ABA Section of Business Law
ABA Section of Business Law
Business Law Today
July/August 1998
Joint ventures
Cyberspace
where law is an adventure
In August, 1988, when last gathered in Toronto, the Section of Business Law presented its first CLE program considering law, commerce and information technology. Experts gathered to discuss an emerging technology in which business used electronic messaging to execute sales transactions and disregarded the legal rules for signed writings that were part of the foundation of commercial law.
No science fiction writer could have conceived what has since evolved since then. The law of cyberspace has accelerated from imagination into a tangible, complex, exciting domain. Across continents, the evolving law is global, fast-changing and often technologically complex. Yet, for every business lawyer, there is one compelling truth that has become clear during the last 10 years: The law of cyberspace is our present and it is our future.
In August 1998, as the Section of Business Law recognizes its 60th anniversary, the return of the ABA to Toronto will also provide the chance to celebrate the 10th birthday of the law of cyberspace. Led by the Committee on Cyberspace Law, the Section will launch the ABA into the second decade of the adventure of making the law that will govern commerce, government and society on the Net.
"Members of the Section of Business Law have, quite simply, been comprehensively involved in the formulation of the laws that now govern electronic commerce," observed Jeffrey Ritter, the founding chair of the Committee on Cyberspace Law, at the recent Section Spring Meeting. "Our members have made law reform a high priority in their work within the Section; time and again, the resulting laws have reflected the suggestions and the influence of our work to provide a stable, predictable legal framework for what companies want to accomplish," Ritter said.
The Committee on Cyberspace Law has experienced enormous growth. Established in December 1995, it now has nearly 1,100 members active in nearly a dozen substantive subcommittees, task forces and working groups. "Key to the committee's growth has been the strong effort to collaborate across existing structures within the Section and throughout the ABA," said Amy Boss, secretary of the Section and the chair of that first CLE program in 1988.
In Toronto, the committee will be presenting three CLE programs, including a Presidential Showcase Program at the new ABA CLE Center on "Bringing your clients onto the Web." The other programs will highlight the new Intellectual Property Primer to be published this summer and the progress being made on the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
Maury Poscover, chair of the Section, recently underscored the importance of cyberspace law to all aspects of business law when he invited Boss and Ritter to make a special presentation to the Section Council and officers at the St. Louis Spring meeting. "What I find exciting is how the other committees are catching on to the importance of the changes electronic commerce brings to their areas of law and beginning specialized projects within their areas," Poscover said. "Toronto will be a great venue to recognize how far the Section has come, as well as the Committee on Cyberspace Law, in advancing the new legal frameworks that arise from expanding electronic commercial practices."
"The highlight of our celebration in Toronto will be a true launching of the second decade of cyberspace law," Ritter announced in St. Louis. "On Monday, Aug. 3, we will gather on one of the best boats in Toronto harbor and set sail for a great night of food, dancing and friendship." Members and friends of the committee are encouraged to sign up early when they get their special invitations. The cruise will be co-sponsored by the Young Lawyers, the Student Lawyers and several corporate underwriters.
The Committee on Cyberspace Law conducts its work through subcommittees and working groups that focus on:
- Corporate aspects of information technology
- Electronic commerce
- Electronic financial services
- Information infrastructure
- Intellectual property
- Interactive services
- International transactions
