The Real Property Law Section is one of the most active of the OBA’s sections with approximately 740 members. The section is led by this year’s officers: Chairperson O. Saul Reid, Oklahoma City; Barbara Carson, immediate past Chairperson, Tulsa; Secretary Scott Byrd, Tulsa; and Budget Officer John J. Mackey, Lawton. The section’s officers serve at the direction of its Board of Directors, which included the officers, as well as Brianna Ross, Tulsa; and Christopher J. Kirt, Tulsa. In addition to the board members, others serving the section are Committee Chairpersons: Kraettli Q. Epperson, Oklahoma City, Chair of the Title Examination Standards Committee; Jason Soper, Oklahoma City, Chair of the Legislative Liaison Committee; Professor Joyce A. Palomar, Norman, Section General Counsel and Title Examination Standards Handbook Editor-in-Chief; John B. Wimbish, Tulsa, Title Examination Standards Handbook Assistant Editor.

The section is comprised of several committees that work throughout the year to provide benefits to its membership, the bar and the community. The most active and prominent of these committees is the Title Examination Standard (“TES”) Committee, chaired by Kraettli Q. Epperson, a committee which pre-dates the Real Property Law Section itself. The TES Committee’s purpose is to establish the standards against which title to real property located within the state of Oklahoma will be measured. The TES Committee consists of approximately 20 participating attorneys form across the state who meet on the third Saturday of each month, January throughout September. Meetings were held this year on an alternating basis in Tulsa, Stroud and Oklahoma City. The TES Committee maintains an email distribution list of approximately 40 attorneys to distribute the agenda and the minutes for the monthly meetings of the TES Committee.

The TES Committee considers real property law topics that have been brought to the TES Committee’s attention by members of the practicing bar. Topics are assigned to subcommittees consisting of at least two attorneys who research an assigned topic and 1) Draft a report on the topic, stating whether or not a title examination standard should be considered, 2) if warranted, present a proposed draft of a title standard as to same, or 3) if no standard is proposed, the subcommittee chair or members may prepare a scholarly article on the issue. These matters are drafts of the proposed standards and are presented to the full TES Committee for discussion, debate and refinement. Then they are adopted, amended or rejected.

Standards adopted by the full TES Committee are submitted to the OBA’s House of Delegates for approval at its annual meeting in November. New and amended standards adopted by the House of Delegates become effective immediately upon their adoption. The TES Committee, through the efforts of the Handbook Editor-in Chief Joyce Palomar and with assistance from Handbook Editor John J. Wimbish, will incorporate all adopted changes to the Title Examination Standards and will oversee publication of same in the next edition of the Title Examination Standards Handbook. The TES Committee is then sent to each of the section members at the beginning of the year as a benefit covered by their annual dues. Other members of the bar or interested parties can also order the TES Committee for a nominal fee.

The section provided an outstanding opportunity for CLE this year. The TES Committee and the section sponsored the 2008 Cleverdon Real Property Law Round Table Seminar on June 9, in Oklahoma City and June 16 in Tulsa. Attendees participating in the “round table” format received four hours of CLE credit, including one hour of ethics credit after the provided lunch. The seminar was offered for free for the first 60 persons who signed up for the seminar. The topic highlighted current issues by the following presenters: Kraettli Epperson, Title Standards Update, Shannon Ferrell, Wind Energy Easements and Liscenses, Gary Baer, Update on Abstractors Board and Title Insurance Development, Brianna Ross, Mortgage Fraud, and Gina Hendryx for Ethics.

Preparations are already underway for the Spring 2009 Cleverdon Seminar, and the Fall 2009 CLE, which will be co-sponsored by the OBA.

The section also formed two subcommittees for the improvement of the section. First, Janet Sharp was selected to chair a subcommittee to review the Section Bylaws to include electronic voting by the members of the board. Secondly, Brianna Ross was chosen to chair a subcommittee to implement a newsletter in conjunction with the Oklahoma Bar Association. This latest development offers a great opportunity to the section’s practitioners to receive timely information regarding new decisional law and other important announcements such as CLE opportunities.

In conjunction with the OBA Annual Convention, the section will hold its annual section business meeting on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008, at 2 p.m. in Oklahoma City, the focus will be a review of real property law decisions rendered in 2008 by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals led by Justice Marian P. Opala and a presentation of recent legislation, title examination standards and current issues. There will be a short business meeting to elect the board members and officers, to approve proposed revisions to the Title Examination Standards, and to give final approval of the section budget. Finally, the board will conduct a dinner for the section’s officers, committee chairs, and members.

O. Saul Reid
Chairperson