific to Utah. The production would be taped and then burned onto a CD, along with paper materials, hotlinks, etc. There were reservations expressed on the time involved in putting this together although the idea is interesting. The matter was tabled for now.

Section dues reduction to $25.00 (Carney) This was again approved. Even at $25.00 a year instead of the present $35.00, our income will be in excess of $30,000. This should be more than sufficient to fund our ongoing projects and commitments.

Annual Meeting: Rod Snow Breakout Session. Rod Snow reported on his breakout session, "What Judges/Lawyers Want" from each other. The judges and the lawyers are lined up. However, Rod wants to survey the Litigation Section on issues that might be discussed. He also wants to survey the judges. Frank Carney suggested a door prize of a Palm Pilot for one judge who attends; this will ensure that most of them do so. Rod Snow will prepare email questionnaires and send them to Frank Carney, who will get them distributed to the members and to the judges.

Annual Meeting: Shawn McGarry Breakout Session. Shawn McGarry was unable to be present at the meeting but Frank Carney has spoken with him and reported that the session for Saturday morning on "Civility From the Judges' Perspective" is all arranged.

Annual Meeting: Law & Economics Breakout Session. We are co-sponsoring a session on the Robinson-Patman Act. However, no one could report on the status of this and the assumption is that the Law & Economics Section has it in hand.

Accountant as Exec Comm member (Fowler). Two accountants have asked to join our Section. The By-Laws do not permit non-lawyer members. We also questioned the motivation and have the perception that it is a marketing effort. Our inclination is to deny them membership unless they can bring to the Section something of real value. Willis Orton will follow up with Arnold Birrell on this and report back.

Audio Tapes and Video Tapes. We discussed buying audio and video tapes for free use by the members. Few members are aware that the Section owns a selection of video tapes that are available for free use by members. Frank Carney mentioned that audio tapes would be as useful; many members would like to rent, but would not buy, some of the better litigation-oriented audiotapes for long drives. However, we need to be sure that there is an effective system in place to take credit card information and charge people for losses. Willis Orton will check with Connie Howard about this; the rest of the Executive Committee will collect ads on useful audio tapes to purchase for consideration at a later meeting. We also agreed that we need to better inform the membership of this benefit.

Cliff Osmond Seminar: February 23/24. Connie Howard reported that we have only eight lawyers confirmed as of today, with two possibles. The total cost will be around $5,000, with $2,000 for the speaker, $1,000 for the speaker's travel expenses, and another $1,000 for the technicians and lighting crew. We need twenty attendees to break even and agreed that it's not a justifiable use of the Section's money to be $3,000 in the red to benefit eight attendees. We then discussed whether more signups will occur after the Bar Journal circulates this week. Either the interest does not exist in the program or it has not been marketed properly. In any event, we agreed that if fifteen paid people are not signed up by Friday afternoon, we will cancel it. A cancellation fee with the speaker, Mr. Osmond, might be considered, although not a large one.

Larry Pozner Seminar: April 19th. Frank Carney reported that this is all set to go. Advertising begins with this month's issue of the Bar Journal. Mr. Carney will be responsible for marketing the seminar; we will have room for 140 attendees and expect to sell out.

Next Meeting. The next meeting of the Executive Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, March 14th, at 8:00 a.m., as usual at the Bar Offices.

There being no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 9:10 a.m.

DATED this _____ day of February, 2001.

FOR THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

_________________________
Francis J. Carney
Secretary

LITIGATION SECTION EVENTS
February 14, 2001

• February 23-24 CLE: Cliff Osmond “Drama in the Courtroom” (Goldstein)
• March 15-18 St. George Mid-Year Meeting (Badger, Carney)
• March 14 Executive Committee meeting
• April 11 Executive Committee meeting
• April 19 CLE: Larry Pozner on Cross-Examination (Carney)
• May 9 Executive Committee meeting
• July 4-7 Annual Meeting in Sun Valley (Manning)