Jim Reports on the Real World Impact of the College

I welcome our Fellows and their guests to the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.

It has been a privilege to work this year with our officers, 7 standing committees, 4 task forces, Regents and participating Fellows, to pursue the ever more ambitious goals of continuously increasing the breadth and depth of our members’ involvement in College activities.  This year, those activities have included – 

• increasing the role of Regents in the special task forces of the College;
• expanding the duties of our College Secretary and Treasurer;
• producing scores of timely and publicly accessible blogs on developments of interest related to the environment;
• updating our website within the constraints of our budget; 
• developing environmental skills programming in collaboration with, and for, the Environmental Council of the States;
• providing a stand-by source of environmental disaster advice to any who call for it;
• producing on-going continuing legal education programs with the American Law Institute and the Environmental Law Institute;
• producing college-wide teleconferences on topics showcasing Fellows with nationally and internally acknowledged thought leadership;
• co-sponsoring the internationally-focused Summit of the Americas;
• planning an April 27, 2018 joint meeting on resilience and energy efficiency with the American College of Construction Lawyers and a post-May 2018 joint symposium with the American College of Coverage and Extra-Contractual Counsel on an environmental/insurance crossover topic to be further refined;
• arranging meetings of Fellows within our 11 regions;
• producing meetings with prominent national and state environmental regulators;
• planning the pilot project of the College’s new domestic pro bono program;
• pursuing international pro bono initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa (training anti-poaching rangers), Cuba (proposing environmental remediation advice and collaborating with a Cuban environmental law faculty), Haiti (informing development of environmental law program at university level, and local and national environmental law bar association), China (planning the potential revival of our continuing legal series meetings and speeches) and India (engaging in discussions with Justice Swatantar Kumar, the Chair of India’s National Green Tribunal); 
• encouraging environmental scholarship at the nation’s law schools through the Herrmann Award competition;
• forming an IRS Code 501(c)(3) affiliate to our 501(c)(6) College so that we can effectively accept and use charitable contributions to fund our missions;
•  marshalling and indexing the College’s historical documents for centralized storage and access by future generations of Fellows and College leaders;
• amending our bylaws and policies to provide updated guidance on (a) whether Fellowship in the College is an honor or an honor plus an obligation, (b) who should be eligible to become a member of the College, and (c) what broadening classes of individuals we want to cover with our non-discrimination bylaw and, of course,
• producing an annual meeting like this which beings Fellows and guests together for professional growth, comradery, and fun, in some of America’s most uplifting settings. 

As of this writing, our 2017 accomplishments have involved well over half of our Fellows.

We look forward to further success next year under the leadership of our distinguished new President, John Cruden. Best wishes, John. And best wishes to all of you for another impactful year in the American College of Environmental Lawyers. 

James A Bruen

President