2001-2002 PLL Travel Grants Committee
Annual Report
The members of the PLL Travel Grants Committee for
2001-2002 were:
Randall J. Thompson, Chair, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Margarita Bull, Mountain West College, West Valley City, Utah
Mary D. Mahoney, Peterson, Johnson & Murray SC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Virginia L. Smith, Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy, LLP, New
Orleans, Louisiana
Barbara Tanzer, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP, New York, New York
The 2001-2002 PLL Travel Grant recipients were:
Wynne Browne, Downs Rachlin Martin, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Joni L. Cassidy, Cassidy Cataloging Services, Inc., Harrison, New Jersey
Anna Marie Delgado, Arter & Hadden, LLP, Los Angeles, California
Constance P. Dickson, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Washington, DC
Amy Eaton, Independent Law Librarian, Kent, Washington
Lee R. Nemchek, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Los Angeles, California
Tracey M. Pardo, Cooley Godward LLP, San Diego, California
Stephanie Pierson, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, LLP, Newark, New Jersey
Staci Steadman, Troy & Gould, Los Angeles, California
Denise Uzee, Kean, Miller Law Firm, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
There were twelve applicants. One withdrew her application and another returned the grant
after it was awarded.
PLL Executive Board rules limit the amount the Committee
can award in any one year to $2,500.00. However,
the Committee, after much internal discussion, requested and received Executive
Board approval to waive the grant limits for this year.
The Committee requested this waiver in response to last year�s economic
downturn and the events of September 11 which caused firms to cut back on travel
expenses this year. The Committee believed that the $2,500.00 limit would
severely restrict the number of grants it could award, and without such grants,
several otherwise deserving applicants might be unable to attend the conference.
The Committee further recommended, and the Executive Committee approved,
that this year�s waiver of limits be a one time only event.
Because of the grant limit waiver, the estimated amount
awarded this year was $3,343.00. A
final accounting is not yet available.
Early in 2002, personal circumstances forced this year�s
original Chair to relinquish the position.
The current Chair wishes to thank his predecessor for her initial work
with the Committee and her efforts to ease the transition.
Because of delays resulting from the change in Chairs, the
Committee was late in advertising this year�s grants. Advertising consisted solely of placing information on the
PLL web site and issuing email notifications on Law-lib and the PLL listserv.
The Chair wishes to thank Terry Psarras, the PLL webmaster, for his
prompt assistance in updating the Committee�s information on the web site.
The Chair noted some confusion existed among the grant
recipients regarding exactly what costs the grants covered and the procedures
they were to follow to actually receive the grants. Traditionally, the grants have only covered the recipients�
airfare. To receive the grants, the
recipients are to contact the AALL Travel Desk which makes the travel
arrangements on their behalf and bills the cost directly to the PLL travel fund.
The Chair believes these procedures need to be made more explicit in next
year�s advertising.
The Executive Committee requested the Travel Grants
Committee submit a proposal on ways to award grants to PLL members to attend
other continuing educational functions in addition to the annual conference.
The Committee has held initial discussions on the topic and is working on
developing a formal proposal.
The Chair wishes to thank the members of the Committee for
all the time and effort they put into Committee work this year.
Their willingness to do whatever was asked of them was greatly
appreciated. The entire Committee
wishes to thank Global Securities Information, Inc. and LIVEDGAR for their
continuing support of the travel grants program.
Respectfully submitted,
Randall J. Thompson
Chair