Minutes of May 9, 2001 Meeting

The Executive Committee of the Litigation Section met on Wednesday, May 9, 2001, at 8:00 a.m., at the Law and Justice Center in Salt Lake City.

Attendance. Present were Tracy Fowler, Brent Manning, Rod Snow, Janet Goldstein, Frank Carney, Scott Reed, Justin Toth, Judge Pam Greenwood, and Bruce Badger.

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

Co-sponsorship of ABOTA Trial Practice Seminar. This was tabled until our next meeting. Further information is still needed from ABOTA.

Web Page. Frank Carney demonstrated the Section’s web page and the new “mentoring” segment. There was general agreement that we need to advertise this service to new lawyers and others. We will do this at the Annual Meeting, in the Annual Meeting materials, via email to the Litigation Section members, in the new admittees’ information packets, and in the Bar Journal.

Annual Meeting: Rod Snow Breakout Session. Rod Snow reported on his breakout session, "What Judges/Lawyers Want From Each Other." The judges and lawyers are selected and we will survey the Section membership on their attitudes in the next few days via email.

Annual Meeting: Breakfast Meeting of Section. We unanimously decided to continue with our policy of not having an early-morning breakfast meeting of the entire Section at the Annual Meeting. In the past, attendance has been minimal.

Donation to "And Justice For All" Campaign. We again at length discussed the use of Section funds to support charitable groups like “And Justice For All.” Bruce Badger suggested that we need more information on what our membership thinks and proposed a survey by postcard or letter. This met with general agreement and in that letter we will advise the membership of our activities in more general terms. Brent Manning will draft a proposed letter for the survey and we will approve it at our next meeting.

CLE Registration Fees Deduction for AJ4A. Frank Carney proposed using $10 of each registration fee on Section-sponsored seminars to fund “And Justice For All” or other legal charitable groups. This met with general approved except, on the recommendation of Bruce Badger and Judge Greenwood, we will include a checkoff where registrants can inform us that they do not want a small portion of their registration fees used for this purpose.

Quarterly Section Meetings. Frank Carney raised the subject of the Real Estate Section’s successful monthly luncheon meetings and whether this might be a good way for the Executive Committee to get feedback from our members and at the same time explain what the Section is doing. There was some skepticism as to whether members would attend based on several bleak experiences in the past. This was tabled for further consideration at a later meeting.

Interest on Section's Bar Account Balance. We again noted that the Section has nearly $80,000 in the bank and yet we receive no interest on this money. Bruce Badger reported that the Bar earns 5% on this money and uses for the general fund. In the past year the interest accrued by Section monies was about $4,000. The Bar’s rules allow the Bar to take this interest and it does not accrue for the Section’s benefit. There was general agreement that we should pursue this further with the bar as it could be a source of “found money” that would help finance the recurring requests for funding from litigation-oriented groups. Frank Carney will discuss this with Bar leadership at the June 9 Moab retreat.

Proposed Revisions to Utah Rules of Evidence. We again discussed the proposed amendments to Rules 701, 702, and 703 of the Utah Rules of Evidence and agreed that the Section cannot take a position for or against the proposals. However, we should, and have, advised the membership of the importance of the proposed amendments.

Larry Pozner Cross-Examination Seminar: April 19th Frank Carney reported that this seminar was a success, with approximately 120 paid registrants.

Donation to "Lawyers Helping Lawyers." This group has asked for a substantial donation from the Section. That donation request cannot be met but we will table our final answer until we learn if any of the “interest” funds will be available for use in the future.

MUJI. Frank Carney reported that MUJI Civil-2nd is underway under John Young’s guidance. Lexis will have the second edition of MUJI available online through its service and it will also be sold on CD and in looseleaf form. John has been consumed with getting MUJI Criminal- 1st ready for the press and that project is almost completed.

HB 305 (Judgment Lien Procedures). John Valentine as invited the Section to comment on the changes effective July 1, 2001, on the law applicable to judgment liens. Essentially, the new law mandates that judgments are not automatically liens upon real property– even in the county of judgment– and must be recorded along with certain information on the lienholder and the judgment debtor. Bruce Badger will review the issues and decide if comment is warranted.

Next Meeting. The next meeting of the Executive Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, June 13 th, at 8:00 a.m., as usual at the Bar Offices.

There being no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 a.m.

DATED this _____ day of May, 2001.
FOR THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

_________________________
Francis J. Carney
Secretary

LITIGATION SECTION EVENTS
May 9, 2001

• June 13 Executive Committee meeting
• July 4-7 Annual Meeting of USB in Sun Valley
• October 24 “Evening With Third District Court”
• Dec 6 ABOTA/Litigation Section Trial Practice Seminar
• Dec 7 UTLA/Lit Sec/OPC Ethics Seminar