Minutes October 12, 2005

The Executive Committee of the Litigation Section met on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 8:00 a.m. at the Utah Law & Justice Center in Salt Lake City.

Executive Committee members present were:

• Bruce Badger
• Ryan Harris
• Wayne Klein
• Elaina Maragakis
• Willis Orton
• Bryan Pattison (by speaker phone)
• Mike Petrogeorge
• Justin Toth

In addition, Nate Alder from the Bar Commission attended. Lee Curtis, Sammi Anderson, and Dan Steele had been excused. Elaina Maragakis conducted the meeting.

1. Minutes The minutes were reviewed and approved. There was no financial report.

2. Antitrust Section Justin Toth made a presentation regarding plans for the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section. He said the section is just getting started and plans to develop a website, including a primer on antitrust law, and is planning a CLE seminar. In addition, the Antitrust Section plans to be a sponsor of the upcoming antitrust symposium at the University of Utah. He requested funding from the Litigation Section to assist in the startup of the new section. After discussion, the Litigation Section approved giving $500 to the Antitrust Section for its CLEs.

3. Executive Committee Membership Justin Toth resigned from the Section in order to focus his future efforts on the Antitrust Section. Elaina Maragakis explained the status of efforts to confirm whether members of the Executive Committee who have not been attending meetings regularly should be removed. She has lists showing attendance over the past several years and will determine whether those members still wish to be on the Executive Committee.

4. Bylaw Changes A meeting is being set to review the Section bylaws and recommend changes. Nate Alder said the Bar has created a law student section. He said some sections have changed their bylaws to allow law students to join. The Executive Committee agreed the Section should consider including this change.

5. Quarterly E-mail The quarterly e-mail was sent to the Bar for distribution to members of the Section on October 11, 2005.

6. Funding Requests There was discussion of an inquiry by BYU’s law school whether the Section would again provide funding for winners of its trial advocacy program. Support was expressed for proving the funding again this year, but there was reluctance about making a long-term commitment. There was some uncertainty about the amount of funding that should be provided. A decision was postponed. There was a brief discussion of the debate contest at Highland High set for October 21, 2005.

7. Law Student Reception Elaina Maragakis described plans for a reception sponsored by the Section for first-year law students. The goal is to introduce law students to the Bar association and to meet members of the Bar. Dean Matheson told Elaina that he expects significant interest among law students. The reception will be in late November or early December. It will be held at the Law & Justice Center. Judge Himonas will be a speaker, along with Judge Skanchy. Members of the Executive Committee, Bar Commission, and Young Lawyers Division will be invited to participate and greet the students.

8. Outreach to Solo Practitioners Elaina reported that she has invited the chair of the solo practitioners section to have a representative on the Executive Committee. She has not heard a response.

9. CLE Seminars

a. The Golf CLE seminar on October 21 in St. George is all set. The topic is litigating land use, zoning, and eminent domain. The Section will evaluate whether having the seminar on UEA weekend increased or decreased participation. Bryan Pattison said he had heard some concerns by members in Southern Utah that they were unable to go out of town for UEA because they wanted to stay for the seminar.

b. Elaina reported that the Fall Forum is all set for November 11, 2005. The litigation track is modeled after the NITA trial academy.

c. The Evening with Third District Judges is set for November 15, 2005. Judges Iwasaki, Roth, and McCleve will speak. Postcards announcing the seminar will be mailed this week.

d. The evidence seminar with Judge Benson and Professor Mangrum is set for December 15, 2005.

e. The Section will sponsor litigation training with Roger Dodd on February 10, 2006. This is being planned by the Bar so the section has no financial or planning role.

f. The annual meeting committee has begun planning next year’s meeting. Mike Petrogeorge said he is working with the committee to decide how many sessions the Section should sponsor.

10. Judges’ Benchbook There was discussion about how to facilitate access to the benchbook. Ideas considered included creating another website that would link to the benchbook or getting a link to the benchbook directly from the front page of the Bar’s website. Nate Alder explained that the Bar is very reluctant to give space on the front page to section services. Nate and Ryan Harris will talk to Lincoln at the Bar.

11. UMBA Dinner The Section purchased a table of ten for the dinner. Four will be for Section representatives; the other six will be donated to law students and minority bar members.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50.

Dated this 9th day of November, 2005.

For the Executive Committee

Wayne Klein
Secretary pro tem