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MSBA Computer & Technology Law Section
Annual Report Archives
2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2010-11 | 2011-12
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MSBA Computer & Technology Law Section
Annual Report
2011-12

Section Membership
As of April 30 2012, the Computer & Technology Law Section has 231 members.

Financial Status
The Computer & Technology Law Section had an account balance of $4,835.05 as of March 31, 2012.

Continuing Legal Education Programs
The Section hosted eleven CLE programs in fiscal year 2011-12.

Annual Meeting and Election Results
The Section’s annual meeting and elections were held on May 22, 2012, at the offices of Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Minneapolis, MN. In addition to the Section’s business meeting and elections, the evening featured a social hour, dinner and CLE entitled, “(Face)Booking Trouble: The Many Perils of Employee Screening Through Social Media.” Approximately 30 people participated in the meeting and program.

The following individuals were elected to serve as officers of the Section in 2012-13:

Chair: Todd Schenk
Vice Chair: Jamie Nafziger
Treasurer: Alycia Kirkevold
Secretary: Joshua Carlson

Allen Oh will serve as Immediate Past Chair.

The following individuals were elected to serve on the Section Council in 2012-13:

The following individuals will serve as MSBA Assembly representative and alternate in 2012-13: Todd Schenk (representative); Jamie Nafziger (alternate)

Other Section Accomplishments

Law School Outreach
In addition to the Section’s monthly CLE programs, the Section held networking luncheons at local law schools. These events were an excellent opportunity for law students to meet members of the Section and for Section members to share their professional experiences with the students. The events were well attended at each school.

Section Blog
The Section also continues to blog about updates in computer, technology and privacy law. You can review the Section’s blog by visiting: http://mntech.typepad.com/msba/.

Section Facebook Page
The Section launched a Facebook page in 2012 to keep members informed of upcoming events and items of interest. Like us at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/MSBA-Computer-and-Technology-Law-Section/197815843562793.

Annual Computer & Technology Institute
The Section co-sponsored the annual Computer & Technology Institute with Minnesota CLE. The event was attended by a total of 132 participants, including 113 non-faculty participants and 19 faculty members.

Submitted By:
Allen J. Oh, Section Chair

MSBA Computer & Technology Law Section
Annual Report
2010-11

Section Membership
As of June 16, 2011, the Computer & Technology Law Section has 219 members.  The Section’s membership remained the same as at the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1, 2010).Financial Status
The Computer & Technology Law Section had an account balance of $4,780.29 as of April 30, 2011. 

Continuing Legal Education Programs and Social Events
The Section hosted nine CLE programs in fiscal year 2010-11. 

Legislation and Amicus Briefs
The Computer & Technology Law Section did not submit any legislative proposals or amicus briefs in the 2010-11 term.Annual Meeting and Election Results
The Section’s annual meeting and elections were held on May 10, 2011, at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in Minneapolis, MN.  In addition to the Section’s business meeting and elections, the evening featured a social hour, dinner and CLE entitled, “The End of Digital Forensics or Just a New Chapter?”.  19 people participated in the meeting and program.The following individuals were elected to serve as officers of the Section in 2011-12:            Chair:  Allen Oh
Vice Chair: Todd Schenk
Treasurer:  Jamie Nafziger
Secretary: Alycia Kirkevold

The following individuals were elected to serve on the Section Council in 2011-12:

The following individuals will serve as MSBA Assembly representative and alternate in 2011-12:Other Section AccomplishmentsLaw School Outreach
In addition to the Section’s monthly CLE programs, the Section held networking luncheons at each of the local law schools.  These events were an excellent opportunity for law students to meet members of the Section and for Section members to share their professional experiences with the students.  The events were well attended at each school.Section Blog
The Section also continues to blog about updates in computer, technology and privacy law.  You can review the Section’s blog by visiting: http://mntech.typepad.com/msba/. Section Facebook Page
The Section launched a Facebook page in 2011 to keep members informed of upcoming events and items of interest.  Like us at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/MSBA-Computer-and-Technology-Law-Section/197815843562793. Annual Computer & Technology Institute
The Section co-sponsored the annual Computer & Technology Institute with Minnesota CLE.  The event was well attended.Submitted By:
Chris Evans, Section Chair

MSBA COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY LAW SECTION
2005-06 ANNUAL REPORT

Thanks to the efforts of our Council members and Committee Chairs, the Computer Law Section enjoyed another active and productive year in 2005-2006.

The section joined with Minnesota CLE to co-sponsor the annual Computer Law Institute in October, 2005. This year's Institute included presentations on variety of hot topics by private practitioners, in-house counsel and members of academia. We continued last year's format of providing a lunch and hosting a keynote speaker. This year's speaker was the Honorable James Rosenbaum, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Judge Rosenbaum addressed several issues relating to information technology and the courts.

The Section Council continued its tradition of meeting every second Tuesday of the month from September 2005 through April 2006. A professional improvement program was scheduled to follow each meeting beginning in November. This year we instituted a regular rotation of programs put together by our Noon-time CLE Committee, our Case Law Committee and our Technology Roundtable Committee.

The Noon time CLE programs included presentations on litigating computer system failures (November, 2005) and on the practical aspects of implementing ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (February, 2006). In December 2005 and March 2006 the Council meetings were followed by case law updates and lively discussions on recent case law developments. The January and April meetings were followed by Technology Roundtable Discussions on anti-circumvention measures under the DMCA. and on the negotiation and management of a computer system implementation project.

The sections semi-annual Newsletter included an informative articles on the new ICANN top level domain names, and on the need for an export management system to avoid export violations.

The Section's Contracts committee produced a sample Non-Disclosure Agreement for use as a practice aid.

Our Membership & Law Student Outreach Committee met with law students at Hamline, the University of Minnesota, William Mitchell and St. Thomas. The Committee also inquired into possible financial support for Moot court or other student programs that focus on computer law. The Committee assumed responsibility for reaching out to out-state members.

The Section's Nominations and Bylaws Committee was given the task of amending the Section Bylaws to conform to recent MSBA organizational changes and directives. The Committee's proposed amendments were later approved by the Section and the MSBA.

The Computer Law Section successfully concluded its 2005-2006 business year with the Annual Meeting on May 23, 2006, at which the election of our new Governing Council and Officers was announced.

Thomas R. Sheran
2005-06 Computer & Technology Law Section Chair

MSBA Computer & Technology Law Section
2004-05 Annual Report

We had another busy and successful year for the Section. We held monthly Council meetings every second Tuesday of the month since September 2004. These meetings were open to the general membership. We have now concluded our year with our Annual Meeting of the membership on May 26, 2004. At that meeting, we voted on our new Governing Council and Officers and our guest speaker was Michael Jacobs who spoke on E-Discovery implications in the 21st Century.

Our activities this past year included numerous CLEs, roundtable discussions, guest speakers and law school outreach visits.

We were very happy to again co-sponsor the Computer Law Institute with Minnesota CLE this year. The Institute took place earlier than normal on September 9, 2004 and was well received by the attendees. We had two keynote speakers, the first was Patricia Sefcik from the Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. who spoke on the “Our Digital Future: Information Technology and Electronic Commerce’s Role in the Nation’s Economic Growth.” Our second keynote speaker was also the lunchtime speaker, Gary Smaby of Quatris Fund, Minneapolis, MN who spoke on “From Out of the Soap Scum, There’s Still Life in the Venture Capital Pool.” The format of the Computer Law Institute was modified to provide lunch and to host a lunch-time guest speaker rather than a happy hour social after the institute.

Our Noon-time CLE committee generally tried to host a speaker, round-table or committee topic during the presentation phase of our monthly meetings: November - Chris Hilberg of Oppenheimer spoke on caselaw updates; January – Gary Weinstein of Faegre & Benson hosted a roundtable discussion on open source software; February – Chris Hilberg of Oppenheimer reviewed caselaw updates; March – Gary Weinstein of Faegre & Benson hosted the second roundtable on licensing models; and April - Richard Hagstrom and Michael Jacobs, Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel, Mason & Gette spoke on the Microsoft Antitrust Case for which Zelle Hofmann was lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

Our Membership & Law Student Outreach Committee met with law students at Hamline (March), the University of Minnesota (November), William Mitchell (October) and St. Thomas (April). In addition, this committee conducted a survey of the section in November to assess practice areas, an assessment of current offerings and suggestions for improvements. The survey results were reported in the Winter 2004 newsletter.

Our Case Law Committee was prepared with a report of current cases presented at two of the monthly meetings.

The Technology Roundtable committee hosted roundtable discussions at two of the monthly meetings.

The Section Bylaws amendment from the 2003-2004 year was approved by the MSBA and went into effect.

The MSBA has restructured the voting body to allow for a representative from each section, Allen Oh of Moore, Hansen & Sumner agreed to be the section’s first representative for the 2005-2006 term.

Katheryn A. Andresen
2004-05 Computer & Technology Law Section Chai

MSBA Computer & Technology Law Section
2003-04 Annual Report

This was a busy year for the Section. We held monthly Council meetings every second Tuesday of the month since September 2003. These meetings were open to the general membership. We have now concluded our year with our Annual Meeting of the membership on May 25, 2004. At that meeting we elected our new Governing Council and Officers.

Our activities this past year included numerous CLEs, roundtable discussions, guest speakers and law school outreach.

We were very happy to again co-sponsor the Computer Law Institute with Minnesota CLE this year. The Institute took place October 30, 2003 and was well received by the 150 attendees. Our keynote speaker was Jeffrey Ritter of Kilpatrick & Lockhart of Washington, D.C. who spoke on the emergence of a new area of law in the technology field, “systems law”. Also, we were delighted that Vance Opperman and U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger agreed to debate the Patriot Act and its impact upon the electronic realm.

We also held several Noon-time CLEs. In November Tim Krsul, of Oppenheimer, Wolff and Donnelly, spoke on the topic of “Insurance Coverage in the Age of Computers”. In March we hosted Patty Elias and Bruce McPheeters of Lawson Software to discuss the topic of “Complex Software License Negotiations Between Licensors and Licensees”.

Our Contracts Committee held a roundtable discussion in May on contractual issues related to source code escrowing and release.

Our Law Student Outreach Committee met with law students at Hamline, the University of Minnesota, William Mitchell and St. Thomas.

Our Case Law Committee was prepared with a report of current cases in the Technology industry at every Council meeting.

Also, in response to the fact that the “Internet Committee” of the MSBA disbanded, we formed a new committee to fill that void called the Technology Roundtable. This committee held monthly discussions on topics of interest in the Computer Law field which were well attended.

Finally, our Section amended its Bylaws to indicate that a Council member who misses three Council meetings in a row without an excuse will lose their position on the Council. The Board of Governors approved our Amended Bylaws on December 5, 2003.

Christopher J. Schulte
2003-04 Computer & Technology Law Section Chair

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