ABA Section of Business Law
ABA Section of Business Law
Business Law Today
May/June 1999
Section sound bites
Spring Meeting success
The Section recently held its 24th annual Spring Meeting in San Francisco. The get-together attracted more than 1,500. Of the attendees, more than 300 were attending for the first time. More than 55 CLE programs and 200 committee and subcommittee events were held during this four-day event.
If you are interested in purchasing program materials, check out the Section’s home page at www.abanet.org/buslaw for a list of available materials or call the Section office at 312/988-5588. If you would like to purchase audiotapes of the CLE programs, call Teach ’em Inc. at 800/225-3775.
Pro bono winners
At the Spring Meeting, the Pro Bono Committee recognized the contributions of David T. Sykes of Philadelphia and the law firm of Dykema Gossett of Detroit as recipients of the National Public Service Award. This award, given to an individual and a firm/corporate law department, was created to recognize significant pro bono services rendered to the poor in a business context, and to recognize the work for the clients and the client groups represented.
David T. Sykes, vice-chair of the Philadelphia law firm of Duane, Morris & Hecksher, was recognized for his extraordinary effort to establish the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project, an organization to serve the needs of low-income debtors. Sykes organized more than 100 members of the bankruptcy bar to participate in providing pro bono legal services to men and women who had no resources to secure counsel.
The Detroit Law Firm of Dykema Gossett was recognized for providing substantial pro bono services to Community Legal Resources, a collaborative effort of Michigan Legal Services and the state bar of Michigan’s Pro Bono Partnership Project. During CLR’s first year, Dykema Gossett lawyers handled 50 percent of the 38 pro bono matters. All of the work was on behalf of nonprofit community development corporations engaged in activities that serve low-income communities or persons.
Glass Cutter Award
At the Section Luncheon in San Francisco, the 8th Annual Glass Cutter Award was presented to Mary Ann Hynes of Rockford, Ill. This award recognizes a woman who has achieved outstanding success in breaking through the barriers in the practice of business law. She currently serves as a co-chair of the Membership Committee and served on the Section Council.
Authors recognized
At the Spring Meeting, the Section recognized the authors of recently published Section books:
• Marvin Jacob and Sharon Youdelman of Weil, Gotshal & Manges — Reorganizing Failing Businesses
• Mike Sigal Jr. and the TriBar Opinion Committee — The Collected TriBar Legal Opinion Reports, 1979-1998
• Fred Miller — The ABCs of the UCC: Related and Supplementary Consumer Law
• Neal Brockmeyer and the Committee on Law Firms — Documenting the Attorney-Client Relationship
• Sally Henry — The Portable Bankruptcy Code, 1999 Edition
• Stephanie Heller and Thomas Baxter Jr. and the Task Force on Stored-Value Cards — A Commercial Lawyer’s Take on the Electronic Purse
CLEO Scholars recognized
Last year, the Section established the Section of Business Law CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity) Scholarship, an annual scholarship program to assist CLEO fellows in their completion of law school and to encourage participation of women and minorities in Section activities. Recipients of the scholarship were subsidized to attend the Section’s Spring Meeting, were assigned mentors to help them develop a better understanding of the Section and were recognized at the Section’s Council meeting.
Congratulations to this year’s CLEO Scholars — Gabrielle Barrientes, University of Iowa School of Law; Chung-Yiu Lee, University of Madison Law School; Patricia Smith, University of Iowa College of Law; Twinckle Vaidya, Temple University School of Law.
