National Law
Committee

Your National Law Committee

(This is a reprint of an article from the August 1999 issue of THE ENSIGN ^®.)

The National Law Committee (LawCom), a standing committee of the USPS Governing Board, is currently authorized a membership of seven including the national law officer and the assistant national law officer. As directed by the USPS Bylaws, LawCom provides legal advice and legal services to national officers, departments and committees. The national law officer serves as legal counsel to the Governing Board and to USPS. As a member of the Operating Committee, the national law officer also attends various district conferences as the chief commanders representative.

Generally, LawCom's role and focus are to provide legal guidance and assistance for the national level of USPS in: the negotiation, clarification, and review of contracts and agreements; the preservation and proper use of our USPS trademarks and copyrights; the recognition and reduction of potential liability and legal risk exposure; the protection of our organizations 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status; and the identification of and compliance with federal and state laws and regulations that may apply to our organization and its activities. District and squadron law officers have a similar role within their respective local levels, except where USPS policies delegate or assign specific responsibility in district and squadron legal affairs to the national law officer. These instances include filing articles of incorporation, applying for grants and the acquiring interests in real property by ownership or lease.

In 1998, LawCom provided legal review, advice or assistance in 186 separate matters, half of which arose from the district and squadron levels. For the first five months of 1999, LawCom has been involved in 96 separate matters -- a 14.25 percent increase over the same period last year, with more than 40 percent of the items coming from the squadron and district levels. While a small portion of these local inquiries and requests were properly within the oversight responsibilities of LawCom and/or the national law officer, most could have and should have been addressed and handled by the respective squadron or district law officer.

This is so for several reasons. First and foremost, many local legal issues are uniquely dependent upon or controlled by individual state or local laws. Squadron and district law officers, required to be licensed attorneys in their state, are far better equipped and trained to identify and handle such state-specific matters. They are also more likely to be aware of the background and facts involved. Secondly, LawCom has neither the manpower, resources nor expertise to competently counsel the 442 squadrons and 33 districts in USPS. Finally, even when local items are properly referred to the national law officer, time and manpower constraints require that priority must be given to national level and USPS-wide legal needs.

To assist squadrons, districts and their law officers, LawCom has published information and guidance on a number of topics and has prepared several model legal documents, such as a standard charter agreement, a generic "release and hold harmless" agreement, and a group hotel booking contract. However, squadrons and districts should always contact their local law officers to determine the need and appropriateness of the information, guidance or model documents. They will be able to tailor these documents and the guidance and information provided to accommodate the individual circumstances or to satisfy specific state or local requirements. You can download these items from the LawCom Web site. that premiered last fall (fall 1998). Located within the USPS Web site and accessible via the members page, it is at "www.usps.org/lawcom/index.htm". We plan to continually expand and update the information, guidance and downloadable materials provided on the site.

LawCom's current members reside throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. With a geographically disperse membership, a limited budget and physical meetings held only at the three national meetings, LawCom must rely primarily upon e-mail and fax to handle its day-to-day business. However, these means do not provide the benefits of real-time, simultaneous committee discussion, interaction and decision-making. So in the months ahead, LawCom intends to explore the use of video teleconferencing. A combination of solid computer and technical skills, and strong legal knowledge, experience and competence on the part of its members will be critical to the committee success.

While LawCom authorized member strength is limited by the USPS Bylaws, the committee is genuinely and continuously interested in identifying those fellow attorneys within USPS, whether or not they are currently serving as squadron or district law officers, who are interested in serving on the national law committee or are willing and able to provide assistance and/or share their expertise on an as-needed or limited basis. Interested attorneys should visit the LawCom Web site and complete our Law Officer Data Sheet or contact me by phone at (803) 252-3919 or by e-mail to dallenjr@sc.rr.com; and I will send you a form to complete and return.

R/C David L. Allen, Jr., SN
National Law Committee