The Missouri Bar Workers' Compensation Committee is changing too. As this year's chair, it is an honor and a pleasure to introduce to you the first issue of the Missouri Bar Workers' Compensation Committee Newsletter. Our goal is to keep you up to date about changes in the area of workers' compensation law in Missouri and other jurisdictions.

You may access the newsletter in several ways:

• On the Missouri Bar website: www.mobar.org/wc/newsletter/index.htm.
  

• Pick up a copy at one of the eight Division offices located across the state.
  

• Members of the Missouri Workers' Compensation Committee will receive it by email on the list serve. If you would like to be included on the Missouri Workers' Compensation Committee list serve, please email Mary Douglas (mdouglas@mobar.org).
  

• If your firm is not “on-line,” contact the Missouri Bar to have a copy mailed to you.

No matter where you get the newsletter, you will find the information to be up-to-date, thought provoking, humorous and presented by practitioners and judges you have practiced with and in front of during your career. Case law updates will equip you with cutting edge analysis to help you represent your clients' needs better. Your newsletter also provides up to the minute information on legislative changes.

Also, a schedule of CLE's sponsored by the Missouri Bar Workers' Compensation Institute will be listed for your convenience. The newsletter will also highlight workers' compensation events involving the committee during the Missouri Bar Annual Meeting to be held in Kansas City, Missouri from September 21-23, 2005. We hope to see you there.

In this issue, Keith Keesling, an experienced mediator and chair of the I.A.I.A.B.C. Workers' Compensation Committee, will discuss techniques to help you achieve successful mediation results. In addition, you are sure to enjoy the humorous contributions offered by your fellow attorneys. In this time of serious injuries and challenging causation questions, it is a pleasant diversion to laugh and enjoy a lighter moment.

Missouri Bar staff have made this newsletter possible by generously sharing their experience and abundant patience in the development of this creative work product. We are grateful for their direction and support.

We are fortunate to have Melissa Pantazi serve as the Missouri Workers' Compensation Newsletter Editor. Melissa practices workers' compensation and personal injury law with her father, Jim Haupt, in St. Louis Missouri. She served as co-editor of the Visitation Academy High School Newspaper from 1994 to 1996. She has many creative ideas for the newsletter, which you will see in coming months.

Our readers are our most important asset. Please provide feedback about the new Workers' Compensation Newsletter by emailing editor Melissa Pantazi (melissa.pantazi@sbcglobal.net) or by calling her (314-621-5667). You may also contact Melissa about writing an article for upcoming issues of the newsletter. Tell us about your practice, the types of cases you handle, where your practice is located, associates, partners, office staff and other information of interest. This is an excellent way to tell the other twenty-six thousand attorneys in the state about your practice in an economical and effective way.

The next newsletter will be published in May and writers are needed. Sign up today and use your experience to make an impact on workers' compensation in Missouri.

Thank you to all the volunteers below for working to make workers' compensation law better for all Missourians.

• Newsletter contributors

• Many qualified speakers

• Teams of CLE subcommittees for the Workers' Compensation Institute and the The Missouri Bar  Annual Meeting

• Legislative subcommittee

We invite the readership to attend seminars and to encourage your colleagues to attend too. Volunteer to speak or write. Follow the legislative proposals and communicate with your legislators about how it impacts your practice.

Become a part of the solution.

As we follow changes this year, we hope this newsletter positively impacts your practice and the administration of justice in our state for all Missourians.