Present: Daniel H. Minkus, Timothy R. Damschroder, G. Ann Baker, Michael S. Khoury, Judith Greenstone Miller, Mark R. Lezotte, Mark A. Aiello, David D. Joswick, Arthur Dudley II, Justin G. Klimko, Diane L. Akers, Patrick Daugherty, Robert T. Wilson, Judy B. Calton, Martin C. Oetting, Eric I. Lark, Patrick E. Mears, Vicki Martin Anderson, and John R. Dresser.

1. Call to Order and Determination of Quorum. Section Chairperson, Daniel H. Minkus, called the meeting to order and determined with the other officers present that a quorum existed.

2. Approval of Minutes of March 1, 2001 Council Meeting. Mr. Minkus called for a motion to approve the Minutes of the Council Meeting held on March 1, 2001. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Minutes of the March 1, 2001 Council Meeting were approved as presented.

3. Treasurer's Report. Ms. Baker reported that the Section continues to be financially sound. A report is attached. A discussion ensued regarding providing more direction to committee chairs regarding income and expense submissions. Laura Jones is preparing a form for this purpose. Also, the Section should conform its internal accounting to the State Bar reports so that we can tie them together.

4. Chairperson's Report.

a. Updated Strategic Plan. Motion made by Ann Baker to organize a past chairs' meeting. Upon motion duly made and seconded, motion was passed.

b. Listserv. Michael Khoury discussed the Section leadership listserv and the section listserv. Of the 3,600 section members, about 2,700 are on the listserv. Guidelines for using the section listserv have been established. Discussion ensued as to who should have ability to use the listserv. Currently, only Section Officers, Michael Khoury and Laura Jones can send messages to the Section listserv. Discussion about establishing one or more chat rooms or alternative listservs for everybody's use within specified areas.

c. Section Position Statements. Committees cannot adopt a position, but can recommend to Council to adopt a position. If no consensus or committee, any committee member may present position to Council or member at annual meeting. Motion made to adopt Section's policy on Position Statements. Upon motion duly made and seconded, motion was passed.

d. Amended Bylaws. The State Bar required one change: dues are not established by the State Bar but rather are set by the Section. As such the following amendment was made to the form of the Bylaws presented:

"ARTICLE II
MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. [General.] Each member of the Section [(a "Member")] shall pay to the State Bar of Michigan {dues of Twenty ($20.00) Dollars, except for student members who shall pay One ($1.00) Dollar} [such dues as may be established from time to time by the Section's Council, subject to the approval of the Board of Commissioners of the State Bar of Michigan], and upon payment of dues for the current year, shall be enrolled as a member of the Section. Thereafter, said dues shall be payable in advance each year. Any {member} [Member] of the Section whose annual dues shall be more than six months past due shall thereupon cease to be a {member} [Member] of the Section. Members so enrolled and whose dues are so paid shall constitute the membership of the Section. Membership shall be limited to active members of the State Bar of Michigan or active members of the Law Student Section of the State Bar of Michigan. "

With this amendment, a motion to approve the Bylaws as amended was made and passed unanimously.

e. Community Legal Resources requested $7,500 from Section. Motion made to grant $7,500 to Community Legal Resources as long as this higher amount is in recognition of a one-time matching opportunity and that Section would not increase the giving amount every year. Upon motion duly made and seconded, motion was passed.

f. Annual Report. Annual Report of the Section will be circulated by Daniel Minkus prior to its submission to the State Bar.

g. Section Journal. Motion made to authorize Publications Director and Section Officers to have ICLE produce the Section Journal as described in the written proposal submitted by Daniel Minkus. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the motion was passed.

h. Budget. Motion made to approve the Section budget for the current year. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the motion was passed.

5. Committee/Directorship Reports.

a. Agricultural Committee - No report.

b. Commercial Litigation - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

c. Corporate Laws - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

d. Debtor/Creditor Rights - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

e. Financial Institutions - No report.

f. In-House Counsel - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

g. Nonprofit Corporations - No report.

h. Regulation of Securities - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

i. Uniform Commercial Code - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes. Patrick Mears reported that there will be an E-commerce Subcommittee meeting on May 29, 2001 at the Headquarters for AAA in Dearborn, Michigan.

j. Unincorporated Enterprises - A written report of this Committee is attached to these Minutes.

k. Legislative Review - A written report is attached to these Minutes.

l. Program - A written report is attached to these Minutes.

m. Publications - No report.

n. Section Development - Prior to surveying the section members to determine the type of business law that they practice (in order to divide up the section members among the various section committees), we will look into establishing a database of section members which can be accessed for various purposes such as disseminating the names of section members to relevant committees once the survey is completed, creating targeted listservs, mailing labels, etc.

o. Technology - A written report is attached to these Minutes.

6. Meeting Adjournment. There being no further business to come before this meeting of the Council of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, upon a motion duly made and seconded, and unanimously approved, the meeting was adjourned.

Timothy R. Damschroder
Business Law Section Secretary