Minutes of November 14, 2001 Meeting

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

Attendance. Executive Members present were Frank Carney, Mike Petrogeorge, Willis Orton, Justin Toth, and Brent Manning.

Resignation of Scott Reed. Scott Reed has taken a position with a firm in Newport, Oregon, and will no longer be able to serve on our Executive Committee. He is also the Chair-Elect and a new Chair for the year July 2002- July 2003 will need to be elected. Another “government” attorney should replace Mr. Reed and he suggested Wayne Klein of the Attorney General’s Office. This will be considered at our next meeting.

Interest on Litigation Section Account. We are donating approximately $4,200 to “And Justice For All” and this amount represents the unpaid interest on the Section Account balance. We agreed to revisit this donation on a yearly basis.

Evening With Third District Court. Frank Carney reported that the event on October 24th was a success and well-attended.

Annual Meeting. Frank Carney reported that Christy Romero has this well in hand. We have David Ball, Ph.D. scheduled to speak on drama in the courtroom, jury selection, and damages for four one-hour breakout sessions. Our fifth hour will be in conjunction with the Young Lawyers’ Section and they requested potential topics. “Collecting a Judgement” was suggested as well as “Jury Selection.” Frank Carney was to followup with Ms. Romero on what the Young Lawyers would prefer. After the meeting, Mr. Carney and Ms. Romero conferred and decided that the judgment collections topic would be the most popular and that David Leta at Snell & Wilmer was willing to present the topic and had done so in the past. Ms. Romero will confirm Mr. Leta for the presentation and allow him to choose other speakers to assist if he so decides they are needed.

Mid-Year Meeting. Bruce Badger was not present but Willis Orton has spoken with him and determined that the Section will be sponsoring a breakout presentation on economic damages called “Connecting the Dots” by Doug Cannon. An economist may also speak. We are uncertain who will be the keynote speaker and what may be requested of us in that regard.

Status of Judge’s Benchbook Interviews. Frank Carney and Scott Reed met yesterday with the Fourth District judges and most of them have agreed to provide materials for the Benchbook. Deno Himonas continues to work on getting the St. George judges to submit their materials.

Judicial Budget Cuts. Frank Carney reported that Judge Ron Nehring mentioned that significant cuts in judges and clerks will be forthcoming due to the new City Justice Courts. This prompted a discussion on the need to assist Judge Nehring and the Bar in attempting to ensure that destructive cuts are prevented. Mr. Manning will followup with Judge Nehring and report back on what we might do to assist.

Status of Mentors’ Page. Frank Carney reported that we are finally getting a few inquiries about the “Mentors’ page.

Status of Judges’ Benchbook. Frank Carney reported that this seems to be generating significant interest. The Bar states that in excess of ten thousand internet users are accessing the Litigation Section’s web page a month and we believe that most of these are generated by interest in the Judges’ Benchbook. The interviews need to be conducted and a list of the assignments is attached.

New Lawyers’ CLE on December 13th. Willis Orton stated that the Bar wanted the Section to participate in a seminar on depositions and professionalism for Young Lawyers on December 13th. Brent Manning and Frank Carney expressed interest, as well as Mr. Orton. Following the meeting, Frank Carney learned that the Bar expected us to put on the entire three-hour seminar and that nothing had been arranged. Frank Carney was able to put together a panel of speakers on short notice to discuss all aspects of depositions: Frank Carney, Dick Burbidge, Willis Orton, Tom Karrenberg, Rich Humpherys, and Colin King. Brent Manning learned that his calendar makes participation impossible and tendered his regrets.

Trial Academy 2002. Willis Orton stated that efforts were still underway to find a replacement for Frank Carney to supervise the Trial Academy. Unfortunately, Gordon Campbell is re-joining the United States Attorney’s Office and will be unable to assist. Other options are being weighed.

Minority Representation on CLEs. Brent Manning noted that minority representation on the CLE speakers list is poor. We agreed that we need to attempt to improve this and avoid the tendency to appear to serve only the interests of the large firms and white males. Therefore, it was suggested and unanimously agreed that a member of the Minority Bar Association be invited to join our Executive Committee to assist us in opening up speaking opportunities for their members. Following the meeting, Brent Manning determined that Clayton Simms of the MBA would be willing to assist and Mr. Simms has been placed on our Executive Committee.

Next meeting. Our next meeting was set for 8:00 am on Wednesday, December 12th.

There being no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.

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

_________________________
Francis J. Carney
Secretary

LITIGATION SECTION EVENTS
As of November 17, 2001

• December 12 Executive Committee Meeting
• December 13 New Lawyer’s CLE on Depositions
• January Trial Academy, Part I
• March Mid-Year Meeting in St. George
• March Trial Academy, Part II
• May Trial Academy, Part III
• June 26-29 Annual Meeting in Sun Valley