MEETING MINUTES
Monday, MAY 15, 2000
1. Custody - Jan Yaw. Jan mentioned there are not enough weeks in June, July and August, and she suggested adding a few more on next year's calendar because kids are out of school in the summer and that is when many petitions are filed. There is no term in August now at all. Judge Smith said there will be four more days added in July because his bench trial list has folded.
Kevin Way is aware of the lack of days in August. The 2001 calendar will have more days in August.
Judge Kieser indicated there may be less filings, but matters keep coming back to modify and reconsider.
Judge Anderson stated that there were 56 filings in March alone, and that says something about the potential rate of increase.
2. Tom Marino. No one was present from criminal defense bar. Tom Marino spoke for both. The date certain system is going well. Tom indicated he is trying to get his assistants and defense lawyers together before the monitoring day. Defense lawyers should contact the D.A.'s office about plea agreements in advance.
3. Legal Services - Joseph Campagna. 1018 question. Joe apologized for not getting to this matter.
The Chair suggested modifying the way the current notice is worded, and using the PBA phone number. We would then have to advertise to LLA members that they should sign up with the PBA.
Gary Weber will attempt to draft a new notice and send it to Cliff for discussion.
Carl Barlett said he would find out what LLA members are currently registered with the PBA referral service.
4. Defense, Civil - Ed Mitchell. Date certain system is working well, and life is better.
5. Plaintiff - Dave Wilk. Nothing to add.
6. Joe Rider. Ad for revocable living trust has been worked on. George Cohen and Joe have done such an ad. Gary T. Harris has it to look over. The LLA will finance.
7. Lycoming Foundation was spoken about by Joe Campagna. Bill Nichols has been a big help. The foundation hopefully will raise $5,000.00 from Law Association members. Support from lawyers in the Bar has been extraordinary.
8. Bill Knecht - Commercial. Nothing to add.
9. Gary Weber. Gary has been working on www.lyco.org Web site to have local law and opinions placed on it. There is a directory of all attorneys on the site. One can click on it and send e-mail to attorneys. Gary said that its use will be advertised.
Judge Kieser mentioned that these very Minutes could go on the Web page.
10. Carl Barlett - President. Carl said he would be attending meetings regularly.
LLA is sponsoring a blood drive July 6th.
The third week of July will be the Annual Picnic.
11. Kevin Way, Court Administrator. CD-Rom research in library has been a problem. It does not work well, and is outdated. The Chair mentioned the Internet access. Kevin indicated that no help was needed from the LLA right now, but the Chair volunteered to assist in this project, should the need arise.
12. Judge Anderson. Judge Anderson spoke of Fred Holland and the Lycoming Mediation Project. Some money is received by this non-profit organization from the Foundation. They are running a course in August to make attorneys certified mediators: divorce and custody mediation process. Dudley said to call him or Fred Holland about this if anybody is interested.
13. Judge Butts. Nothing to add.
14. Judge Kieser. Judge Kieser joined in the Chair's suggestion of applause for Gary Weber with respect to his work on the website.
The Judge indicted that the effort to settle has been great and has cut down on the case load.
15. Judge Smith. All civil cases are to receive dates certain, as well as criminals too.
As to custody, date certain has been more difficult to do. The Judge indicated that there may be an assignment of custody as backup to criminal and civil cases.
The County Commissioners have approved another conflicts attorney. There is an attempt being made to hire now.
Judicial assignments are to be made Tuesday, May 16, 2000, and there will be some changes.
16. Judge Brown. In criminal, date certain system is working well.
Case monitoring system for criminal has been good, but there has been some problem making attorneys wait because of the number of cases.
17. The Chair brought up the issue of multi-disciplinary practice and the recommendation of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Judge Kieser suggested a special meeting of the Bar Association.
The Chair referred to the "HMO-ization" of the law.
Ed Mitchell indicated that he is concerned about the process which defense lawyers have faced for some time.
Ed mentioned that Zone Governor is Bill Carlucci, and he ought to be contacted.
Bill was at the PBA meeting that was recently held on the issue of multi-disciplinary practice. PBA's House of Delegates voted down the Majority Resolution of the Commission on MDP.
An ad-hoc committee was put together of Ed Mitchell, Carl Barlett, Cliff Rieders, and Bill Carlucci.
It was suggested by Carl that we have a panel discussion, and Carl will set this up.
18. The next meeting of the Bench Bar Committee is October 16, 2000.
19. After the preparation of these Minutes, it was learned that the House of Delegates of the Pennsylvania Bar Association REJECTED the majority report of the committee on multi-disciplinary practice. Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Bar Association now is going to take no position on multi-disciplinary practice. Your Chair spoke with Bill Carlucci, Esquire, and others about this matter, and there is a feeling by some that the Pennsylvania Bar Association should be more active in advocating disciplinary procedures against those who violate the current rule on lawyers/non-lawyers practicing together. The unauthorized practice of law also needs stronger enforcement. This is something that we at Lycoming Law Association need to educate the public on. It is an important Consumer issue.