CAL members can look forward to two more excellent programs in 2005.

First, we will be gathering at the ABA Annual Meeting this summer in Chicago. On Friday night, August 5, we are invited to dinner with the judges of the Appellate Judges Conference. Saturday morning, August 6, CAL will be sponsoring what should be a provocative program on statutory interpretation. A central question will be whether there is a need for an ALI Restatement to guide the courts in that task. Panelists will include Abner Mikva, former Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit; Justice Robert P. Young, Jr. of the Michigan Supreme Court; Gary O'Connor, who has written an article advocating a Restatement; and Prof. Saikrishna Prakash of the University of San Diego Law School, who has written in opposition to mandatory rules of interpretation. Prof. Timothy Terrell, from Emory Law School, will moderate. After the panel, CAL will hold its annual meeting and election. Then we will all adjourn for an informal lunch. Ben Cooper has been organizing this event. Contact him at bcooper@steptoe.com for more details.

Second, CAL members will soon be invited to another terrific multi-day program. It will take place in San Francisco from Thursday, September 28 through the evening of Saturday, Oct 1, with Sunday as a "free" or "flyback" day. As is our tradition, many of the panels and social events will be held jointly with various judges' groups. We will likely be staying at the Stanford Court Hotel, on top of Nob Hill, with a panoramic view of the city. Our Program Committee, under the leadership of Sharon Freytag, is currently organizing the specific events. So save these dates and pass on any of your ideas for panels or speakers to Sharon at Sharon.Freytag@haynesboone.com.

Finally, our Executive Board is working out a solution to the problem of the CAL listserve. Some members want to be able to communicate easily with all of their colleagues. Others want minimal interruptions during the course of the day. As an operating entity, CAL needs to be able to send information to the maximum number of its members. We discussed this at our last meeting and think we have a plan that could satisfy everyone. Our hope is that we can create a new and separate listserve for those CAL members who want to participate in an electronic community. They will need to "opt-in" to this dialogue listserve. Then the current CAL listserve—which we hope reaches everyone—would be reserved for notices about events and similar mail. So expect to hear more about new CAL's listserve shortly.