RECENTLY COMPLETED DRAFTING PROJECTS
The projects listed below received final approval at the Uniform Law Commission Annual Meeting in July 2010.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Electronic Recordation of Custodial Interrogations Act
David A. Gibson, Chair, P.O. Box 1767, Brattleboro, VT 05302
Andrew Taslitz, Reporter, Howard University School of Law, 2900 Van Ness Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008
Paul Giannelli, ABA Advisor, Criminal Justice Section, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44106
Anne Swern, ABA Section Advisor, Criminal Justice Section, Kings County District Attorney Office, 350 Jay St., Floor 19, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2904
This committee has drafted an act addressing the issue of the use of audio and/or video electronic devices to record law enforcement officers’ interviews of criminal suspects who are in custody.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act
Susan Kelly Nichols, Chair, North Carolina Department of Justice, P.O. Box 629, Raleigh, NC 27602-0629
Robert Bennett, Reporter, Northwestern University School of Law, 357 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
John Hardin Young, ABA Advisor, Administrative Law Section, 300 M Street, SE, Suite 1102, Washington, DC 20006
This committee has drafted an act providing a state statutory remedy in the event a state presidential elector fails to vote in accordance with the voters of his or her state.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Collaborative Law Act
Peter K. Munson, Chair, 123 S. Travis St., Sherman, TX 75090
Andrew Schepard, Reporter, Hofstra University School of Law, 121 Hofstra University, Hempstead, Long Island, NY 11549
Carlton D. Stansbury, ABA Advisor, 10850 W Park Pl, Ste. 530, Milwaukee, WI 53224
Lawrence R. Maxwell, Jr., ABA Section Advisor, Section of Dispute Resolution, Douglas Plaza, 8226 Douglas Avenue, Suite 550, Dallas, TX 75225
Charla Bizios Stevens, ABA Section Advisor, Litigation Section, McLane, Graf, Raulerson, & Middleton, P.A., 900 Elm Street, PO Box 326, Manchester, NH 03105
Gretchen Walther, ABA Section Advisor, Family Law Section, 6501 Americas Pkwy NE, Ste. 620, Albuquerque, NM 87110
This committee has drafted an act on collaborative law, a new kind of alternative dispute resolution framework used in many states today, particularly in a family law context, i.e., divorce, custody, and support proceedings. The core idea is that lawyers (and parties) to a dispute agree in advance that the lawyers will withdraw if the dispute goes to trial. In the spring of 2010, revisions to this Act were approved that, inter alia, provide the ability for a state to adopt the provisions of the Act either as a court rule or legislation, and that provide the option to limit the scope of the Act to family law matters or to have the Act applicable to all types of disputes.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act
Richard T. Cassidy, Chair, 100 Main St., P.O. Box 1124, Burlington, VT 05402
Jack Chin, Reporter, University of Arizona, 1201 Speedway, P.O. Box 210176, Tucson, AZ 85721
Margaret C. Love, ABA Advisor, Criminal Justice Section, 15 Seventh St., NE, Washington, DC 20002
Rodger Drew, ABA Section Advisor, Judicial Division, 1430 F St. NE, Washington, DC 20002
Thomas Earl Patton, ABA Section Advisor, Business Law, 1747 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006
Charles M. Ruchelman, ABA Section Advisor, Section of Taxation, 1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005
This committee has drafted a statute addressing the various penalties and disqualifications that individuals face incidental to criminal sentencing, including disqualification from voting, prohibitions from running for office, exclusion from certain types of employment, etc. The act is intended to be narrow in scope, applying only to the procedures surrounding collateral sanctions, not defining or limiting what those sanctions are. At the July 2010 Annual Meeting, revisions of the Act intended to address issues raised by the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Padilla v. Kentucky were approved.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Insurable Interests Relating to Trusts Act
Roger C. Henderson, Chair, 5861 N. Paseo Niquel, Tucson, AZ 85718
Robert H. Jerry, II, Reporter, Frederic G. Levin College of Law, S.W. 2nd Ave. at S.W. 25th St., Gainesville, FL 32611
David S. Neufeld, ABA Advisor, Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, 555 US Highway 1 South, Suite 230, Iselin, NJ 08830
Donald O. Jansen, ABA Section Advisor, Section of Taxation, 1301 McKinney St., Suite 5100, Houston, TX 77010
This committee drafted amendments to the Uniform Trust Code to address concerns regarding the purchase of life insurance trusts by trustees as it relates to insurable interest law. Life insurance trusts are a standard estate planning tool because proceeds of an irrevocable life insurance trust are not subject to estate taxes.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act
Steve Wilborn, Chair, 306 Tower Drive, Shelbyville, KY 40065
Steven F. Huefner, Reporter, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University, 55 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210
John Dewitt Altenburg, ABA Advisor, Greenberg Traurig LLP, 2101 L St. NW, Suite 1001, Washington, DC 20037-1526
John C. Keeney, ABA Advisor, Hogan & Hartson LLP, 555 13th St. NW, Suite 10w-206, Washington, DC 20004-1109
This committee drafted uniform state legislation that will simplify the process of absentee voting for United States military and overseas civilians by making the process more uniform, convenient, secure and efficient.
Drafting Committee to Revise the Model State Administrative Procedure Act
Francis Pavetti, Chair, 18 The Strand, Goshen Point, Waterford, CT 06385
Greg Ogden, Reporter, Pepperdine University School of Law, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90263
Ronald M. Levin, ABA Advisor, Administrative Law Section, Washington University School of Law, Campus Box 1120, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130
Rose Mary Bailly, ABA Section Advisor, State and Local Government Section, 80 New Scotland Rd., Albany, NY 12208
Larry Craddock, ABA Section Advisor, Judicial Division, 2601 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78705
Edwin L Felter, Jr., ABA Section Advisor, Judicial Division, 633 17th Street, Suite 1300, Denver, CO 80202
Julian Mann, III, ABA Section Advisor, National Conference of Administrative Law Judges, 1711 New Hope Church, Raleigh, NC 27609
Edward J. Schoenbaum, ABA Section Advisor, National Conference of Administrative Law Judges, 1108 S. Grand Ave. W, Springfield, IL 62704
This committee has drafted a revision of the 1980 Model State Administrative Procedures Act, which provided procedures for promulgating administrative regulations and for adjudicating disputes before administrative bodies. The revision updated the act to recognize electronic communications and other state procedural innovations since the act was originally promulgated.
Drafting Committee to Revise the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts
Patricia Brumfield Fry, Chair, 4102 Cedar Crest Dr., Columbia, MO 65203
Arthur Gaudio, Reporter, Western New England College School of Law, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield, MA 01119
James C. Wine, ABA Advisor, Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section, 700 Walnut St., Ste. 1600, Des Moines, IA 50309
David Ewan, ABA Section Advisor, Science and Technology Section, New Jersey Title Insurance Company, 400 Lanidex Plaza, 2nd Floor, Parsippany, NJ 07054
This committee has revised the 1982 Uniform Law on Notarial Acts. The revisions deal with matters such as notary responsibilities, electronic recording, interstate recognition, and remedies.
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act
Robert L. McCurley, Chair, Alabama Law Institute, P.O. Box 861425, Tuscaloosa, AL 35486
Thomas W. Mitchell, Reporter, University of Wisconsin Law School, 975 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI 53706
Phyliss Craig-Taylor, ABA Advisor, Litigation Section, Charlotte School of Law, 1211 E. Moorehead St., Charlotte, NC 28204
Steven J. Eagle, ABA Section Advisor, Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section and State and Local Government Section, George Mason University School of Law, 3301 Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22201
This committee is drafted a uniform act that addresses the issue of tenancy-in-common land ownership. Tenancy in common is a type of joint ownership without right of survivorship. When there is no right of survivorship, the death of a tenant in common can trigger an action to partition the land to satisfy the deceased tenant’s heirs. In a partition, the land is sold to satisfy tenant in common interests, often in a sale that does not meet market value. This Act protects vulnerable landowners by providing a buy-out option; establishes factors for judges to consider when deciding how to partition real property; and provides rules for regulating the sale of partitioned property.
Drafting Committee on a Protection of Genetic Information in Employment Act
D. Joe Willis, Chair, 549 SW Mill View Way, Suite 100, Bend, OR 97702
Ellen Deason, Reporter, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 55 W. 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210
Peter J. Gillespie, ABA Advisor, Baker & McKenzie, 130 E. Randolph Street, Suite 3500, One Prudential Plaza, Chicago, IL 60601
Robyn S. Shapiro, ABA Advisor, Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, 777 East Wisconsin Ave, Suite 2000, Milwaukee, WI 53202
This committee drafted uniform legislation on the use of genetic information in the context of employment. The Act focuses in part on state law implementation of provisions similar to those in the federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
Joint Review Committee for UCC Article 9
Edwin E. Smith, Chair, Bingham McCuthchen LLP, 1 Federal Street, 30th Floor, Boston, MA 02110
Steven L. Harris, Reporter, Chicago-Kent College of Law, 565 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60661
Carolan E. Berkley, ALI Member, 2600 One Commerce Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Gail K. Hillebrand, ALI Member, Consumers Union, 1535 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Charles W. Mooney, Jr., ALI Member, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 3400 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Harry C. Sigman, ALI Member, American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, P.O. Box 67608, Los Angeles, CA 90067-0608
Steven O. Weise, ALI Member, Proskauer Rose LLP, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 3200, Los Angeles, CA 90067
Stephen L Sepinuck, ABA Advisor, Business Law Section, Gonzaga University School of Law, PO Box 3528,Spokane, WA 99220-3528
John Francis Hilson, ABA Section Advisor, Business Law Section, Paul Hastings, Floor 25, 515 S Flower St., Ste 2400, Los Angeles, CA 90071-2229
This joint ALI/ULC committee has drafted specific revisions of UCC Article 9 to address specific issues that a study committee has already identified as needing statutory revision. The issues that the revisions address are those as to which ambiguities have been discovered in existing statutory language, where there have been substantial problems in practice in applying current statutory provisions, or as to which there have been significant judicial decisions or non-uniform amendments that suggest the need to consider statutory revisions. The approved revisions were approved at the ALI Annual Meeting in May 2010, and at the ULC Annual Meeting in July 2010.
Committee to Implement the UN E-Commerce Convention
Henry Deeb Gabriel, Jr., Chair, Elon University School of Law, 201 North Greene Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
D. Benjamin Beard, Reporter, University of Idaho College of Law, 6th & Rayburn, P.O. Box 442321, Moscow, ID 83844-2321
Thomas J Smedinghoff, ABA Advisor, Science and Technology Section, Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon, Floor 26, 225 W Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606-1349
Amelia H. Boss, ABA Section Advisor, Business Law Section, Drexel University School of Law, 3320 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Behnam Dayanim, ABA Section Advisor, Section of International Law, 875 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005
Richard L. Field, ABA Section Advisor, Section of Science and Technology, 755 Anderson Avenue, Suite #4A, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010
Howard Philip Walthall, Jr., ABA Section Advisor, Section of Intellectual Property Law, 420 20th Street N., Birmingham, AL 35203
The E-Commerce Convention impacts the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and the federal E-Sign legislation. This committee has developed draft federal legislation that provides notice of the terms of the Convention and states that the Convention is controlling law as to transactions to which the Convention applies, and the committee has also prepared draft memoranda explaining the Convention and transmitting the Convention to the Senate for advice and consent. The Committee’s report was approved at the July 2010 Annual Meeting.
Joint Drafting Committee for Implementation of the UN Convention on Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit
Edwin E. Smith, Chair, 1 Federal St., 30th Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1726
Mireille France Blanchard, Canadian Chair, International Private Law Section, East Memorial Bldg., Room 5304, 284 Wellington, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8
Elias Mansur, Mexican Chair, Socrates 207, Polanco 11560 Mexico City, Mexico
James J. White, Reporter, University of Michigan Law School, 625 S. State St., Room 1035, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
Peter Winship, ABA Advisor, International Law Section, Southern Methodist University School of Law, P.O. Box 750116, Dallas, TX 75275
Luis F. Moreno, ABA Section Advisor, Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section, Haynes and Boone S.C., Blv. Manuel Avila Camacho, #40-1801, Lomas de Chapulta, Mexico City, Mexico 11000
James E. Byrne, ABA Section Advisor, Business Law Section, 20405 Ryecroft Court, P.O. Box 2235, Gaithersburg, MD 20886
Rueben C. Casarez, ALI Representative, Wells Fargo Bank, 1500 Waugh Dr., Houston, TX 77019
George A. Hisert, ALI Representative, Bingham McCutchen LLP, Three Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111
This committee worked with the American Law Institute, the Uniform Law Conference of Canada and the Mexican Center for Uniform Laws to draft federal statutory provisions to implement the UN Convention on Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit, and to assist Canada in developing letter-of-credit law consistent with UCC Article 5. The draft legislation establishes choice of law rules that determine the law applicable when the Convention applies, and that provides that if the choice of law rules of UCC Article 5 indicate that the law of a state of the United States is controlling, and if the parties to the undertaking have not chosen applicable law, the provisions of the Official Text of UCC Article 5 are controlling law. The Committee’s report was approved in January 2010.