From left to right: Francis C. Morrissey and Stephen Y. Chow, former chairs of the MBA's Business Law Section Council and UCC advocates.
On June 13, Boston's legal community will gather at Suffolk Law
School to commemorate over 50 years of the Uniform Commercial Code
in Massachusetts. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Uniform
Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the Uniform Law
Commission.
In 1958, Massachusetts became the second state in the country to
enact the Uniform Commercial Code. Other states soon followed
Massachusetts' lead and enacted the UCC, resulting in a 50-state
adoption and the integration of commercial law throughout the
United States.
Francis C. Morrissey, a longtime advocate for the UCC and former
chairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Business Law
Section Council said "The UCC event will celebrate Massachusetts'
long leadership in commercial law and will bring together
legislators, judges, lawyers and academics from across the state
and the country. Anyone with an interest in commercial law is
strongly encouraged to attend."
The ULC is a 120-year-old national organization with
headquarters in Chicago comprised of more than 300 commissioners
from legislatures, judicial branches and academia with the goal of
drafting and promoting uniforms laws designed to solve problems
common in all states.
The Uniform Commercial Code aims to promote legal consistency in
commercial transactions across various states. Presently, the ULC
has four Massachusetts-based Uniform Law commissioners,
including:
- Martin W. Healy, the MBA's chief legal counsel and chief
operating officer;
- Stephen Y. Chow, partner, Burns & Levinson LLP;
- Edwin E. Smith, partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP; and
- Robert Sitkoff, professor, Harvard Law School.