NARBLA Conference Meeting  Summary - April 1, 2023

Greetings, NARBLA members and friends:

Suffolk University hosted the 2023 annual conference of the North Atlantic Regional Business Law Association  (NARBLA) on Saturday, April 1, 2023. 

The Board of Editors met on Friday afternoon, March 31, 2023, at Boston College to review papers submitted for publication.

On Saturday morning, April 1, 2023, at the NARBLA Annual Connference at Suffolk University, Program Chair, Jason Peterson, extended a warm welcome to all.  

We welcomed representatives from book publishers:  Natalie Danner (Aspen Publishing), and Beth Kaufman (Pearson) who were displaying their Business Law related texts and other materials at the sign-in area.

Alex Reed (University of Georgia), ALSB Executive Committee, Vice President, reminded us that the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Annual Conference this year will be held in San San Diego, California, Tuesday, July 25, 2023, - Saturday, July 29, 2023.  You can find the Call for Participation & Submission Deadlines, Conference Registration, and Hotel Registration at the ALSB Website: www.alsb.org.

Marie Hansen (Husson University), Co-Editor of the Business Law Review, notified us of the extension of the deadline to submit an article to the Business Law Review journal.  The new deadline will be June 2, 2023.  This will be a special edition where we will accept topics related to Business Law and Society.  You may reach out to Marie with any questions at hansenm@husson.edu.

Liz Brown announced the next NARBLA annual meeting will be held at Bentley University, Saturday, April 6, 2024.  You may find details at the NARBLA Website: www.narbla.org.  

Paper Presentations covered numerous topics  including Globalizing Employee Health Data Privacy Policies (Liz Brown, Bentley University), How AI Can Reduce Business Corruption (Nicole S. Norval, Eastern Connecticut State University), Regulate Crypto? (Christine Westphal (Merrimack College), Reserved Employment: Can Global Policies to Improve Employment Opportunity for People with Disabilities Work in the United States? (Kabrina Krebel Chang), COVID-19 Impact on Student Disability Accommodations (Marianne Kulow and David Missirian, Bentley University), A New Trend: Graduate Student Teaching and Research Assistants at Private Colleges and Universities Forming Labor Organizations (David P. Twomey, Boston College), The Emerging Liability of Boards of Directors for Operational Risk (Robert Bird, University of Connecticut), The Case for Holding Companies Accountable for Packaging Waste: Internalizing Traditional Externalities Through Extended Producer Responsibility Laws (Bill Wiggins, Bentley University), The "Texas Two Step" and How Consumers are Harmed (Anthony A. Smith, Bentley University), Bouncing Back and Going Forward (David J. Blythe, Norwich University).

At the Business Lunch Meeting, Liz Brown proposed a change in the name of the NARBLA officers.  The attendees, by majority vote, approved the names of President (Past Program Chair 2023), Vice President (Program Chair for 2024), Secretary (Program Chair for 2025), and ALSB delegates. 

Walter Toomey gave the Treasurer's report.

Jason Peterson introduced the luncheon guest speaker, Professor John McCoy (Suffolk University) who spoke on The Practice of Life.  In addition to his 26 years teaching at Suffolk University, John has a private practice in Hingham, Massachusetts.  He is also the creator and co-developer of the children's show, "Doggity's" which airs as part of Noodle and Doodle on PBS Sprout.  John expressed to us that thinking about all his activities, his love of teaching is his favorite.  He noted the importance of engaging with students, giving them information on Business law topics (eg. contracts) that are incredibly useful to their lives.  It is so important to love what you do.

The next annual NARBLA Meeting and Conference will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2024, at Bentley University, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02452.   The 2024 officers are  Jason Peterson (President),  Anthony Smith (Vice President - Program Chair),  and Walter Toomey (Treasurer).

A special thanks to Bill Read and Marie Hansen for their continuing service as Co-Editors-in-Chief of the Business Law Review. There are currently more than 660 subscriptions to the Business Law Review. 

And congratulations to Stephanie Greene on her retirement from Boston College.  She has contributed so much to NARBLA over the past several years.

So, NARBLA members and friends, save the date for next year's NARBLA conference:  Saturday, April 6, at Bentley University.  For questions about the NARBLA conference, you may contact Vice President (Program Chair), Anthony Smith at anthonysmith@bentley.edu.

Any questions about paper presentations for publication, contact Editor-in-Chief, Marie Hansen, at hansenm@husson.edu. 

For updates on NARBLA news, Guidelines for Publication of Papers, and the Conference Registration Form, go to www.narbla.org to reach the NARBLA Web page. 

NARBLA encourages tenure-track faculty to join NARBLA. It is a good opportunity to network and present papers. If you wish to have your name removed from the NARBLA mailing list, or to change your e-mail address, or to add the name of a colleague, reply to William Greenspan at profweg2013@gmail.com. 

Finally, congratulations and thanks to Jason Peterson for planning and running such a well-organized, professional, fun-filled conference.