EXCESS, SURPLUS LINES AND REINSURANCE
(ESLR)

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Nothing But Net -- Winter 2001

By: Larry P. Schiffer, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P.
    lschiffe@llgm.com

  As we all know, the Internet provides us with a wide variety of communication options. TIPS and ESLR have taken advantage of many of these opportunities by creating a Committee listserv and a discussion/chat area. Unfortunately, very few of us have taken advantage of these communication options. This article will briefly describe the options available to ESLR members and how you can take advantage of them.

  E-mail clearly is the “killer app” of the Internet. But e-mail has its limitations. For example, if you want to distribute information to a large mailing list via e-mail, you must create a bulk distribution mailing list or list each recipient individually in the “To” line. Also, E-mail is not conducive to a group discussion of a particular topic. Finally e-mail generally does not result in immediate responses in the nature of a conversation.

  So how can ESLR members communicate in more efficient ways than by e-mail? Using a list serve is one of the best ways to distribute information that needs to be disseminated simultaneously among a large group. ESLR has a list serve: eslrcom@abanet.org. A list serve is an electronic subscription-based e-mail distribution list. Our list, ESLRCOM, is a moderated list, which means that items distributed on the list must first be approved for dissemination. A posting need only be made to the list serve and the computer on which the list serve resides automatically distributes the message to all subscribers. All ESLR members should be subscribed to ESLRCOM because we use ESLRCOM to distribute information about breaking legal developments and Committee programs. If you are not a subscribed member of ESLRCOM, please go to the ESLR Committee website and sign up now at http://www.abanet.org/tips/eslr/home.html. Right now, we only have about 50% of our members subscribed, primarily because of old or bad e-mail addresses given to the ABA. We need the rest of you to join, so sign up today.

  Another way ESLR members can communicate more efficiently is through the discussion/chat capabilities of the ABA’s webboard. Here, again, you need to register and sign up (this sign up is different than the listserv sign up because of the different software being used). The webboard has a TIPS area and an ESLR Committee discussion area called ESLR-Chat. ESLR-Chat is organized by topic and any Committee member can post a comment or reply to any of the topics. The current topics are: Welcome, In-House Counsel Inquiries, Committee Programs/Meetings, Recent Developments, and Post Your Questions Here (Outside Counsel). The discussion part of the webboard is essentially a threaded discussion group. Here you can view the original posting and all replies to the original posting. This is a great way to ask a practice question or raise an issue for discussion. Members can log in and respond at their leisure while the discussion goes on for as long as members keep posting. You can find the ESLR-Chat at <http://discussion.abanet.org:8080/~tipschat/login>. A screen shot of ESLR-Chat is below:

  One of the great features of the webboard is the ability to have a live chat. This feature works like chat rooms on other on-line services. If members of the Committee are working on a Committee program and need to collaborate, the chat is a perfect tool for all members working on that program to get on line and exchange ideas. Also, if there are practice questions that are worthy of a discussion in real time, the chat feature allows a real time discussion to proceed. This all works without the expense of a conference call on a phone service. The chat room associated with ESLR-Chat is on the same webboard and can be accessed easily by clicking on the Chat button on the top menu bar. All members logged in at the same time can chat in real time about anything. If there is interest, we can even do a live Committee chat on an upcoming program or a recent development.

  If you have any ideas on how we can better use the ESLRCOM listserv or the ESLR-Chat, please let us know. If you want to sign up to either and are having problems, let us know. Please use these communication devices. They are free and allow members who cannot attend meetings to participate in the workings of the Committee. Sign up now and you will see how valuable these services are.

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