Thank you for your willingness to serve as a Committee leader for the Section of Science & Technology Law during the 2008-2009 bar year. The Section prides itself as being the trusted source of information and policy development at the intersection of law, science and technology and it is through the work of the committees that much of the Section’s primary member benefits are produced.

As you are planning out your year, we have assembled a list of Chair/Vice Chair responsibilities to guide you in leading your committee to success. You are certainly welcome to be creative in your ideas and may deviate from the list, but note that there are some requirements that we would like you to meet, if at all possible. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Julia Gillespie, the Section’s Membership and Committees Manager, at 312/988-5594 or email her at gillespj@staff.abanet.org.

REQUIREMENTS

*          Create a plan to make your committee a leading voice in your area.  We welcome your creative thinking on how to best serve and attract members and/or influence policy.  Many of our committees have had success with the ideas on the following page. Please submit the committee plan by October 1 to Julia Gillespie at gillespj@staff.abanet.org.

*          Respond in a timely manner to any member who contacts you about your committee.   A member’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction can stem from just one communication (or non communication) from you.  We want to convey our interest in our members and potential members, so please respond quickly to any inquiry that comes to you regarding your committee.  If you need assistance, please call the Section Office.

*          Submit written reports to Council for the ABA Annual & Midyear Meetings.  Deadlines for written reports for the ABA Annual and Midyear Meetings are:
            2009 Midyear Meeting:            Monday, January 11th, 2009
            2009 Annual Meeting:             Monday, June 29th, 2009
A template for the report will be sent to you about one month before the due date.

*          Attend ABA Annual and Midyear Meetings.  Plan to attend the Council Meeting and prepare a short (3-5 minute) oral report to give to the Council.  You should also plan to attend your Division Meeting at the Annual Meeting and as many CLE programs as possible.  You may also schedule a committee meeting during the Annual Meeting.  A schedule of events will be sent to you several months prior to the meetings.  Please note the following dates:

2009 ABA Midyear Meeting
February 12-14, 2009
Boston, Massachusetts

2009 ABA Annual Meeting
July 30 - August 4, 2009
Chicago, Illinois

*          Participate in Leadership Conference Calls.  These calls will be held prior to the Annual and Midyear Meetings and notification of the calls will be sent out several weeks in advance.  Participants may be asked to volunteer to review resolutions that will be coming before the ABA House of Delegates and report back to the leadership with a recommendation on how the Council should vote.
PROJECT IDEAS

*          Write a Jurimetrics Article.  Contact Editor, Dennis Kajala for details (dennis.kajala@asu.edu)

*          Write an Article for The SciTech Lawyer.  This can be in the form of a committee activity report, a substantive article, a legislative update, etc.  Please feel free to contact Editor Julie Fleming Brown (Julie@julieflemingbrown.com) or Managing Editor Tom Campbell (CampbelT@staff.abanet.org) for details and deadlines.

*          Propose Annual Meeting Program.  The Section plans to hold 6 CLE programs at the 2009 Chicago Annual Meeting.  A proposal form will be sent to all leadership in October and will be due in to the Section Office by early January.
 
*          Propose a CLE Teleconference Program.  The Section plans to produce 6 Teleconferences this year.  If you would like to propose a program, please contact Shawn Taylor Kaminski (skaminski@staff.abanet.org) for a proposal form.  The Teleconference Coordination Committee will let you know if your program has been selected.

*          Propose a Co-sponsored Program or Project with Another Organization or ABA Entity.  This can be a great way to gain exposure for your committee outside of the Section.  If your committee would like to co-sponsor a CLE program or project with another organization or ABA Entity, please contact the Section office at least four (4) months in advance. Note that some outside organizations have much longer lead times than the ABA. For example, in the  past our Section has cosponsored programs at the annual February meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but AAAS program proposals must be submitted in the early spring preceding its next annual meeting.

*          Create and Use List Serves.  Many of our committees already have list serves; if however, you do not yet have one, please contact Julia Gillespie (gillespj@staff.abanet.org).  This is an easy, cost effective way to communicate with your members. 

*          Host Local Substantive Brown-Bag Lunch.  Because many firms and companies are restricting funds for travel to CLE programs, you may want to host a short brown-bag luncheon in your area for practitioners or law students.  Contact Julia Gillespie (gillespj@staff.abanet.or for more information.

*          Write a Substantive Book or Monograph.   The Section is very proud of its successful book publishing program and many of the books published by the Section come out of the committees.  If you are interested in proposing a book idea, please contact Sarah Orwig, Staff editor (orwigs@staff.abanet.org) for details and a proposal form.

*          Hold a Committee Meeting at the Annual Meeting.   Committees are invited to hold a committee meeting during the ABA Annual Meeting.  You will be contacted in the spring regarding your interest in holding a meeting.  Committees are also encouraged to conduct meetings throughout the year by teleconference.  To set-up a meeting or committee teleconference, please contact Julia Gillespie (gillespj@staff.abanet.org).

*          Propose House of Delegates Resolution. If your committee knows of a hot issue and you believe the ABA should develop policy about it, please contact Section Delegate, Bonnie Fought (aba@garber-fought.net) or Section Delegate, Ellen Flannery (eflannery@cov.com) or Section Director, Shawn Taylor Kaminski (skaminski@staff.abnet.org) to discuss the process. 

*          Submit Committee Information for SciTech e-Merging News.
The Section’s quarterly e-newsletter, SciTech e-Merging News, is a great place to highlight your committee’s activities or to recruit new active members for your projects.  Contact Julia Gillepie (gillespj@staff.abanet.org) for information about how to submit an article.
           
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