Some of our members are unaware of this committee and its work. It may be helpful if I provide a
brief history of the work of this committee over the past 15 years.
In the fall of 1991 our Administrator Alan Crowe was contacted by the Union Internationale des
Huissiers de Justice (UIHJ). Based in Paris, France, this organization was founded in 1952 and
represents approximately 10,000 Huissiers, Bailiffs, Sheriffs and other individuals having
official authorization to serve process and enforce judgments in numerous countries throughout
Europe, Africa, Asia and former Soviet Union states. Process service in most countries is far
more structured than in the United States. Huissiers and others who serve process must meet rigid
requirements, are well educated and some are practicing lawyers.
The UIHJ was looking to develop a relationship with NAPPS to explore ways our two organiza-tions
could assist each other. Since our bylaws provide, as one of the Association's stated purposes,
"Improving relations between the industry and the legal community - attorneys, judges, clerks and
officers of the court and the general public, both national and international," the board of
directors felt that such a relationship should be encouraged.
On March 7, 1992 a delegation from the UIHJ met with a NAPPS delegation in Portland, Oregon. The
UIHJ was represented by its President Beaudoin Gielen and two of its executive council members,
Luc Claes and Andre Mathieu. NAPPS was represented by President David Schirtzer , Past President
Donald "Mac" MacDonald, Administrator Alan Crowe, and George MacDonald who was proficient in
French, the official language of the UIHJ. One on the many topics discussed was the long delay
that European process servers encountered when having their process served in the United States
in accordance with the Hague Service Convention. In a report to the 1992 Annual NAPPS Conference,
Mac MacDonald reported that the Board had concluded that an affiliation between the two
associations could have considerable long- range potential.
We embarked on an educational program regarding international service and gave our members a
real treat by having Bruno Ristau, lawyer, author and the nation's acknowledged authority on the
subject of international service of process, give a two-hour presentation at the 1992 conference
in Nashville. Mr. Ristau was the Department of Justice's first Director of Foreign Litigation
and he was responsible for establishing the United States Central Authority office in Washington,
DC, following the U.S. ratification of the treaty in the mid-1960s.
At a board meeting in New Orleans in November 1995, Luc Claes, an officer of the UIHJ, attended
our board meeting and encouraged us to attend a May 1995 meeting of the UIHJ Permanent Council
in The Hague, and to also attend a meeting of The Hague Conference as an observer. Then President
Paul Tamaroff, Fred Blum and Alan Crowe attended the meeting and were subsequently granted a
private meeting with J.H.A. Van Loon, the Premier Secretary of the Hague Conference. We spent
over two hours with Mr. Van Loon and his Deputy Secretary Adair Dyer, a Texas lawyer who had lived
in The Hague for 22 years. The purpose of the meeting was to get their opinion as to the
feasibility of the U.S. Central Authority permitting the service of incoming foreign documents
under the Hague Service Convention to be served by private process servers instead of U.S.
Marshals. We were given the opinion that nothing in the articles of the convention prevented
this. It was a decision solely within the purview of the U.S. Department of Justice. Our success
at The Hague caused Alan Crowe to subsequently report to the membership that "NAPPS has truly
become a worldwide association .Our influence in the United States is spreading rapidly, and most
who speak of us do so in glowing terms. It's our goal to expand that influence to other parts of
the world"
Following numerous meetings and discussions with officials at the DOJ, politicians and authorities
on international relations, we were asked by the DOJ to submit a written proposal of our plan.
Our original plan was for NAPPS to get the contract and have its members serve the documents but
it took another four years for the DOJ to determine that while they liked our proposal, it was
not sufficiently "unique" to warrant no-bid status.
In September 1996 the UIHJ presented to NAPPS a proposed draft of a "cooperation protocol," which
was essentially a memorandum of understanding between the two associations. The NAPPS Board
approved the draft and a delegation was sent to Paris on November 29, 1996, President Thomas
MacDonald and UIHJ President Jacques Isnard signed the agreement.
Since the signing of the agreement, many Boards have approved the expenses to travel to the UIHJ
meetings that are held twice a year. Although the Board had approved expenses to travel to these
meetings, some of the committee members (on more than one occasion) did not ask for travel
reimbursement. This has been reported to the members along with expenses incurred.
The NAPPS board approved the sponsorship of a meeting with the Union Internationale Des Advocates
when its 1997 conference was held in the U.S. Based in Belgium, the UIA is the world's largest
organization of lawyers.
In September 1999, the University of Geneva and The Hague Conference held a Geneva Roundtable on
the Questions of Private International Law Raised by Electronic Commerce and the Internet. The
participants were broken up into groups dealing with different subjects. As result of our
relationship with the UIHJ I was invited to participate as one of three rapporteurs on Commission
V, which covered the subject of Service of Process Abroad.. At that time the German banking
industry was pushing for electronic service of process. Through some hard work on my part I was
instrumental in having it written in the draft recommendations that service by electronic means
would not satisfy the requirements of article 15(1)(b) of the Hague Service Convention.
As I've previously indicated, one of the joint goals of NAPPS and the UIHJ was to privatize the
service of process through the US Central Authority. We began the process in 1992 but it was a
decade later, in 2002, that it became a reality. It was an incredible roller-coaster ride in
which success required a mixture of technical ability, political skills, and the focused goal
of several individuals who never gave up. Bruno Ristau himself was stunned at what we were able
to accomplish. We had hoped that NAPPS would be a part of the process, but that was not to be.
A NAPPS member did, however, win the bid and some members in certain areas of the country have
benefited from the contract by serving the papers, and more will benefit in the future. We don't
have the actual figures, but there are approximately 7,000-8,000 papers served each year at a
contract fee that began at $91 and has now increased to $93. This works out to an annual gross
of between $650,000 and $750,000.
Since I was appointed International Relations Chair some 14 years, almost a dozen NAPPS members
have been involved in this committee. They include David Schirtzer, Mac MacDonald, Sue Collins,
Thomas MacDonald, Alan Crowe, Paul Tamaroff, Larry Roth, Gary Crowe and Robin Martinelli. Over
thirty different board members and non board members have been involved with decisions regarding
this important committee. These people have sacrificed their time away from family and business
and their money to further the interests of this Association and its members.
The UIHJ has Permanent Council meetings twice a year-in November at their headquarters in Paris,
and in May or June at different locations throughout Europe. And every third year they hold a
Congress, which is similar to our annual conferences. In 2002, the UIHJ gave us the honor to host
their 2006 Congress, which is being held in Washington, DC, April.25-28. As chair of this
committee, I have asked Alan Crowe, Sue Collins, Gary Crowe and Larry Roth to help me in the
meeting organization. Due to the language and cultural barriers it has been important to have
several meetings in the U.S. and Europe to work out many details. I have the utmost confidence
in the people I have chosen to work with me on this project.
In this issue is a report from Sue Collins regarding the recent UIHJ Permanent Council meeting
in Paris. It contains information about the upcoming UIHJ Congress in Washington in April.
Fred Blum, Committee Chair