It brings me great pleasure to present the first Journal issue of the new academic year. Once again we have been granted the honor of publishing the transcripts of the Annual National Regulatory Conference. The 16th Annual Conference was held May 12-13, 1998 at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of The College of William and Mary, just down the road from us in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Conference’s focus this year was on restructuring the energy and telecommunications industries.
Many dedicated individuals have coordinated their efforts to bring you this special issue. We would like to thank the conference sponsors, The Virginia State Corporation Commission, The Administrative Law Section of the Virginia State Bar and Tony Gambardella for allowing us to publish the Conference this year. Once again, providing the transcripts to the Conference has proven a challenge and involved extra commitment on behalf our hard-working staff. We would like to recognize staff members Jeff Bennett, Lisa Hudson, Everett Lupton and Tori Stoner for their work on this project. Finally, I would like to personally thank the Editorial Board for their support during our first issue together.
We encourage you to stay focused on the Journal during the coming year as we continue to confront the legal issues that emerge from technological advances. Our Winter issue will address the legislation of stored value cards, defamation online, the legal issues regarding "spam," and copyright protection on the Internet. In April of 1999, we will present our first online Symposium. The Symposium asks whether traditional legal principles are adequate to address the global electronic community that has resulted from new technologies. We certainly hope all of you will join us in examining this important topic in the spring.
It promises to be an exciting year!
Jennifer S. Coates-Minyard
Editor-in-Chief
November 1998