Volume 17, No. 3
May 2003

From the Chair
Kenneth Rudolf, Chair

Another Annual Meeting is quickly approaching, and many of us will be heading for the “bluest skies you’ve ever seen in Seattle.” (How many of you remember the late-60s television show “Here Come the Brides” with teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman and the theme song that begins with the previously quoted line? For a sound clip, go to http://www.bobbysherman.com/bshctb.htm.) As one who has lived in Seattle, I know the “bluest skies” promise is untrue for most of the year, but late July is the one season least likely to produce rain and most likely to display beautiful blue skies (as it did during our 1994 meeting).

The Annual Meeting is a time to renew friendships, meet new people, enjoy a new environment, and, above all, grow professionally. Your FCIL SIS is working to provide a variety of quality educational opportunities. Foremost are the four general programs sponsored by FCIL:

• The Role of the Council of Europe: Envision Constitutional Reform and Human Rights in the Newer Member States (B-2)
• Networking to the Future: The CISG Database as a Paradigm of Scholarly Web Publishing (D-1)
• All Aboard! Maritime Law: U.S. and Canadian Issues (E-3)
• Access to American Indian Law Information: Options Today, Envisioning Tomorrow (G-4)

In addition, two programs not sponsored by the SIS might be of interest to our members:

• Judaic and Islamic Classification: Envisioning Access and Order for Legal Topics of International and Nonjurisdictional Scope (H-2)
• Maximize International Licensing Agreements (E-6)

I want to particularly recommend the Council of Europe program. We are extremely fortunate to have two officials from the Council as speakers at the program, one of whom works with the Venice Commission. The Council of Europe is at the forefront of encouraging the rule of law and human rights in the newly democratic states of Eastern Europe, and I’m sure the speakers will provide fascinating insights into the structural changes taking place in those states.

You will not want to miss Dan Lev, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Washington, speaking on the Indonesian legal system. The Executive Committee is pleased to present this unique opportunity to gain insight into an area of the world that is gaining in importance. For more details, see the article elsewhere in this newsletter. Of course, once again there will be the full component of Interest Group meetings, where you will be able to share questions and answers with your colleagues.

Finally, the Annual Meeting is the time when the SIS holds its business meeting. This year we will be voting on revisions to the bylaws (printed elsewhere in this Newsletter), as well as presenting plans for future developments in the SIS. Of course, we will continue our tradition of following the business meeting with a reception, where our guests will be attendees from other countries. We are grateful to Thomson Legal and Regulatory for once again providing the financial support for this reception to make it a special event for our guests.

I’m looking forward to Seattle this year. I hope I’ll see you there.

Addendum to the February message:

It is always dangerous to thank lists of people, since inevitably someone is overlooked. After the last newsletter was published I realized that I omitted two extremely important volunteers in the SIS: Mila Rush at the University of Minnesota does an outstanding behind-the-scenes job as our list owner. We can all thank her for keeping spam off the FCIL list. Dennis Sears of Brigham Young University has served as co-chair of the education committee for several years. He oversees the submission of our program requests and makes sure all the t’s are crossed and the i’s dotted.

Since the last newsletter was published, the Schaffer Grant committee has been formed. Rhonda Gold of Nova Southeastern University is once again heading the committee, bringing her experience to the task. Assisting her this year are Nona Beisenherz at Loyola New Orleans and Monica Ortale at South Texas College of Law. I appreciate the time that these people will give to evaluating applications and look forward to the announcement of the Schaffer grantee for this year.