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Business Law Today
July/August 2001 (Volume 10, Number 6) Joint ventures

A page for committees

This "Joint Ventures" department is intended to be just that: a celebration of the joint ventures that Section of Business Law committees represent.

The contents are submitted by existing Section committees to trumpet their activities or to herald new committees that are just getting under way (such as the two on this page).

If you'd like to be included, contact Joanne Travis in the Section office at 312/988-5680. Of course, like anything else in this magazine, contents are subject to tightening and editing.

Community Economic Development: new group

At its Spring 2001 Meeting in Philadelphia, the Council of the Section of Business Law approved the formation of a new Community Economic Development Committee within the Section.

The target group is for lawyers whose primary practice or pro bono service is with low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs and community-based organizations that are working to revitalize rural and inner-city communities through the development of local businesses.

With the new committee, these individuals may participate in the Section and learn from the expertise and resources of thousands of other business lawyers around the country.

The shift from a manufacturing economy to an information/service economy as well as developments in computer technology have resulted in the rapid growth of small and micro-businesses and an increased interest in entrepreneurship. Today, nonprofit corporations are also expected to operate using business principles creating new initiatives in social entrepreneurism, social-purpose business and social-venture philanthropy. As a result, many community-based nonprofit organizations have created for-profit subsidiaries to spur business development in low-income communities.

The new committee will be a unique and unparalleled forum to:

- share knowledge and develop policies about the emerging law of community economic development;
- support transactional lawyers who are involved in this type of work;
- work with the Section's Pro Bono Committee to help bar associations establish relevant pro bono opportunities for lawyers;
- assist law school faculty in the development of business law curricula that will enable the next generation of business lawyers to assist lenders, underwriters and community-based economic development organizations assess risk, structure investments and comply with applicable statutory requirements; and
- address the professional needs of those lawyers who are furnishing services to individuals and communities that previously have not had access to business law expertise.

The first meeting of the committee will be held during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, on Sunday, Aug. 5, at 2-3 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel. Section members are encouraged to join the committee before the meeting. E-mail the Section's committee manager, Burt Blanchard, at bblanchard@staff.abanet.org and advise that you want to join the Community Economic Development Committee.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, contact the committee co-chairs, Susan Jones, professor at George Washington University School of Law at sjones@clinic.nlc.gwu.edu or Myles Lynk, professor at Arizona State University College of Law at myles.lynk@asu.edu

Ad Hoc Committee on Energy Business

The Section has just formed the Ad Hoc Committee on Energy Business. A number of firms are finding their practice groups dominated by matters involving energy-related issues. Likewise, lawyers in the public sector and working in-house are experiencing a substantial increase in energy-related matters. The new committee encompasses all business aspects of energy - financing, trading, oil and gas, deregulation, regional power grids, supply and pricing concerns, market and price control matters, and restructuring.

For information concerning the organizational meeting of the new committee, please contact Hugh Ray, committee chair, at 713/220-4164 or hray@akllp.com.

For members only

Section committees put a lot of work into programs they round up for Section meetings. Section members have access to original Spring Meeting materials in full text - free of charge. Be sure to check out the library of available materials on the Section's Web site at www.abanet.org/buslaw.

ABA Section of Business Law