Where should a complex legal case with several parties be tried? What constitutes a conflict of interest for an agent representing a large corporation? And what responsibilities does a nonprofit have in investing endowments?

Faculty members of the School of Law are helping tackle these and other complex legal questions by participating in law reform projects of the prestigious American Law Institute. The projects form the basis of laws enacted across the country and become standards cited in judges' legal opinions, lawyers' briefs and scholarly articles.

"The American Law institute is, for law, the equivalent of the great honorary scholarly organizations like the National Academy of Sciences," said Dean Rex Perschbacher. "Election signifies not just standing, but active involvement in legal thought, analysis and reform."

With 10 of its 35 regular faculty members elected as institute members, the law school is believed to be among those with the highest proportion of faculty with ALI membership, said Kevin Johnson, associate dean for academic affairs and an ALI member since 2003.

Because of their high level of expertise in areas of the law needing revision, professors John Oakley, Joel Dobris and Robert Hillman were invited to serve in leadership and other important roles. And other faculty members have volunteered their service on yet other projects.

Formed in 1923 to clarify and simplify the law, the private body restates and updates tangles of law in a systematic way and develops model statutes for enactment. It has partnered with another organization to develop and monitor the Uniform Commercial Code — a comprehensive code enacted in 49 states and viewed as one of the most important developments in American law.

'Sweet spot'

Thirteen of UC Davis' current law professors and professors emeriti have been elected ALI members from among the country's top judges, lawyers and legal scholars in recognition of their professional achievements and commitment to the improvement of law. The institute limits regular membership to 3,000, and lifetime membership is attained after 25 years.

"We exist in a sweet spot where scholarship and law reform are both highly regarded," Dobris said of the law school.

Lance Liebman, director of the institute and a Columbia Law School professor, said the institute sought out Oakley's expertise to address a confusing area of law that governs whether a case can be heard in a state or federal court and by which federal court.

A member of the Davis faculty since 1975 and an ALI member since 1986, Oakley has served as a consultant or committee member with numerous organizations concerned with the administration of justice and has co-authored texts and case books on civil procedure and the federal courts. "I figured it was the kind of invitation that you don't turn down," Oakley said. "There is no group of lawyers and legal scholars that has the influence and prestige of the American Law Institute."

'Heroic' work

Oakley's project concerned complex multi-party and multi-claim cases, removal of cases from state to federal court, and venue and transfer of cases within the federal system. The topics are important, Oakley said, because a change in court can lead to a change in the applicable law. Parties need clear standards governing the choice of the proper court, so that they can assess the strength of their case under the law that court will apply.

"To individuals, it may make a lot of difference what forum their case is heard in," he said. "We need comprehensive and determinative rules," he said. "Otherwise it's just a lottery."

Liebman called Oakley's work — spanning nine years — "heroic."

As an institute reporter, Oakley wrote a prospectus identifying problems in the relevant law. He researched obscure laws, drafted three sets of revised statutes with annotations, refined his work through 13 drafts with comment from 21 advisers and an ad hoc group of more than 150 consultants, and saw the project through to endorsement by the institute's 60-member council and its full membership. And along the way, he filled more than a dozen drawers of filing cabinets with project papers.

Liebman said the Federal Judicial Code Revision Project is now being considered by the Federal Judicial Conference for its recommendation to the U.S. Senate and House judiciary committees. Even now, the work is a standard for comparison and is being cited in court briefs and legal opinions.

Providing scrutiny

Dobris and Hillman are among the select group of ALI members who are invited to lend their expertise to projects by scrutinizing reporter drafts and suggesting revisions. In groups from six to 30, they work together with high-ranking judges, lawyers at the top of their field, representatives of the U.S. Justice Department, leadership of the American Bar Association and accomplished scholars.

Dobris, who specializes in investing endowments and nonprofits, has done double duty for the ALI. He was an adviser on a restatement of the prudent investor rule for trusts and is currently adviser to a project on the law of nonprofit organizations.

"It's a chance to make the world better and to translate your ideas into action," said Dobris, who has been on the law faculty since 1976 and a member of the ALI since 1988.

He was among 15 advisers to the project on the prudent investor rule, which became a uniform act in 1994 and has since been enacted in about 40 states.

Dobris is now watching his mailbox for a thick draft of a statement of principles of law for nonprofit organizations. As he has with others, he will go through the draft page by page, section by section, before offering suggestions at a June meeting.

Begun in 2002, the project aims to create a systematic body of principles of the operation of nonprofit organizations.

Dobris said the number and variety of nonprofits have grown, and the organizations — from local garden clubs or university foundations to giant nonprofit hospital complexes — have become highly sophisticated.

Changing needs

Hillman, a leading scholar in the fields of partnership and professional service firms, is serving as one of 25 advisers to the Third Restatement of the Law of Agency. The project began in 1997 and is expected to be completed this year.

This field of law deals with any relationship in which one person represents another — from a real estate agent or lawyer to an employee. The last restatement was published in 1958, a time when the economy was based on small businesses and when legal terms like master and servant were used for employment relationships, Hillman said.

"The needs of the law have changed just as our economic society has changed," added the professor, who has taught at the law school since 1981 and been a member of the ALI since 1989. "We have much more complex economic relationships now."

The project is modernizing the concepts and structure of the law. For the first time, Hillman said, the restatement will also consider the obligations of the principal toward the agent representing him or her.

For the 'real world'

Borrowing words from U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, Hillman said law professors are expected to be provocative in their scholarship, but not in restatements.

"We're looking for something quite different," he said. "Is it clear and an accurate reflection of the law? Does it make sense for the real world?"

Four other faculty members have offered their expertise as volunteer consultants, who act as a second panel of review on institute projects. Diane Amann and professors emeriti Carol Bruch, Edward Rabin and Richard Wydick, respectively, have been members of consultative groups on criminal sentencing, family dissolution, mortgages and the laws governing lawyers.

Other ALI members among the current faculty and emeriti include former Dean Florian Baristoc, Holly Doremus, Floyd Feeney, Associate Dean Johnson, Daniel Simmons and Bruce Wolk. As dean, Perschbacher is an ex-officio member.

Hillman said service on ALI projects is, for a professor like himself, a reminder of the practical impact of the grand issues of law about which he writes and teaches. "This is work that directly changes the substance of the law," he said. "It's not just the exchange of ideas. It's actually molding law."