From the Director Feb 2000

From the Director Feb 2000

Journal Issue: 
Column Name: 
Journal Article: 
Twenty-three law school teams from across the nation will compete in the Eighth Annual Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Moot Court Competition March 10-13 in New York. The final round will be held at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The Duberstein Competition is the nation's only moot court devoted to bankruptcy and has grown into one of the premier law school competitions in any discipline. Final round judges this year include Hon. Edith Hollan Jones (5th Cir.) and Hon. R. Guy Cole (6th Cir.), as well as the chief bankruptcy judges of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. The event concludes with a gala final night dinner at Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. The University of Florida will return to defend its title, along with the University of Texas at Austin, last year's runner up. Advisor to the competition is Prof. Robert M. Zinman of St. John's University School of Law, a past president and past chairman of ABI. The legal problem for the competition is developed each year by members of the Editorial Board of the ABI Law Review. The Law Review is published with St. John's twice per year.

Endowment Fund Grant to Focus on Tithing Law

The ABI Endowment Fund has awarded a grant to Prof. Kenneth N. Klee of UCLA School of Law for empirical research on caselaw under the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act of 1998. The research will also trace the history of the law and the law's departure from traditional fraudulent transfer law. Prof. Klee's work is due to be completed by August, with an article for publication by May 2001. Other recent grant awards were made to Prof. David G. Epstein (University of Alabama School of Law), Prof. Daniel Bussel (UCLA Law) and Prof. Jean Braucher (University of Arizona College of Law). The ABI Endowment Committee will next meet to consider grant proposals in connection with the Annual Spring Meeting. Interested scholars should review our grant guidelines published online at ABI World and submit concept papers to ABI headquarters.

Free Circuit Case Updates Delivered to Your Desktop

The Eleventh Circuit is the most recent judicial circuit to be covered by ABI caselaw updates. Authors for the new update are James Goyer III, Matthew Grill and Jayna Partain Lamar from the firm of Maynard, Cooper & Gale in Birmingham, Ala. The updates are e-mailed each month. Circuits covered to date include the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth. ABI members located within the circuit automatically receive their circuit's updates, but any member outside the region can also receive it by contacting ABI. There is no charge for this member benefit.

Special Bankruptcy Litigation Skills Program Coming This Fall

ABI is planning a new and innovative educational program for practitioners looking to improve their litigation skills through an intensive course of lectures, demonstrations and one-on-one videotaped exercises. The program will be held Sept. 21-23, 2000, at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. Enrollment will be limited to 24 participants to ensure personalized attention from the expert faculty and a "learn-by-doing" environment. Skills of emphasis will be direct- and cross-examination, evidentiary objections, dealing with hostile witnesses, qualifications and examination of experts, judicial notice, use of depositions and impeachment of witnesses. The brochure will be available this summer.

The program chair is Leonard P. Goldberger (White and Williams; Philadelphia). Others on the Advisory Board are Prof. Ralph Brubaker (Emory Law), Judge Prudence Carter Beatty (S.D.N.Y.), Faye Knowles (Fredrikson & Byron; Minneapolis), Alan Jacobs, Prof. G. Ray Warner (UMKC Law), Thomas J. Salerno (Squire, Sanders & Dempsey; Phoenix), Prof. Molly O'Brien (Director of Trial Practice Program at Emory Law), Daniel J. King (King & Spalding; Atlanta), Dennis J. Connolly (Alston & Bird; Atlanta), Robert M. Fishman (Shaw, Gussis, et al.; Chicago), Christian Carl Onsager (The Broe Companies; Denver); Laurie Selber Silverstein (Potter, Anderson & Corroon; Wilmington, Del.), Joseph S.U. Bodoff (Shectman & Halperin; Boston), Judge Stephen Raslavich (E.D. Pa.), Judge Barry Russell (C.D. Calif.), Judge Marjorie O. Rendell (3rd Cir.), Dillon E. Jackson (Foster, Pepper & Shefelman; Seattle), R. Scott Williams (Haskell, Slaughter & Young; Birmingham, Ala.), and Judge Leif M. Clark (W.D. Texas).

ABI Staff Thanks Member Warren Lindman

Kudos to Warren G. Lindman of Wells Fargo Business Credit Inc., Minneapolis, for helping ABI staff members stuff hundreds of bags for conference registrants at the Winter Leadership Conference! Few members have experienced the rigors of this endeavor, and many thanks go to Warren for pitching in for several hours.

Endowment Fund: Correction

During the Winter Leadership Conference in La Quinta, Calif., last December, ABI displayed the names of members who made contributions to the ABI Endowment Fund. Keen Realty Consultants Inc. of Great Neck, N.Y., should have been listed among the Century Council Members.

Journal Date: 
Tuesday, February 1, 2000