Agenda

Registration:                    8:00 – 8:30 am

Morning Session:             8:30 am – 12:45 pm

Lunch (On your own):       12:45 – 1:45 pm

Afternoon Session:           1:45 – 4:30 pm

Law of Arkansas Surface and Groundwater Rights                                 E. Swaim

   The right to use surface water and groundwater
   Limitations on surface water and groundwater rights
   Arkansas Natural Resources Commission permitting/registration
   Protecting surface water and groundwater rights
   Current issues in water rights
   Current and future water availability
   Water use trends and issues
   The Arkansas Water Plan

State and Regional Water Management and Planning                             E. Swaim

   Surface water resources
   Groundwater resources
   Regional water planning
   Water for new industry
   Interstate water compacts
   Out-of-state water transfer
   Future projections and challenges

Defining Trespass and Adverse Possession                                           C.M. Daily

   Defining trespass
   Reviewing the history of adverse possession
   Maintaining a claim for adverse possession
      Statute of limitations
      Elements of a claim
   Defending against a claim for adverse possession
   Examining recent adverse possession cases

Identifying, Classifying and Locating Easements                                   C.M. Daily

   What is and is not an easement
   Reviewing state law on easements
   Creating easements: easements by necessity, easements
      by use, written easements
   Identifying critical distinctions between easements in gross,
      easements appurtenant and prescriptive easements
   Maintaining easements
   Knowing when and how to terminate easements
   Obstructing use of easements and determining remedies for obstruction

Locating Land Boundaries on Paper (and on the Ground)                    B. Bridges

   Interpreting land descriptions
      Metes and bounds
      Lot and block
      Dos and don’ts for writing descriptions
   Applying principles of boundary location
      Collecting and evaluating all types of boundary evidence:
         documents, physical evidence, people, surveys
      Locating the described land on a map
      Locating the described land on the ground
      Understanding and using geographic information systems (GIS)
   Solving land description and boundary location problems

Avoiding, Identifying and Resolving Ethical                                            B. Bridges
Issues in Land Transactions and Disputes

   Conflicts of interest: identifying your client
   What duties do you owe, and to whom do you owe them?
   Do you need to maintain confidentiality, and for whom?
   Complying with your professional responsibility for
      honesty and truthfulness
   Practicing only in areas of competence
   Ethical solicitation of business
   Taking referrals from other professionals

Credits

Attorneys
     6.5 Arkansas CLE Hours
        5.5 General Hours
        1.0 Ethics Hour

Professional Engineers
     6.5 PDHs

Title Insurance Producers
     Course Approval Pending

Continuing Education Credit Information

This seminar is open to the public. It has been approved by the Arkansas CLE Board for 5.5 general hours and 1.0 ethics hour for a total of 6.5 CLE hours for attorneys.

This program offers 6.5 PDHs to Arkansas professional engineers to whom the subject matter is professionally relevant. Courses and educators are not pre-approved in Arkansas. Engineers with continuing education requirements in other states will be able to apply the hours from this seminar, in most cases. Refer to specific state requirements to determine eligibility, or contact HalfMoon Education for assistance.

HalfMoon Education has applied to the Arkansas Insurance Department for course approval for Arkansas title insurance producers. The application is under review, and the credit determination will be posted here.

Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.

Speakers

Buckley Bridges

COO, Waco Title Company, in Springdale, AR

Mr. Bridges was previously an attorney at the Hughes & Hughes Law Firm, a business law firm in Arkadelphia. While in private practice, Mr. Bridges represented companies and professionals in the areas of energy and natural resources law, fire subrogation and arson litigation, business organizations, commercial transactions and litigation, title insurance claims and litigation, insurance defense and community practice. He has a B.A. degree, cum laude, from Lyon College, and a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

C. Daily

Daily & Woods, P.L.L.C.

C. Michael Daily is a member of the Fort Smith, Arkansas, firm Daily & Woods, P.L.L.C., where he practices primarily in the areas of real estate, and oil, gas and mineral law, including title examination and litigation. He also practices in the areas of estate planning, contract law, business law, and collection law. Mr. Daily is a graduate of Hendrix College (B.A.) and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (M.B.A. and J.D.). He is a member of the Sebastian County, Arkansas and Oklahoma bar associations, and is a member and former chair of the Marketable Title Standards Committee and the Natural Resources Law Section of the Arkansas Bar Association. Mr. Daily is licensed to practice in four mineral-producing jurisdictions: Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming. He is also an adjunct professor at Northwest Arkansas Community College teaching courses in real estate law, commercial law, civil litigation and natural resource law.

Edward Swaim

Executive Director, Bayou Meto Water Management District, in Lonoke, AR

Mr. Swaim has served as Executive Director of the Bayou Meto Water Management District since April of 2019. The district was formed in 1991 to provide irrigation water, flood control, and wildlife habitat to over 750,000 acres in Lonoke, Jefferson, Prairie, and Arkansas counties. The project involves multiple federal, state, local, and private partners, and is currently under construction. Prior to working for Bayou Meto, he had been chief of the Water Management Division of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission since October of 2010. A major achievement during Mr. Swaim’s time in the job was involving over 1,000 citizens to update the Arkansas Water Plan. Since completing the plan update, implementation has included better water use reporting and data on groundwater use and availability, formulation of several watershed management plans to reduce nonpoint source pollution, creation of a statewide drought planning workgroup, and building better relationships between agencies and with the public.

Mr. Swaim was general counsel (2003 to 2010) and associate general counsel (1995 to 2001) for the Commission and an assistant attorney general (2001 to 2003). All three positions with the Natural Resources Commission included legal, data, policy, and programmatic support for the Bayou Meto project and its companion to the east, the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project. From 2001 to 2012, he served as a Judge Advocate officer in the US Army Reserve. He is also a member of the Plum Bayou Irrigation District board of directors. Plum Bayou distributes Arkansas River water to over 14,000 acres of farmland near England, Arkansas. Mr. Swaim is from England, Arkansas, in the Bayou Meto project area. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College and a law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law.