About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

29 Looking Ahead 1 (1997-1998)

handle is hein.journals/trends29 and id is 1 raw text is: Views from the Chair Section Mees Chaenges of Change E by Carol E. Dinkins ractitioners in the substantive areas that fall within the Section's purview recently have seensignificant changes in their field and they antici- pate more to come. During the next 5Tear, the Section will forecast such changes, incorporate instruction about those'that have alreadyoccurred, and provide tools and information to aid its members in meeting these new challenges in their practice. Two of the Section's principal meet- ings-the Annual Section Fall Meeting scheduled for Asheville, North Carolina, October 15-19, 1997, and the annual environmental meeting at Keystone, Colorado, March 12-15, 1998, will focus on practice changes to fulfill this commitment to Section members. The theme of the Section Carol E. Dinkifis is Chair of'the Section. She is a partner at Vinson & Elkins L.L.P in Houston, TX. Fall Meeting is The Challenge of Change-Retooling Professional Skills for the Millennium. At Keystone, one session will address environmental expertise for the future and another, changing needs of corporate counsel. To align committee actiFities with developing practice areas, the Section has reorganized to account for the deregulation and restructuring of the electric and natural gas tndustries; emphasize business transactions in all areas; increase the attention paid solid, industrial, and other hazardous wastes; and address developments in environmental auditing. Committees are beginning to publish newsletters for their members on a regular basis and the Section has substantially increased its use of Internet communi- cation, with plans to enhance these activities further. In the area of continuing-legal'edu- cation, the Section wil .offer both basic and advanced programs at its annual meeting and other meetings. Local programs, such as brown bag lunch seminars, are being planned and suggestions and assistance in organiz- ing them will be most welcome. The Section is expanding its book publica- tion program'and solicits assistance in project development, authorship, and review. The Book Publications Committee is considering books on insurance coverage litigation and use of expert witnesses, a series on basic issues, and a nutshell series. continlea onpage 8 6L Keeping Pace with Change S ateic Plannin .Committee Forms Task Force on Future Direcions * b~ Lynn L. Berpeson n a world where few generaliza- tions an be made, one can be stated with confidence: nothing remains the same. The practice of law is no excep- tion. Both the substance and practice of law have changed radically over the past decade, and so also have the needs of legal practitioners. The collective law practice areas suggested by our Section name- Natural Resources, Energy, and Environrnental Law-have been uniquely and greatly impacted by the maturing of environmental disciplines, evolving scientific protocols and - methodologies, legislative and admin- istrative developments, and a renewed interest in land use management and environmental protections. These and other changes demand that legal prac- titioners in these areas revisit how they pJractice law, for whom, and'with what legal and scientific skills t~o keep pace with these developments: - The Section,-similarly has made great strides in anticipating changed, member needs' in light of these devel- Lynn L. Bergeson is a partner with Bergeson & Campbell in Washington, DC, and chair of the Section's Agricul- tural Management Committee. opmenfs. Indeed, the Section's Strategic Plan was forged, in no small part, in response to Section leader- ship's recognition that the Section, as any other service-oriented entity, must accommodate its structure, goals, and philosophy to best serve the needs of its members. While the gowth of the Section's committees over the years has been positive and a clear reflection of the success of the Section in accommodat-. ing an ever changing law practice landscape, the number of members and the types of conmittees formed to address new developments have result- ed, in some instances, in redundancy and other configurations thatmay not, in all cases, fairly reflect the legal areas in which we practice. In large part due fo the shared recognition that the prac- tice of law continues to evolve in the disciplines our Section serves, the Section's Strategic Planning Committee, under the leadership of L. Diane Schenke, launched an important and timely initiative to evaluate the Section's current structure and name. The Section's efforts tQ assess its existing structure .began in earnest more than a year ago. Because of a perceived need to revisit certain com- mittees' structure immediately and define more precisely other commit- tees' jurisdiction, Section leadership sought recommendations from Section practitioners on, how best to reconfig- ure some committees, and jdentify new ones. Committee struciure changes were officially apprdved at the Section's Spring Council meeting in April. tFor complete details see the organizational chart .on pages 4-5.1 Specifically, the following changes were approved: - Energy Industry Restructuring, Finance, Mergers, and Acquisitions (formerly Electric Power) ,- Electric and Natural Gas Marketing (fornerly natural Gas Marketing and Transportation) - International Energy arid Resources (merger of International Energy Law and International Resources) - Petroleum Marketing (formerly Oil' Refining and Marketing) - Mining (meger of Coal and Hard' Minerals) Enviro mentalTransactions and Brownfields (mirger of Environmental Quality and Bownfields Task Force) • Toxic Torts and Environmental Litigation.(merger.of Toxic and Environmental Torts, and Environmental Litigation Techniques) * Special Committee on Solid Waste (new) ontinued on page 6 Printed on recycled papr

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most