2017 American Bar Association LLC Institute

I had the privilege of being invited again this year to present at the 2017 LLC Institute, an annual program produced by the LLC, Partnership and Unincorporated Entities Committee of the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.  As part of a panel discussion on LLC fiduciary duties (with friend-of-the-BLPB Mohsen Manesh and others), I sang a few bars of Rocky Top (!) and talked about the fiduciary duty waiver issue that we faced in Tennessee in revamping our limited partnership law this past year.  But that was far from the highlight of the program!  

Luckily, friend-of-the-BLPB Tom Rutledge--a leader in (and former chair of) the LLC, Partnership and Unincorporated Entities Committee--has captured the essence of the two-day event in blog posts here and here.  He notes in sum:

Over the last two days we have . . . , by means exceptional panels, considered and informed the participants on the broadest range of issues materially important to our shared area of interest and practice.  That is the mission of the LLC Institute, and hopefully it has again delivered on its objective.  The materials are posted and available for anyone, and in a few weeks the audio recordings will as well be posted.  While we recommend them to you, if you did not attend you missed out on the opportunity to ask questions as the programs were in progress and perhaps even more importantly the opportunity to meet new and liaison with old friends.  Those relationships are one of the great values of our Committee, the means by which we lean on and assist one another. 

This is so true.  The relationships--built through banter between and among panelists and audience members before, during, between, and after the sessions are what make this event special.  Of course, the subject matter also is phenomenally interesting.  

Co-blogger Josh Fershee also presented at the Institute this year.  Other BLPB readers and friends who attended (some of whom also presented) included:

• Suffolk Law's Carter Bishop (who moderated and led our panel);
• Colorado's infamous consummate practitioners and thought-leaders Bill Callison (who gave an amazing luncheon talk on Thursday regarding his work in establishing a model entity law statute for use in developing countries*) and Bob Keatinge;
• Glommer and BYU Law Associate Dean Christine Hurt; and
• Baylor Law's Beth Miller (a/k/a the walking, talking guru of Texas business associations law and Queen of LLC caselaw--who, it was announced, will soon have a Committee content award named after her).

I am sure that I am missing someone . . . .  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  And let me know if you'd like to be part of the program next year.  I know that the folks who organize the event like to have new presenters come every year, to keep the banter going.  I am happy to pass your name along.

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*Specifically, as noted in his firm biography: "He is the American Bar Association's delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group I (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), which is focusing on law reforms enabling adoption of simplified business entity structures by micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses in developing countries. He serves on the UNCITRAL Secretariat's expert group in this process."