Every year, fall brings with it the prospect of cooler weather, changing leaves, and, yes, contagious influenza. This year, health authorities throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including in the United States, fear fall will be accompanied by a wave of influenza A (novel H1N1) infection even greater than the outbreak we experienced last spring. There was no better occasion, then, to discuss the intersection of payments and pandemics than at our joint meeting with the Payments and Electronic Banking subcommittee of the Banking Law Committee and the Electronic Payments and Financial Services subcommittee of the Cyberspace Law Committee at the ABA's Annual Meeting in Chicago in August.
At the meeting, the three subcommittees brought together an array of experts to lay out what we currently know about novel H1N1 influenza (colloquially known as swine flu) and to discuss legal issues we likely would confront in a widespread outbreak of such a disease. Repeatedly, we heard the refrain: "Cover your cough! Wash your hands!" But we also heard about supervisory efforts to ensure banks are positioned to continue to offer financial services in the event of a major pandemic, and we learned about alternatives to traditional payment media like checks and currency. And we were encouraged to use a skill important to every lawyer--critical thinking--to anticipate problems and to assist in solving them. I would like to thank all our panelists, especially Rob Hunter, Steve Middlebrook, and Sarah Howard Jenkins for their role in putting together the August joint meeting. You can find the materials our panelists presented at the meeting on the subcommittee's webpage.
Last, I would be sorely remiss if I failed to mention that the Annual Meeting marked the end of Sarah Howard Jenkins' tenure as chair of this subcommittee. Since becoming chair in 2007, Sarah has worked tirelessly to promote the subcommittee and to introduce us to new, important topics like e-notes and e-chattel paper. As her vice chair and now incoming chair of the subcommittee, I would like to thank Sarah for her service and wish her well in her future endeavors. I would also like to take this opportunity to ask you for your thoughts and suggestions about future programming and how we can make the subcommittee more meaningful to you. Please feel free to contact me; my contact information can be found by clicking here. I look forward to hearing from you.
