The President’s Letter
Carrying on the “Particular Business” of The American Law Institute
 Roberta Cooper Ramo |
Our Annual Meeting in May celebrated the 85th Anniversary of The American Law Institute with great addresses from Justice Ruth Ginsburg, Mike Traynor, and others, and with our members’ enthusiastic participation in each session. At this moment we are engaged in more than a dozen projects, from Torts to Nonprofits and from Trusts to Aggregate Litigation. At the same time, we are also refining our vision to ensure that our work, our methods, and our means of communicating and disseminating our recommendations continue to have the impact that our founders intended and achieved.
In recent meetings in Berlin on Transnational Insolvency, in Florence on Aggregate Litigation, and in Geneva on the Principles of World Trade Law, we heard European lawyers, judges, and academics express the high regard in which they hold our written work and our process. Thanks to the integration of world economies and the reality of instant worldwide communication, justice systems are influenced by one another whether or not they want to be. From the subprime mortgage markets to civil liberties, legal issues in the United States have immediate impact in other nations, and we are equally affected by the economic and justice systems of the rest of the world.
Clarifying and simplifying legal rules while adapting them to social needs is a goal in nearly every country. Meanwhile, many regions of the world need legal coordination just as the 48 U.S. states did in 1923, when the Institute was founded. Europe is a giant experiment in federalization. In addition, countries belonging to no regional state are nonetheless required by treaties and by the laws of economics to demonstrate commitment to rules and procedures that investors and customers find acceptable. When the ALI urged insolvency coordination among the three NAFTA countries, Canada, Mexico, and the United States responded positively, and multinational North American bankruptcies have been handled more efficiently and more fairly as a result. As I learned while attending our meetings in Berlin and Florence, describing ALI’s method receives a positive international response. We assign academics to draft legal language. The Reporters’ drafts are then improved as lawyers, judges, and other scholars engage in constructive criticism and discussion. What results is useful, practical, and sometimes elegant. The positive view of this process offers us important opportunities to undertake more international work and to encourage and cooperate with law-reform groups in other countries.
At home, as we continue our projects, we are beginning to examine how we communicate with one another. From time to time we will be asking for your thoughts about these issues and for your help as we experiment with new modes of communication. But I promise no text-messaging of the Restatement of Torts and no smiley faces.
Most seriously, we must take care that our internal architecture remains solid. This requires that we continually refresh our membership with the finest minds from the bench, the bar, and the academy, and that we have enough money to do our work. We must not only identify new members, but also make sure that their work in the ALI, whatever its level, is supported by their firms and law schools. Please take a moment to consider colleagues in your firm, on your faculty, or on the bench, and ask yourselves if the very best among them are involved in the ALI. If not, what must be done to interest them, to achieve their nomination, and, most importantly, to encourage their active participation?
Our recent survey of members and nonmembers is almost finished, and there will be much for us to ponder from the information we obtain. But I am anxious to hear directly your thoughts about what we should be doing and how we can make your membership in the ALI a vital part of your professional life.
In these difficult economic times, in the midst of a historic election, and given the declining regard in which Americans hold our governmental institutions, every one of us is responsible for furthering the ALI’s mission of improving the system of justice that makes it possible for our country to solve social problems and to engage in the civil discourse essential to a diverse and successful democracy. We benefit from the vision and generosity of the ALI’s founders, who offered their time and found and husbanded the resources that continue to support our work. It is our turn now to be modern in our thinking, innovative in our work, and aware of our obligation to keep The American Law Institute strong and relevant.
Roberta Cooper Ramo
President