Monday, February 04, 2013
Legal Affairs Committee
Summary Report – Year-In-Review
August 1, 2012
Committee Members and Consultants
Members: Bishop Daniel (Chairman), Bishop Andonios
Attorney Consultants: Fr. Greg Rubis, Georgia Kazakis, Bob Koory, Ray Lanier, Ken Liu, Leon Lysaght, Sophia Mafrige, Bill Marianes, Louis Milicich, David Najjar, Deborah Sedares, Jim Spencer, Ted Theophilos, Catherine Bouffides Walsh, Thaddeus, Wojcik and Anne Mackoul (SCOBA Transition Liaison)
Secretariat Liaison: Eric Namee
Committee Meetings Since Last Assembly Meeting
April 25, 2012 – Conference Call
July 10, 2012 – Meeting in Atlanta
In addition to Bishop Daniel, 13 attorneys attended the meeting. Fr. Mark Arey also attended the meeting. Metropolitan Alexios visited the meeting to welcome the Committee to Atlanta.
The Committee will meet monthly by conference call for the foreseeable future.
Committee Activities and Accomplishments Since Last Assembly Meeting
Articles of Incorporation for the Assembly filed on October 18, 2011
501(c)(3) Application for Recognition of Tax Exemption filed on May 22, 2012
Bylaws prepared and submitted to Assembly for approval
Created 12 working sub-groups to begin to address issues that will affect the Assembly. The attorneys in each sub-group were assigned based upon their particular expertise in topics needing to be addressed. The sub-groups are as follows:
Intellectual Property - Trademark Registrations/Domain Name Registrations/Trade Name Registrations – Electronic/Web Policies
Employment - Policy Handbook, Policy Regarding Sexual Misconduct - Social Networking
Conflict of Interests Policy
Dispute Resolution Regulations
Delegations of Authority
Investment Policies, Endowment Policy, Accounting and Fiduciary Guidelines
Insurance
Youth Protection and Camp Regulations, Athletic Activity Regulations, Uniform Event Release of Liability
Real Estate Matters
Research Jurisdiction Regulations / Statutes / Bylaws
SCOBA Agency Transition Work
New assignments from other Assembly Committees
The Committee’s purpose is to meet the legal needs of the Assembly and to gather legal information and documents to support the work of the other committees of the Assembly. However, the Committee’s work currently does not include providing advice or policies for any jurisdiction.
The Committee will explore a potential collaboration with the legal committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) regarding certain policy/process areas. The USCCB has already reached out to the Committee in this regard.
In conclusion, as a chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee, on behalf of the hierarchs of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, I would like to express our gratitude to Attorney Eric Namee for his guidance and tireless participation in every aspect of Committee’s work. In addition, we express our gratitude to Attorney Bill Marianes, who hosted the Atlanta meeting of the Committee.
In Christ,
Bishop Daniel, Chairman
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