Message from the Chair

By Elizabeth G. Pianca^*

I am honored to be authoring my first "Message from the Chair" as the 2015-2016 Chair of the Public Law Section. I joined the Public Law Section’s Executive Committee in 2012 and it has been a privilege to have the opportunity to work with the talented and dedicated attorneys who serve on the Executive Committee. I have also been inspired by the Section members who have shown up at any one of the Section’s educational offerings. There is always a buzz of positive energy in the air when public lawyers convene. I believe this is a reflection of the good nature of public law attorneys, their dedication to public service, and their commitment to ensuring that government pursues truth and justice. I am committed to supporting the efforts of this outstanding Section as I serve as the 2015-2016 Chair.

In recent years, the Public Law Section has diversified the services we provide to Section members. This has included webinars on the California Environmental Quality Act and medical marijuana and annual meeting conference panels on topics such as handling public works construction project claims, protecting public agency attorneys from threats and harassment, ethics for public law attorneys, and public entity employee discipline. In 2015, we expanded our full-day educational conference offerings by sponsoring an emerging technologies and privacy conference and co-sponsoring, with the Environmental Law Section, an administrative and public environmental law conference. We also sponsored—for the third consecutive year—the highly successful public records and open meetings conference. The Section also has a presence on Facebook (www.facebook.com/calbarpubliclaw) and Twitter (calbarpubliclaw); posting relevant public law updates for our Section members.

This year we will continue in our efforts to roll out an online survey that Section members can complete in a few minutes to provide feedback on the Section. Please keep an eye out in your email on how to participate in this survey. And if you have a comment or a thought that you would like to share with the Section before or after the survey, you can always email me at egpianca@gmail.com.