This Column focuses on the primary topic of our Executive Council retreat last year - - the Section’s CLE Treatise. CLE publications have been integral to the Section from the beginning. Thanks to the many individuals who have helped to produce the Florida Bar Environmental and Land Use Law Section’s CLE Manual and now Treatise. Each of these publications has in turn been the leading environmental and land use source in the state.
The Section’s first CLE manual was published in 1973. Not surprisingly, Wade Hopping chaired the steering committee. We published several follow-up CLE manuals and supplements from 1976 through 1983. The chairs during those years included Bob Rhodes, Rob Rhodes, Cliff Schulman, William Register, and Sam Owens.

     Irene Quincey pushed to shift the publication to the two volume Manual, known to some as the “green monster.” We published the two volume set from 1986 through 1997. We relied on the yeoman work of Professor Jim Brown at Stetson College of Law and a large number of student assistants. The late Tom DeRose worked closely with Jim as well on the Manual, but it simply would not have existed or lasted without Jim.

     Several years ago we decided to replace the Manual with a more frequently updated CLE publication. That was the genesis of the Treatise. In 1997, Tom and Jim presented a lengthy report proposing a complete reformatting, timelier updates, and an outside publisher. Tom suggested that we turn to REGFiles, which was a longtime publisher of regulatory volumes. Over the next year REGFiles, the Section and the Big Bar worked on a proposed “Alliance Agreement.”

     In February, 1998, Ralph DeMeo (Tom’s law partner and then Chair-Elect of the Section), set up an Editorial Board and drafted guidelines for the Treatise. At that time, the editorial board was Tom, Ralph, Maribel Nicholson-Choice, and Michelle Williams (now Diffenderfer) with Tim Smith as editor-in-chief.

     While we have no earthly clue what happened to that putative board, we showed a complete absence of short-term institutional memory by establishing four months later the allegedly “first” managing editorial board as follows: Ralph, Tim, Mary Smallwood, Irene Quincey, Anne Longman, Richard Hamann and me. Tim continued to be the editor-in-chief. While Tim resigned later, his efforts were integral to getting the Treatise off the ground. Ralph later resigned, and has been replaced by Gary Hunter.

     We then solicited special editors, who were expert in their various sub-fields, and authors who were leading lawyers or consultants, to edit and to write articles. The first edition was a monumental project, but REGFiles distributed it in two volumes in time for our August, 2000, Section Annual Update.

     We continue to update the Treatise twice a year. So many additional topics have been added that it is now a three volume set. It is undoubtedly the leading environmental and land use law reference source in Florida, on Florida. If you’ve not examined it, please do so. For further information, you may e-mail REGFiles@aol.com or go to our website at www.ELULS.org. We think you’ll agree the Treatise is a cornerstone of anyone’s Florida environmental and land use law library.