As 2011 comes to a close, I'm taking a moment to reflect on what a great year we've had! Since our last newsletter, we've had many great programs. Our popular September Legal Sampler was again a success, thanks to our four sponsors Bowman and Brooke, Lind Jensen, Patterson Thuente IP and Henson & Efron.  Also in September, we had a great program from Anderson Kill on current events in the insurance industry, and our October 12th program on Cloud Computing was our highest-attended practice group lunch to date, sponsored by Merrill Corporation.  In November we had a hugely successful Wine Tasting sponsored by Leonard, Street and Deinard and a great practice group lunch on doing business in Canada, sponsored by Blake, Cassels and Graydon.  We wrapped up the year with a lunch and learn sponsored by Thomson West on trends in legal management and a practice group lunch sponsored by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business on Behavioral Advertising.  We are always thankful to our sponsors for helping us create programs that are relevant for our members. Speaking of sponsors, our 2012 sponsorship drive is almost complete.  We still have a couple of sponsorship openings, so If you know of law firms or vendors that you think may be interested in sponsoring our chapter, please contact Becky Bickett at mnacca@acc.com. Street Law.

A couple of months ago, you received a note from our Community Service Committee about MNACCA's upcoming involvement with the Minnesota Justice Foundation and its Street Law program.  The Street Law program provides underprivileged high school students with a greater understanding of the law and promotes the use of interactive educational methods to develop academic, critical thinking, and civic skills. The MJF is looking for attorneys to help to teach students an established Street Law curriculum in the areas of Consumer, Juvenile/Criminal, Education, Employment, Family, and Housing Law, with a possibility of curriculum in other topics such as tort, Intellectual Property, Constitutional Law.  There is also an opportunity to assist the high school students perform a mock trial at a later date. MNACCA volunteers would be expected to attend a training session over the Martin Luther King weekend in 2012 at a local high school, which would last a few hours.  The time commitment for teaching could be as little as one hour for attorneys who are interested in teaching one session at a single high school, but MJF is willing (and eager) to accept further involvement from MNACCA members. The exact dates for the specific high school sessions on specific areas of the law have not yet been established. The next session of Street Law will begin in early 2012.  If you are interested, or would like further information, please contact MNACCA  Community Service Committee member Jim Denniston  at james.r.denniston@xcelenergy.com or 612-215-4656. Knowledge Network and Mentor Program. 

A few months ago, the MNACCA Membership Committee conducted a survey to gauge interest in Knowledge Network and Mentor Programs for our members. Many of you indicated that having a resource in your practice area, and/or a mentor would be of interest to you. After the survey, we consulted with ACC's national headquarters and have learned that they currently offer a program similar to the Knowledge Network and are now rolling out a Mentor Program in conjunction with their Member-to-Member initiative as well. Both programs now have a regional component that serves as a tool similar to what we intended to offer (i.e. being able to contact a local member regarding subject matter and mentorship issues), so, while we will not be offering these programs from a chapter level at this time, similar programs are available on ACC's website for your use now and in the future. The ACC Knowledge Network can be found at: http://www.acc.com/community/findamember/ The ACC Member-to-Member network and Mentor program can be found at: http://community.acc.com/Home/ We hope you will take the chance to use these tools, as they already contain a vast set of subject matter experts and mentors, both from a regional and a national level. There are also links in these websites to become a subject matter expert or mentor, in case you would like to participate in those capacities. 

Thanks for your interest in these programs, and in all of the programs MNACCA has offered this year.  I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season, and look forward to seeing you in 2012!