The Medicine and Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Insurance, Negligence and Compensation Law was established in 1973 to meet the growing needs arising from the interface between law and the medical and health sciences. Although joint work had been conducted by the ABA and the American Medical Association prior to 1973, the organization of the Committee marked the first major project of any Section of the ABA aimed specifically at identifying and understanding the effects of medicine and the health sciences upon the everyday practice of law. As such, it provides a common ground to hundreds of attorneys whose practices involve medicolegal issues, and offers them the opportunity to learn from each other, to keep abreast of recent developments, and to approach constructively many theoretical and practical problems.