Montreal to Montpelier

The Young Lawyers Division Mid Winter Thaw was a huge success this weekend as, perhaps for the first time in anyone’s memory, the temperature was above zero! Finally, it was a thaw and lots of us took advantage of the weather to attend CLEs and to eat at fine restaurants. I had the opportunity to take part in the conversation with members of the Supreme Court, the legislature and the VBA on judicial restructuring and I think the attendees got a flavor for how the bill got to where it is now and what’s remaining to be done.
On Saturday morning I moderated the debate between Sam Hoar and Brad Myerson on the issue of unanimity of civil jury verdicts. The so called “brawl in Montreal” was about what we expected and each of the presenters was well prepared and passionate in his views.
Your Board of Managers met in Montreal and among a fairly extensive agenda decided to lend its support to the following initiatives: it support the Uniform Collaborative Law Act (about to be debated at the ABA House of Delegates); it also supported the Uniform Adult Guardianship Jurisdiction Act- S. 169: it supports the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act- H.50; it supported the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act at the ABA level; finally it supported the draft of the Military Parental Rights Act. That bill is now H. 533 introduced this morning. Also this morning a joint hearing of two house committees- Judiciary and General and Military Affairs- heard from Lt. Col. Ellen Abbott, Penny Benelli, Chair of the VBA Family Law Section and Amber Barber, VBA Board member. Since the committees ran out of time, I’ll add my voice expressing the Board’s support at a later time.
The governor’s legal counsel, Susanne Young met with the Board and said the Commission on Judicial Operation is on a parallel track to what’s happening in the Executive Branch. The “Challenges for Change” report is asking the legislature to permit the Executive to “manage to the budget”. The governor supports the CJ and the CJO. Certainly the “flashpoints” are the assistant judges and the probate judges. He’ll let the process play out. He thinks and hopes the legislature will act. Revenues are stuck at the 2006 level. He is looking for proposals to roll back the estate tax and to streamline the permitting process.
Later today, after the governor’s budget address, the House Judiciary Committee should take final action on H. 461, the small estates bill. I’ll let you know tomorrow if they voted it out. Tomorrow and Thursday I’ll be back in committee on restructuring. I’ll try to report on progress, or lack thereof, as soon as I can get back here to write something.
Thanks for reading.