vol. 15, no. 1
October 2000

CREDO: “Be seen, be splendid.”
   George III

AIMS:
• Develop 6-8 goals (+ an implementation schedule) based on the FCIL SIS Draft Strategic    Plan.
Leaders: Strategic Planning Committee
Next Strategic Planning Committee Meeting Date: Friday, October 27, 2000
in New York City (details will follow on the FCIL SIS listserv)

• Expand our Education Committee and begin 2002 program development early in 2001.
Leaders: Executive Committee + Education Committee

• Involve new Section members in activities.
Leader: Jean Davis

• Update the “Sources of Assistance” Lists in Introduction to Foreign Legal Systems  (Oceana Publications, 1994).  Original compiler: Daniel L. Wade
Leader: Michael McCarthy  (See article in this issue)

• Revise the FCIL SIS brochure.  (We distributed all remaining brochures at our activities table and AALL will pay for the graphic design.)
Leaders: Publications Committee Chair Anne Burnett + Executive Committee

• Establish guidelines and obtain advertising for the FCIL Newsletter.
Leaders: Publications Committee Chair Anne Burnett + Executive Committee

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
• Immediate past Chair Katherine Topulos for her superb guidance.
• Active Executive Committee members Katherine, Christine Corcos, Tracy Thompson and  past Chair Maria Smolka-Day.
• Editor Anne Burnett and Copy Editor Carmen Valero for their outstanding work producing the cherished FCIL Newsletter.
• “Lifetime” Education Committee Co-Chair Dennis Sears for providing a dynamite slate of 2001 program proposals to AALL.
• Strategic Planning Committee members, particularly past Chair Margareta Horiba and Chair Stefanie Weigmann.
• Michael McCarthy for supervising our “Sources of Assistance” updating project.
• Daniel Boyer for delivering our remaining promo pens to needy Cuban school children–a decade from now, there likely will be a Cuban Chair of our Section.
• Brooklyn Law School Library’s “Terrific Ten” and the “Palmer Crew at NYU,” my creative colleagues who ALWAYS say “Yes!” (“We will develop programs, serve on committees, create dazzling signs and solicit prizes for FCIL activities.”)
• Section ambassadors Daniel Boyer, Anne Burnett, Malo Bernal, Lucy Cox, Amy Flick, Jonathan Franklin, Mary Hotchkiss, Rhonda Gold, Jack McNeill, John Nann, Silke Sahl, Mary Strouse, Victoria Szymczak, Tracy Thompson and Katherine Topulos – ARE YOU READY FOR MINNEAPOLIS?
• ALL Section members and friends who proposed, coordinated, spoke at and prepared materials for AALL 2000 Annual Meeting programs, meetings and the treaty workshop developed by Generals Hoffman and Weigmann.  AALL members’ evaluations were high!

OUR GENEROUS VENDOR SUPPORTERS:
• Steve Roses/Carswell Publishing for funding the FCIL SIS leaders’ lunch at the ASIL Annual Meeting and the FCIL SIS reception at the AALL Annual Meeting;
• Thomas Daniel/Lexis Publishing for purchasing FCIL SIS activities table materials;
• Susan DeMaio/Oceana Publications for championing the “Sources of Assistance” updating project;
• Heike Fenton and Marilou Righini/Transnational Publishers for coordinating the first vendor proposed/FCIL sponsored Annual Meeting program.

FUN is:
Accompanying Victoria Szymczak on the quest for the perfect Qi [Manchu] Pau [gown];
Awarding a prize to friend and mentor Dan Wade during Gateway to China;
Defending The Matrix at breakfast with “Renaissance Men” Jean-Marc Elsholz and Denis Le May;
Enjoying the wit and whimsy of our foreign colleagues (Jules Winterton, Stephanie Fröhlich, Liz Martin, Marion Remmel and Barbara Tearle);
Introducing new neighbor Silke Sahl to West Side haunts with Jeanne Rehberg and Tricia Kasting;
Rockin’ CONELL with the MI2 theme (“FCIL members turn Mission: Impossible into Mission: Accomplished for international and foreign law researchers!”);
Sharing good food and great ideas with Marci Hoffman, Mirela Roznovschi, Ellen Schaffer, Stefanie Weigmann and Jean Wenger;
AND
Welcoming Fred Dingledy, Michael McCarthy, Dana Neacsu, Mary Rumsey, Mabel Shaw and Beatrice Tice into our wonderful Section!