We have solicited many of you to be volunteers for a mentor/mentee program with law students from The University of Maryland Law School Real Estate Law Club and the enthusiastic student members there, we have helped stimulate the organization of a Real Estate Law Club at The University of Baltimore Law School. The UB Club also has many members, and as a result we are in need of additional mentors. The form for signing up to be a mentor can be found on the Real Property Section’s website at http://www.msba.org/sec_comm/sections/realprop/. We hope to have as many as 40 to 50 mentors matched with 40 to 50 law students. The mentor/mentee program is a wonderful way for established real estate practitioners to share the experiences of their careers and practices with budding law students who have an interest in real property law. After all, they are our future brothers and sisters at the Bar and some of them may even develop into the next generation of real estate developers in this area. Please contact me, the Section Chair, Guy Flynn at DLA Piper, or Kimberly Burgess at Wilmer Hale, if you are interested in volunteering to be a mentor.

In addition to the mentor/mentee program, we are very carefully monitoring legislation that is being introduced in response to the Supreme Court decision in the Kelo condemnation case. Terry Shea, as Chair, and the rest of the members of the Legislative Liaison Committee, have been reviewing bills as they are introduced by the Legislature. In addition, we have established an Eminent Domain Committee, and Barry Weiskopf is taking a very active role in coordinating the dissemination of information about eminent domain legislation, both federal and state, among the Real Property Section, and in conjunction with other Sections of the Maryland State Bar Association. Anyone having any questions about eminent domain legislation should feel free to contact Barry Weiskopf at Tydings & Rosenberg.

We have enlisted six authors to write articles for a special Real Property Law edition of the Maryland State Bar Association Journal that will be published in the Fall of 2006. Special thanks to those who have volunteered their time and effort to write articles. The general theme of the articles will relate to land use issues in Maryland, including smart growth; legislative responses to Kelo; the evolution of commercial condominiums or "landominiums"; the role of peoples’ counsel; charettes as a planning tool; and the creation and use of special assessments to fund water and sewer infrastructure in residential subdivisions. We are anxiously awaiting publication of this issue and recommend that all Real Property Section members look for it in the Maryland Bar Journal in the Fall of 2006.

We have recruited new participants for many of the activities of the Real Property Section Council. We are always on the lookout for additional volunteers. We are attempting to form a Land Use Committee at the Section level which will enable real estate practitioners who specialize in planning, zoning, subdivision and other land use matters to have more interaction among themselves. In addition, we are organizing a Mediation Committee of the Real Property Section to review the use of mediation in real estate transactions. So far, Morty Fisher, Doug Bregman, Jack Zemil, Mark Rabin, and the Section Chair have volunteered to work on the Mediation Committee. If anyone is interested in promoting mediation in real estate disputes, please contact the Section Chair.

We are also pleased to report from Ron Deutsch, Chair of the Foreclosure Committee of the Real Property Section, that foreclosure lawyers have their own Email List and have frequent breakfast meetings to discuss issues and practices of common concern to lawyers in connection with foreclosures. While the foreclosure rate has been at historically low levels, one need only look at the recent past to know that foreclosure practice is an important part of the real estate business cycle.

Our Section’s Email List continues to light the way for other Sections. We have one of the most active Email Lists and we can all be proud of the camaraderie and sharing of knowledge that has transpired via the Email List. We hope this Email List serves each of you well and will continue to be a good source for each of you. Please contact Jack Zemil or Tracey Skinner with any suggestions for improving the Email List.

We are planning an exciting annual meeting in June in Ocean City. Please check the Real Property Section website for details on the Real Property Section breakfast meeting and CLE program. Remember, the Real Property Section usually has the best breakfast at the Ocean City Annual Meeting, so if you are a Real Property Section member, please make sure to come by for breakfast.

A special thanks to several members of the Section Council who have been very helpful in organizing this year’s activities. Of special note is Tracey Skinner, Vice Chair of the Section, who has been tireless in her efforts to continue to improve the quality of activities of the Real Property Section. In addition, Ed Lee has done an outstanding job as Chair of the Baltimore Commercial Real Estate Lawyers Discussion Group Luncheon, and we again are looking forward to another wonderful Advanced Real Property Institute co-chaired by Nancy Haas and Hilary O’Connor. Paul Rieger ably assisted in recruiting authors for the Maryland Bar Journal special real estate edition. Terry Shea is working hard as Chair of the Legislative Liaison Committee, and she is being assisted by Barry Weiskopf and his Eminent Domain Committee with respect to specific eminent domain legislation.

As I have in the past, I again strongly urge each and every member to consider contacting the Section Chair or another member of the Section Council to let us know of your interest in serving on a specific Section committee or working on a particular real estate issue, practice or custom which may be of concern to you and your fellow members of the MSBA’s Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning.