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| Bar Bulletin |
September,
2003
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| MSBA News |
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Burnett
Leads NCC to Greater Uniformity
By Janet Stidman Eveleth
When
the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCC) was
founded in 1892, its objective was to unify and improve state law. For the
last 111 years, the oldest state governmental association in our country
has striven to make diverse state laws uniform when such diversity obstructs
the interests of U.S. citizens. For the last two years, K. King Burnett,
a lawyer from Salisbury, led NCC’s pursuit of the principle of uniformity
for state laws as President.
“Uniformity
of laws between the states is the key to greater mobility for our population
and business transactions,” proclaims Burnett. “The development
of laws by states has proven to be the greatest catalyst for improvement
in our legal system. There is a large risk of increasing federal preemption.
It is vital that state laws keep up with current civil law issues facing
this country.”
“It
is imperative to have similar rules for commercial transactions and increasingly
for family law, trusts, probate and real estate, too,” he continues. “Today’s
high-tech world has had a big impact on state laws and we must keep up,” which
is the reason NCC is now looking into everything from electronic signatures
and paperless motor vehicle transfers to real property transactions.
NCC
fulfills a vital role in addressing the lack of uniformity of laws between
the states. Since its creation, it has drafted more than 200 uniform laws
in various fields of law to promote uniformity across the country. Each uniform
act takes years to complete.
Today
NCC is recognized for its work in commercial, family, health, probate, estates
and business organization law and is credited with developing the Uniform
Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Transfers to Minors
Act, the Uniform Partnership Act and many others. Currently, it is tackling
such timely issues as public health emergency response authority, misuse
of genetic information, Internet privacy law, electronic payment systems
and marine insurance.
NCC
devises and rationalizes state statutory law by promulgating and seeking
enactment of desirable uniform state statutes covering a wide variety of
subject matters. Commissioners, who represent every state, participate in
drafting specific acts, discussing, considering and amending proposals, then
deciding on whether to recommend an act as a uniform or model act. NCC only
proposes uniform laws; to become effective, the act must be enacted by state
legislatures.
Burnett,
a partner in the Salisbury law firm of Webb, Burnett, Jackson, Cornbrooks,
Wilber, Vorhis and Douse, LLP, was elected to this post in 2001 by NCC’s
300+ uniform law commissioners. He has been a member of NCC since 1979, has
served several terms on the organization’s Executive Committee and
was Division Chairman, overseeing six drafting committees, for two years.
Last month, Burnett became Immediate Past President and will continue to
serve on the organization’s Executive Committee.
As
President, Burnett’s responsibilities included overseeing NCC’s
administrative office headquartered in Chicago, attending every meeting of
all twelve drafting committees, working with study committees, soliciting
input from the ABA and the American Law Institute and handling other issues
as they arose. In this leadership role, Burnett revised the study committee
process by requiring reporters to complete written reports for the benefit
of all NCC members. He was also instrumental in increasing the activity and
interest in international law unification projects.
Burnett
saw his leadership role as “a great opportunity to enhance federal
and state relations, foster a better relationship between NCC and various
ABA Sections and promote the growth of state law.” He found the role
of NCC President “stimulating and intellectual.”
“I
like the law, so I enjoyed increasing the efforts to have NCC’s work
product enacted,” declares Burnett. He liked drafting the uniform laws
and debating the public policies. “You meet with the foremost
experts in the country.”
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