As my term as Section Chair concludes, I want to thank the many hardworking and dedicated Section and Committee leaders who have made this year so productive and rewarding and who have helped to advance our mission so substantially. I also want to thank those who worked so hard in planning our various Section meetings and conferences, and our superb staff, which, I am convinced, is the best within the ABA. All of them contributed to the important highlights of the year, which include:

• Meetings and Programs: We had the best Section seasonal meetings ever with 1,350 participants at our Spring Meeting in New York and 650 participants at our Fall Meeting in Brussels. We held very successful stand-alone conferences on the WTO in September and a well attended, substantively strong National Economic Sanctions in November. We are looking forward to an extremely well attended annual meeting in Honolulu and to an important leadership retreat in Maui. We have also held a successful series of twelve educational and informative CLE audio conferences. Through these meetings and programs we offered over 150 CLE opportunities, great networking events, timely and topical keynote addresses and the presentation of Section Awards to luminaries such as Senator George Mitchell and Judge Thomas Buergenthal, long-time Section members Aaron Schildhaus and Eleanor Roberts Lewis and human rights defender Soraya Guitterez Arguello.
• Public International Law Programs: In the Fall, ABA President-Elect Karen Mathis and I led a delegation of Section leaders and members on an International Legal Exchange (ILEX) trip to the international institutions at the Hague. In November, we held a not-to-be-forgotten program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the commencement of the first Nuremburg war crimes tribunal. In the Spring, I had the privilege of co-chairing with ABA President Mike Greco our annual ABA Day at the UN where we met with top UN leaders and a number of the ambassadors at the US Mission to the UN. As an outgrowth of this program, we sent letters to the Administration urging fundamental reform of the United Nations Human Rights Commission consistent with policy we adopted last year; also, we urged Senate ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
• Advocacy: We continued the Section’s tradition of taking stances on important issues of international law and practice with policy initiatives on issues ranging from global migration to The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements to a uniform act allowing the use in state court proceedings of unsworn declarations under penalty of perjury obtained overseas, among others.
• International Bar Outreach: Our top leaders embarked on a very successful exchange with bar leaders in Argentina, Brazil and Chile which went a long way towards enhancing our relationships with lawyers in these countries and exploring new opportunities for future collaboration and upcoming Section events. My only real regret concerning the past year is that a pressing client matter prevented me from leading the delegation, but the regret is personal, since our Chair-Elect, Deborah Enix-Ross, took over and did a superb job.
• Government Outreach: We continued our longstanding efforts to provide useful comments on important initiatives from the termination of a foreign private insurer’s registration of a class of securities and duty to file reports to the role of comity in international competition law enforcement, among many others. And at our General Counsels Dinner – an annual opportunity to discuss informally the international legal issues of interest - we were privileged to host general counsels from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Justice, State, Treasury, the National Security Agency, the US Trade Representatives Office, the United Nations Development Programme and Environmental Protection Agency, among many other government agencies, congressional committees, and international organizations represented.
• Governance: We developed a new strategic plan that sets out our vision for ABA International for the next three years. Having achieved most of the goals set forth in our initial Strategic Plan adopted three years ago, the new plan sets out a number of challenging, but attainable goals for the next three years, that will take the Section to an even higher level.
• Enhanced Communications: Many of our committees publish newsletters and under our new program of enhanced committee communications, eight new committee newsletters started up this year. And of course, the newsletter you are reading, which was originated by Josh Markus two years ago, has been issued in a timely manner monthly with expanded content to keep you up-to-date on the full spectrum of Section activities.
• Committee Activities: We had a banner year with a myriad of programs, publications, policies and projects undertaken by our committees. There were numerous brown bags and breakfasts at the bar and speakers at the ABA Building in Washington, DC. We are especially proud that more committees submitted Year-in-Review articles than ever before.
• Diversity: We have created a Task Force on Diversity to ensure that our leadership reflects our very broad and diverse membership.
• Publications: We have published important new books on Trade Remedies for Global Companies and International Labor Law and Employment as well as timely and topical coverage of cutting edge international legal issues in our quarterly International Law News and The International Lawyer.

I complete my term as Chair with pride and pleasure in our strong record of accomplishment that built upon the important contributions of my immediate predecessors - Ken Reisenfeld, Josh Markus, Don DeAmicis and Bob Lutz. With the efforts of many others, we have built a new Section leadership culture of teamwork and achievement that will serve ABA International in good stead going forward. I am especially pleased to turn the reins over to the very strong leadership of our incoming Chair Deborah Enix-Ross, Chair-Elect Jeffrey Golden and Vice Chair Aaron Schildhaus. Having worked closely with them in recent years, I know that they will build on prior achievements … and lead the Section to even greater heights in the future. Please give them the strong support that you gave me during the past year.

While I leave as Chair, I will certainly not be foregoing active involvement in ABA International. I look forward to serving as one of the Section’s two representatives in the ABA House of Delegates and to chairing the nominating committee in my role as Immediate Past Chair.

Finally, I can’t refrain from noting that it is not too late to register for the ABA International portion of the ABA Annual Meeting in Honolulu on August 4-6. To register for this great series of substantive programs and networking events, click here. I truly hope to see you in Paradise as I pass on the Section gavel!

Michael H. Byowitz, Section Chair

Honolulu Annual Meeting Events

During the ABA Annual Meeting, there will be a number of administrative meetings of the Section.

The Section Administration Committee will meet on August 4, 2006 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort, Coral Ballroom V, Mid-Pacific Conference Center from 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. The agenda will be posted shortly on the Administration Committee homepage.

The Section Council will meet on Friday, August 4, 2006 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort, Coral Ballroom V, Mid-Pacific Conference Center from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That agenda will be posted on the Council homepage.

There will be a short meeting of the Section membership at the end of the Council meeting to approve the Nominating Committee report and by-law amendments.

Also, by way of reminder, the Section is supporting Bill Hannay's election as one of the at-large delegates to the ABA House of Delegates this year. Please remember to take a minute or two to vote for Bill when you pick up your registration materials for the Annual Meeting in Honolulu. Voting is limited to registrants for the Annual Meeting and votes must be cast in person.

Task Force on International Election Standards

We have appointed the members of the new Task Force on International Election Standards. Selecting the members was difficult because we received expressions of interest from many well-qualified individuals. The Task Force will be chaired by Jan Baran, a partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP, who was a former chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Election Law. The members are: Professor Linda Crane, Associate Dean for Faculty Development at John Marshall Law School; Larry Garber, Executive Director of the New Israel Fund; Ryan Phair, WilmerHale; Lynn Preece, Baker & McKenzie LLP; Aaron Schildhaus, Law Offices of Aaron Schildhaus; Laurel Shanks, Federal Election Commission; Professor John Simpkins, Charleston School of Law; Katlyn Thomas, Katlyn Thomas PC; Commissioner Michael Toner, Chairman of the Federal Election Commission; and Jay Vogelson, Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka. The first Task Force meeting will be held in August.

 ABA INTERNATIONAL READING

August 1-3, 2006
ABA International Leadership Retreat – Maui, Hawaii

August 4-6, 2006
ABA/Section Annual Meeting – Honolulu, Hawaii
Online registration is now closed but our super staff can provide assistance if you wish to sign up for the leadership retreat and the annual meeting: newmanl@staff.abanet.org.

October 5, 2006
Live from the SEC
For the seventh year, ABA International will present this prominent and critically acclaimed program hosting the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission discussing developments of importance of international practitioners and non-US. issuers. See future newsletters and emails for the particulars for this program.

October 10, 2006
Transitional Justice Conference: Evolution of Accountability:
From Nuremberg to Africa – NYU Law School , New York, New York

October 16-17, 2006
National Institute on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - Omni-Shoreham Hotel , Washington , DC  

November 8-11, 2006
Fall Meeting – The Biltmore Hotel, Miami, FL
ABA International is planning for its largest ever Fall Meeting in Miami in 2006. Details to be provided in future newsletters and emails.

May 2-5, 2007
Spring Meeting – The Fairmont Hotel, Washington, DC
The Co-Chairs for the 2007 Spring Meeting are planning to surpass the unparalleled success of the 2006 Spring Meeting. Save the dates now and watch for details on this conference early next year.

August 10-12, 2007
ABA/Annual Meeting – The Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, California