Aug. 16, 2003 – St. Thomas attorneys Tom Bolt and Yvonne Tharpes were among 240 lawyers who attended a recent national conference in Washington, D.C., of a group that advocates uniform laws for states and territories throughout the country.
Bolt spearheaded a drive in 2002 for passage of a law that makes the way the Virgin Islands conducts commercial business conform to the Uniform Commercial Code.
He and Tharpes, the Legislature's legal counsel, are members of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Now in its 112th year, the organization comprises more than 300 commissioners appointed by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
These commissioners come together annually to study and draft proposals aimed at improving state and territorial statutory law. At the Washington conference this month, commissioners proposed improving rules governing warehouse receipts, bills of lading and other documents of title.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at the conference. She told commissioners that "when the practice of law too often appears to the public to focus on profits at the expense of professionalism, it is all the more laudable that Uniform Law Commissioners so generously donate their time to advance the general welfare of our country."
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