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Save the Date announcement for the Agri-Law Summit
By: Peggy Kirk Hall, Wednesday, May 07th, 2025

Final plans are underway for the first annual "Agri-Law Summit," co-hosted by our OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program and the Ohio State Bar Association Agricultural Law Committee. The day-long continuing legal education program will be Thursday, August 14, 2025, at the Retreat 21 Venue and Taphouse near Marysville, Ohio.  

"Growing Our Competency in Counseling Agriculture" is the theme for the event, reflecting the goal of building expertise among the attorneys who work with agricultural businesses.  The conference will begin with a focus on emerging issues for agriculture, featuring discussions with Tracy Intihar, Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Harrison Pittman, Director of the National Agricultural Law Center.  We're finalizing speakers for additional topics on the agenda, which will include:

  • Guiding farm businesses on disaster risk mitigation
  • Legal needs for value-added businesses
  • Advising new farmland owners
  • Drafting tips for LLC operating agreements
  • Tax incentives for agricultural easements
  • Cybersecurity management

Through the Paul L. Wright Endowment in Agricultural Law at Ohio State, law students and new law graduates can receive a scholarship to attend the Agri-Law Summit at no cost.

A final agenda and registration information for the Agri-Law Summit will be available soon on the Farm Office website at farmoffice.osu.edu/agri-law-summit. 

Posted In: Legal Education
Tags: agri-law summit, legal education, CLE
Comments: 0
Stack of law books
By: Peggy Kirk Hall, Wednesday, April 03rd, 2024

I'm often asked how an attorney becomes an "agricultural attorney."  The answer is simple: through knowledge. The best agricultural attorneys I know have two kinds of knowledge: they know agriculture, and they know the laws that affect agriculture.  There are several upcoming events that can help attorneys and law students gain the legal knowledge required to be an agricultural attorney.

The National Agricultural Law Center is currently offering two opportunities for attorneys and law students:

  1. Research Fellowships for Law Students.  NALC employs law students in their second and third years as Research Fellows who help conduct legal research and writing projects. It's an outstanding opportunity to gain research experience and access to the world of agricultural law.  As a partner of the NALC, our OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program usually has one or two NALC Research Fellows working with us. For the upcoming term, specific research topics for NALC Research Fellows might include but are not limited to food safety and food labeling; environmental regulation of agriculture; agricultural finance and credit; other relevant issues such as agricultural data and technology, land use, farm programs, local and regional food systems and agricultural labor. Interested law students must act quickly, as the fellowship applications are due April 5, 2024.  Application information is available on the National Agricultural Law Center website.
  2. Agricultural & Environmental Law Conferences.  NALC is hosting two legal conferences this June:  the Mid-South Agricultural & Environmental Conference in Memphis, Tennessee on June 6-7 and the Western Agricultural & Environmental Law Conference on June 13-14.  We've attended the NALC conferences, and they're excellent learning experiences that cover the breadth of topics we face in agricultural law.  The conferences also allow attendees to interact with speakers and other attorneys from around the country, and law students are welcomed.  Registration is now open for both conferences and is available on the National Agricultural Law Center website.

Two additional opportunities for agricultural attorneys and law students are on the horizon, and include:

  1. The Cultivating Connections Conference.  Our program here at OSU, in partnership with Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation and the National Agricultural Law Center, is planning to host the second annual Cultivating Connections Conference for attorneys, accountants, appraisers, financial planners, and other professionals interested in farm transition planning.  We welcome law students and other young professionals to join us. The conference will be in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 4 and 5, and registration will soon be available on our Farm Office website.
  2. The AALA Annual Educational Symposium.  The American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) will host its annual conference on November 7- 9 in Memphis, Tennessee.  The AALA also includes law students in its conference, and offers several activities for the students.  The AALA is currently accepting presentation proposals for the conference and registration will open later this Spring on the AALA website.

If you are or want to be in agricultural law, don't miss out on these opportunities to gain the critical knowledge necessary to be an agricultural attorney.  Agriculture needs you!

 

By: Peggy Kirk Hall, Tuesday, January 06th, 2015

Attorney Bill Bridgforth will present OSU's next webinar on "The 2014 Farm Bill:  Guiding a Client through the New Law" on Friday, January 9 at 1 pm EST.  Bridgforth is a senior partner in the Arkansas law firm of Ramsay, Bridgforth, Robinson & Raley, LLP who represents agricultural producers around the United States.  He will explain the election decisions producers and landowners must make under the new Farm Bill and will provide examples of decision making impacts. 

There is no registration or fee required for the webinar, which is accessible at https://carmenconnect.osu.edu.  A recording of the webinar and a listing of additional webinars is available at farmoffice.osu.edu.  

The Ohio Food, Agriculture & Environmental Law Webinar Series is an outreach project of OSU Extension's Agricultural & Resource Law Program.

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