MEDIA ALERT:

EXPERTS AVAILABLE ON TIMELY LEGAL ISSUES

For 117 years, the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has provided the states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of the law.

The ULC is a valuable source for news media interviews.

Below, you will find a directory of commissioners and other individuals, listed by areas of expertise, who have been active in drafting uniform state laws. Their national expertise in the specific areas you cover represents an astonishing pool of knowledge. They are available to provide background information or as expert spokespersons on such subjects as:

Alternate Dispute Resolution

Business Law

Electronic Commerce

Charitable Endowments

Environmental Law

Evidence

Family Law

Health Law

Intellectual Property

International Law

Money Laundering

Personal Finance/Trusts and Estates

Real Estate Law

Sports Law

Tort Reform

Unincorporated Business Organizations

The ULC comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges and law professors, who are appointed by each state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to research, draft and promote enactment of uniform state laws in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. Uniform Law Commissioners donate their time and expertise as a public service and receive no salary or compensation.

To arrange to talk with any of these individuals, or to find another expert on the law, please contact:

Katie Robinson, ULC Communications Officer, at 312-450-6616 or katie.robinson@nccusl.org

ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Arbitration Act and Uniform Mediation Act.

Commissioner Michael B. Getty is a retired Circuit Judge who serves as a full time Arbitrator and Mediator with JAMS. He chaired the committee that drafted the new Uniform Mediation Act (2002) and the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation Amendment to the Uniform Mediation Act.

Commissioner Stanley M. Fisher, an attorney in Cleveland, served for seven years on the Federal Services Impasse Panel (FSIP) resolving disputes between government agencies and their employees/ unions, and has been a panel member for mediation and arbitration for the American Arbitration Association, National Arbitration Forum, CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution and other organizations. He chaired the Model Employment Termination Act drafting committee.

Commissioner Francis J. Pavetti, a private practitioner in Connecticut, is a nationally-recognized commercial and corporate arbitrator and long time practitioner before state and municipal administrative agencies. He chaired the drafting committee for the Uniform Arbitration Act and currently chairs the drafting committee to revise the Model State Administrative Procedure Act.

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

BUSINESS LAW
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Commercial Code, Uniform Debt-Management Services Act, Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Uniform Securities Act, Model Consumer Credit Code.

Commissioner Fred H. Miller, past president of the ULC, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. His areas of expertise are the Uniform Commercial Code, consumer law, real estate finance.

Commissioner Patricia Brumfield Fry is Professor of Law at University of Missouri-Columbia. Her areas of expertise include the Uniform Commercial Code [Sales, Leases, Payments, Secured Transactions] and electronic commercial transactions. She served as drafting committee chair for the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (1999).

Commissioner Carlyle C. Ring, Jr. is in private practice with the Ober Kaler law firm in Washington, DC. His areas of expertise are commercial law and electronic commerce. A member of the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code, he served as chair of the drafting committees for UCC Articles 4A, 3 and 4, and 5 to update the Code for electronic funds transfers, checks, and letters of credit. He also chaired the drafting committee for the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" for CyberLaw.

Commissioner Edwin E. Smith is a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston, where he concentrates his practice in secured debt financings, workouts and bankruptcy matters. He is also an adjunct lecturer at Suffolk and Boston University Law Schools.

Joel Seligman is President of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. An expert in securities law, he served as the reporter on the Uniform Securities Act (2002).

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Nicole Julal serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act and the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.

Commissioner Barry Hawkins is a partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP in Stamford, Connecticut, where he is a member of the Real Estate and Litigation practices. He served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.

Commissioner John H. Langbein, professor of law at Yale Law School, specializes in trust, investment, probate, pension, and fiduciary law. He was the reporter for the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (1994). He co-authors the principal text on pension and employee benefit law that is used in most American law schools.

Susan N. Gary is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. She teaches nonprofit organizations, trusts and estates, and estate planning. Her research focuses on the regulation of nonprofit organizations and the ways inheritance laws apply to changing family structures. She served as reporter for the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.

Kieran Marion serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Commercial Code, Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act.

Commissioner Carlyle C. Ring, Jr. is in private practice with the Ober Kaler law firm in Washington, DC. His areas of expertise are commercial law and electronic commerce. A member of the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code, he served as chair of the drafting committees for UCC Articles 4A, 3 and 4, and 5 to update the code for electronic funds transfers, checks, and letters of credit. He also chaired the drafting committee for the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" for CyberLaw.

Commissioner Patricia Brumfield Fry is Professor of Law at University of Missouri-Columbia. Her areas of expertise include the Uniform Commercial Code [Sales, Leases, Payments, Secured Transactions] and electronic commercial transactions. She served as drafting committee chair for the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (1999).

Commissioner Stephen Y. Chow is a partner in the patent and trial departments of Perkins, Smith & Cohen, LLP, Boston. He teaches on the adjunct faculty of Suffolk University Law School and is the author of the treatise, E-Commerce and Communications (Lexis-Nexis).

Commissioner Anita Ramasastry is Associate Professor of Law and Director, Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology, at the University of Washington School of Law. Her areas of expertise are banking and commercial law (especially payment systems) and Internet law. She served as reporter for the Uniform Money Services Act.

Arthur R. Gaudio is Professor of Law at Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts. With special expertise in real estate conveyancing and titles, electronic commerce, real estate brokerage and real estate finance, he served as reporter for the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act.

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Kieran Marion serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office in Chicago.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Conservation Easement Act, Uniform Environmental Covenants Act and the Model Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act.

Commissioner William R. Breetz is a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Connecticut School of Law and a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He was chair of the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (2003), and reporter for the Uniform Condominium Act, Uniform Planned Community Act and Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. He currently serves as reporter for the drafting committee revising the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.

Michael R. Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Kieran Marion serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office in Chicago.

EVIDENCE
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Rules of Evidence, Uniform Rules Relating to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information, Uniform Child Witness Testimony by Alternative Methods Act.

Commissioner Rhoda Billings is Professor of Law Emeritus, Wake Forest University School of Law in North Carolina. Her areas of expertise include procedure (civil and criminal), evidence, and family law.

Commissioner Rex Blackburn is an attorney in Boise, Idaho. He served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Rules Relating to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Act.

Eric Fish serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office in Chicago.

FAMILY LAW
The ULC has a long history of drafting important family law statutes, many of them broadly enacted across the United States: Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic-Violence Protection Orders Act, Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, Uniform Parentage Act, Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act, and Uniform Representation of Children in Abuse, Neglect, and Custody Proceedings Act.

Commissioner Harry L. Tindall, a family law specialist at the Tindall & Foster PC law firm in Houston, is chair of the Joint Editorial Board on Uniform Family Laws and served as drafting committee chair for the Uniform Parentage Act (2000).

Commissioner Lyle Hillyard is an attorney in Logan, Utah, and a state Senator in the Utah State Senate. He served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act.

Commissioner Rhoda Billings is Professor of Law Emeritus, Wake Forest University School of Law, in North Carolina. Her areas of expertise include procedure (civil and criminal), evidence, and family law. She served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Representation of Children in Abuse, Neglect and Custody Proceedings Act.

Commissioner Battle R. Robinson is a retired Judge of the Family Court of the State of Delaware and a past Counsel to Governor Pete DuPont of Delaware. She served as drafting committee chair of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

Commissioner Paul Kurtz is Associate Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens. He regularly teaches family law and was reporter on two ULC statutes – the Uniform Status of Children of Assisted Conception Act and the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, the latter now the law in alll 50 states.

Commissioner Peter K. Munson is a private practitioner in Sherman, Texas, board certified in the field of family law. Over the past 20 years he has served on numerous ULC drafting committees in the field of family law.

John J. Sampson, Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, served as the reporter or co-reporter for all three editions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA 1992, 1996, and 2001). In addition, he served as reporter for the complete revision of the Uniform Parentage Act and its subsequent amendments (UPA 2000 and 2002).

Jeff Atkinson teaches law at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, and serves as a professor-reporter for the Illinois Judicial Conference, responsible for training Illinois judges. The primary areas of his teaching and writing are family law, especially the law of child custody, health care law and policy and ethics.

Michael R. Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Eric Fish serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office in Chicago.

HEALTH-RELATED LAW
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act, Uniform Determination of Death Act, Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act.

Commissioner Carlyle C. Ring, Jr. is in private practice with the Ober Kaler law firm in Washington, DC. His areas of expertise are commercial law and electronic commerce. He served as chair of the drafting committee to revise the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.

Commissioner Sheldon F. Kurtz is the Percy Bordwell Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. He specializes in trusts and estates and health law. He served as reporter for the drafting committee to revise the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.

Commissioner Raymond P. Pepe is a partner in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, LLP. He concentrates his practice in administrative law, particularly environmental and health-care issues, state and local taxation, and governmental affairs representation. He served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act.

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Nicole Julal serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Eric Fish serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office in Chicago.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Commissioner Curtis R. Reitz is Biddle Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Primary area of interest: international legal developments in areas that are addressed in the U.S. by uniform state laws, particularly international commercial law, international procedure law, and international family law.

Commissioner K. King Burnett, past president of the ULC, is a member of the Salisbury, Maryland law firm of Webb, Burnett, Cornbrooks, Wilber, Vorhis, Douse & Mason, LLP. A Ford Foundation Fellow at New York University Law School, where he received his LLM in Comparative Law, he chairs the ULC's Committee on International Legal Developments.

MONEY LAUNDERING
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Money Services Act.

Commissioner Tom Bolt is a private practitioner in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, with Tom Bolt & Associates, PC. His areas of expertise include real property, real estate finance, banking and money services. He served as drafting committee chair of the Uniform Money Services Act.

Commissioner Anita Ramasastry, is Associate Professor of Law and Director, Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology, at the University of Washington School of Law. Her areas of expertise are banking and commercial law (especially payment systems) and Internet law. She served as reporter for the Uniform Money Services Act.

Michael R. Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

PERSONAL FINANCE/TRUSTS AND ESTATES

The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act, Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act, Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act, Uniform Probate Code, Uniform Prudent Investor Act, Uniform Principal and Income Act, Uniform TOD Security Registration Act, Uniform Transfer to Minors Act, Uniform Trust Code, Uniform Custodial Trust Act.

Commissioner Jack Burton is a director in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, office of the Rodey Law Firm. His commercial practice involves transactions, alternative dispute resolution, and litigation in federal and state courts. He is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. He served as chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

Commissioner John H. Langbein, professor of law at Yale Law School, specializes in trust, investment, probate, pension, and fiduciary law. He was the reporter for the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (1994). He co-authors the principal text on pension and employee benefit law that is used in most American law schools.

Commissioner David M. English is Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Columbia. An expert in the areas of probate, trust, estate planning and elder law, he serves as Executive Director for the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trust and Estate Acts. He served as reporter for the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act.

Kieran Marion serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

REAL ESTATE LAW
The ULC is responsible for drafting such legislation as the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, Uniform Condominium Act, Uniform Conservation Easement Act, Uniform Dormant Mineral Interests Act, Uniform Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act, Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Model Real Estate Cooperative Act, Model Surface Use and Mineral Development Accommodation Act.

Commissioner William R. Breetz is a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Connecticut School of Law and a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He was chair of the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act and reporter for the Uniform Condominium Act, Uniform Planned Community Act and Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. He currently serves as reporter for the drafting committee revising the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.

Commissioner Benny L. Kass has a small law firm in the District of Columbia, Kass, Mitek & Kass, PLLC, concentrating in real estate and probate law. He also writes a weekly real estate column for the Washington Post.

Commissioner Carl H. Lisman is a lawyer in private practice in Vermont, with an emphasis in real estate development and finance. He serves as co-chair of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Real Property Acts. He currently serves as chair of the drafting committee that is revising the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.

Kieran Marion serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

SPORTS LAW
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Athlete Agents Act.

Michael R. Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

TORT REFORM
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act, Uniform Correction or Clarification of Defamation Act, Model Periodic Payment of Judgments Act, Model Punitive Damages Act, Model Class Actions Act, Model Transfer of Litigation Act.

Commissioner Gene Lebrun is in general practice in South Dakota. His primary area of practice is commercial transaction and commercial litigation, with additional expertise in the area of State sales and use tax. He served as chair of the Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act (2003).

Commissioner Roger C. Henderson is the Ralph W. Bilby Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona. His areas of expertise are torts and insurance law. He served as reporter for the Model Periodic Payment of Judgments Act, the Model Punitive Damages Act and the Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act (2003), and was co-reporter for the Model Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act.

UNINCORPORATED BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS
The ULC is responsible for drafting the Uniform Partnership Act, Uniform Limited Partnership Act, Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act, Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act, Model Entity Transactions Act, Model Registered Agents Act.

Commissioner Harry J. Haynsworth, IV is Of Counsel in the firm of Briggs & Morgan, PA, in Minneapolis. His areas of expertise include incorporated and unincorporated business organizations (partnerships, limited liability companies, etc.). He served as chair of the Model Entity Transactions Act and is a member of the Joint Editorial Board on Uniform Unincorporated Organization Acts.

Commissioner David Walker is Dean and Dwight D. Opperman Distinguished Professor of Law at Drake University School of Law, where his areas of expertise include business associations, securities regulation, civil procedure and arbitration. He served as chair of the drafting committee to Revise the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

Daniel S. Kleinberger is a Associate Dean for Academic Programs and professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he has taught since 1986. He teaches, researches and writes about business law issues, especially those concerning privately and closely held business entities. He was the reporter for the Uniform Limited Partnership Act (2001) and the co-reporter for the drafting committee to Revise the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

Carter G. Bishop is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. His areas of expertise include: Limited Liability Companies; General Partnerships; Limited Partnerships; Mergers & Consolidations Involving Unincorporated Organizations; UCC Article 2; and Federal Taxation. He was reporter for the 1996 Uniform Limited Liability Company Act and co-reporter for the drafting committee to Revise the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

Michael Kerr serves as Legislative Director/Legal Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization’s national office in Chicago.

Nicole Julal serves as Legislative Counsel for the Uniform Law Commission in the organization's national office.