Presentation by deans and national directors.

• Author: Rawson, Robert, Jr.
• Position: Conference: US and Canadian Energy Relationship

Speaker--Daniel Ujczo

Speaker--Robert Rawson, Jr.

Speaker--Ian Holloway

INTRODUCTION

Daniel Ujczo

MR. UJCZO: I am Dan Ujczo, the Managing Director of the Canada-United States Law Institute. (1) This year marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of our Institute. (2) I am, like the Institute, also a bicentennial baby. Actually, next Tuesday is my birthday. Cards are accepted. As for being here for three and a half decades and having a vibrant program, the Institute does from time to time require a bit of a face-lift. We have dedicated the past decade to examining our operations through a strategic review of all aspects, from our structure in governance model to our programs, and lastly, our development structure. I have said this morning, and others have heard me say this in other settings, one of the greatest assets of our Institute is that we have the most talented legal minds on the continent, if not the world, associated with our organization. But one of the great challenges when you are structuring a governance document is that we have some of the most talented legal minds on the continent, if not the world.

But we have with tremendous guidance from our Advisory Board and our Executive Committee established this structure in governance model for the Institute that will carry us forward for the decades to come. In particular, Dick Cunningham (3) of Steptoe and Johnson drafted our initial structure and operational guidelines back in 2006. With a few years of experience, changes in the Institute, and changes at our academic institutions, it required a little bit of polish as well and Michael Robinson (4) gladly carried the mantle. "Gladly" may be an exaggeration, but Michael Robinson did the heavy lifting in terms of carrying this forward with the active support of our National Directors, Professor Michael Scharf, (5) our United States Director here at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and Chios Carmody, (6) our Canadian Director from The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. You will be hearing more from Michael and Chios later this evening.

Our heritage rests in having our home in two academic institutions (7) and those of you who have attended a faculty meeting or two over the years know that that it is not always such a great thing dealing with two very different academic institutions. But it is our heritage. It renders the Canada-United States Law Institute unique and extraordinary in terms of the activities we provide in three ways.

First, it provides us with stability and reputation. These are prestigious academic institutions.

Secondly, everything we do is inherently bilateral and you can see that reflected in this room. As I have stated earlier, we have students both in this room and in our overflow rooms and watching via webcast from Case Western Reserve University and the University of Western Ontario. They should be studying for finals but that is a whole other issue.

And lastly, we are non-partisan. As you have seen on our panels, we hear all sides of these Canada-United States issues...