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5 Urb. St. & Loc. L. Newsl. 1 (1981-1982)

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American Ba! Association
  Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall 1981


A Letter to the Members of tho Section From
              Our Chairman, Joe Johnson


I take the opportunity afforded by
the publication of the first issue of
the Newsletter in the 1981-82 ABA
year to welcome each of yo. to the
work of the Section this year, to
bring you up-to-date on certain of
its activities and plans and to an-
swer certain questions that have
from time to time been asked about
Section work.
                                        Joe Johnson
Becoming Active in the Section
Section members have, from time to time, asked such ques-
ions as: How does one become active in the Section? How
does one become a chairman or vice-chairman of a standing
committee? How does one become a member of the Council
or an officer of the Section? The answers are fairly straight-
forward and simple.
  The chairmen and vicechairmen of all standing committees
are appointed by the Section officer who is then in charge of
committee work. For the current (1981-82) and the next suc-
ceeding ABA year (1982-83) that person is our current Section
Vice-Chairman, Pat Falvey of New York City. He will appoint
the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the standing committees
for the 1982-83 and 1983-84 ABA years. Under current ABA
procedures those appointments are required to be effectively
finalized in the late spring of the preceding ABA year. Thus,
final decisions on next year's committee officers will be made
in the late spring of 1982, although formal notification usually
does not go out until some time later.
  During the last several years it has been the general-though
not invariable-practice for the chairmen and vice-chairmen of
standing committees to be appointed from the membership of
the committee in question, based upon, among other things,
(a) the individual's activity in the affaics of the committee,
(b) the recommendations of the then current committee chair-
man and other interested Section members, (c) attendance at
annual and midyear meetings, etc. We recognize that, in years
past, committee members did not have much opportunity to
become active in the work of their committees. However,
because of increased interest in committee work, as well as a
new Council requirement that all committees having more than
ten members be divided into two or more subcommittecs, we
believe that recently our committees have been functioning
more actively in the manner of true committees and that com-
mittee members should have ample opportunity to participate


fully in the work of their committees.' Further, current Council
policy provides that (except in unusual circumstances) no
chairman of a standing committee may serve for more than
three consecutive years. This policy obviously necessitates
frequent rotation in commitee chairmanships.
  In short, if yoU wish to be considered for the chairmanship or
vice-chairmanship of a standing committee, become active in
the work of your particular committee, attend its meetings (if
any), attend annual and midyear meetings of the Section and
other Section functions, hoth business and social, and thereby
make yourself known to Secdon Officers and Council mem.
bers.
  Insofar as becoming an officer of the Section or a member of
its Council is concerned, I would offer substantially the same
advice. While nominations for Section Officers and Council
memberships are made annually by a nominating committee,
past experience indicates that the various nominating commit-
tees have taken into account the criteria mentioned above in
making nominations. Almost invariably, new Section Officers
and new Council members have been recommended by the
nominating committee based on their activity in the Section
and in its committees.

Publications Committee
This brings me to the necessity of finding interested Section
members to staff a new Publications Committee that I, upon
the recommendation of the other Section Officers, have de-
cided to appoint. It will be the function and duty of the Publica-
tions Committee, which will probably be broken down into two
or more subcommittes, to act as a board of overseers or board
of editors for The Urban Lawyer, as well as to undertake a more
extensive publication program for the Section generally. As
you know, many ABA sections publish pamphlets and soft-
back books on substantive subjects within their jurisdiction.
All this requires work and time-arranging for authors and/or
committees to write and edit the material, setting up budgets
and working with the publications people at ABA headquarters
in order to assure that the publication reaches those for whom
It is intended and can be marketed without financial loss to the
Section and hopefully at a small profit. I solicit your applica-
                                 (continued on next page)

  .if you do not think the standing committee to which you have been
appointed is functioning properly or that you are not being given appro-
priate opportunity to work, I urgo that you contact Vice.Chairman Falvey
or me. Your communications will be handled with discretion.


Copyright Q 1981 American Bar Association


Produced by the ABA Press

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