Utah Bar Journal

2. Gus Chin reminded Commissioners that the September 22, 2006 the Commission meeting will be held at BYU and at the conclusion of the meeting, he would like to schedule a time for interaction with law school students. Nate Alder said that he, Steve Owens, and Gus Chin all went to the University of Utah to review their initiatives/programs on pro bono efforts. He reported that law school students paired up with lawyers to do pro bono work and that about 70 students are currently involved. Kevin Worthen said this opportunity is a much better first encounter with the Bar than the Admissions process. John Baldwin said the Bar is drafting a letter to send to law students informing them of the group benefits available to them such as the Bar Journal, regular e-bulletins, discounted CLE, discounted admission to conventions, etc., through the law student affiliated program.

3. David Bird reviewed the Commission calendar. He noted that the next Commission meeting is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday March 9th, during Spring Convention and the April meeting will be held in Provo, Utah. He also invited Commissioners to attend the And Justice for All breakfast scheduled for February 9th beginning at 7:30 a.m. on the 5th floor of the Wells Fargo Building.

4. Danielle Davis Price invited the Commissioners to the 10th Anniversary dinner event for the Paralegal Division to be held on April 6, 2006; further details will be forthcoming.

5. David Bird said that while the proposal for malpractice insurance disclosure had previously been tabled, some items needed to be reviewed. He noted that Marsh would be conducting a presentation later that morning. John Baldwin said the Bar will continue to collect voluntary information such as where lawyers work and if they have malpractice insurance.
David said that a portion of OPC's annual report ties into this subject. He noted that 68% of the OPC's cases are violations of communication and diligence, with competence coming in second at 40%. He believes the Bar should provide more education in these areas which would decrease the cost of malpractice insurance and increase availability of insurance to members.

6. Gus Chin reported on the 75th Anniversary planning. He noted that each Commissioner should have received a list of former Commissioners and Bar Presidents and asked that they double-check these lists to make sure everyone has been included. He reported that celebration is scheduled for Rice Eccles Stadium and will include a short program along with a musical interlude.

7. David Bird announced there are two open seats for Third District Commissioner in addition to the Fourth and Fifth District Commissioner seats.

8. Grant Clayton, Chair of the Bar's Member Benefits Committee was in attendance along with Denise Forsman (Client Executive for Marsh) and other individuals from Liberty Insurance for this portion of the meeting. Discussion ensued over the parameters of the current insurance program. Yvette Diaz and Rod Snow will co-author a Bar Journal article on the need to carry malpractice insurance and options that the Commission will be considering in the future. Rob Jeffs, Felshaw King and Lowry Snow will draft a letter to Bar members encouraging them to purchase professional liability insurance. The letter will include some rate quotes from Marsh/Liberty.

9. John Baldwin reported on Bill Gephardt's request to resolve consumer complaints and a discussion ensued. The Commission has carefully considered the issues and discussed it with others. The Bar already has avenues available to resolve this issue and a letter to Gephardt will be drafted.

10. John Baldwin reported that the Bar had changed internet providers Ð moving from Aros Net to X-mission.

11. John Baldwin reported on the current changes being made to the Bar Alliance database. He said the MCLE, the CLE and the Licensing databases are complete with only a few bugs needing to be worked out which would be the case with any new system. The Admissions database is nearly complete and Bar Alliance will begin working on OPC's database shortly. He said we are working towards a member-based system where lawyers can make address changes, MCLE reports, etc., on line.

12. John Baldwin reported on the proposed conflict of interest policy. He noted that although there has not been particular concerns raised about conflicts of interest among Commissioners, he believed it would be a good idea to have a policy in place for the future. A discussion ensued and this item will be placed on next month's agenda for a decision.

13. Spring Convention Awards were selected after discussion and voting. Janet H. Smith was selected as recipient of the Dorathy M. Brothers award and Mona Burton was selected as recipient of the Raymond S. Uno award.

14. V. Lowry Snow and Felshaw King were nominated to run for President-elect. This motion passed unanimously.

15. George Daines reported on the LAP Committee. The Committee recommends "that the Commission petition the Utah Supreme Court to approve rules which provide diversion to the services of Blomquist Hale (or like services/monitoring) as a condition of discipline to be imposed as appropriate and at the discretion of the Ethics and Discipline Committee, the District Courts and the Supreme Court." This proposal will, however, place an additional burden on the Ethics and Discipline Committee to follow-up with monitoring assistance. The motion to adopt the recommendations as stated passed unopposed.

16. The Lawyers Helping Lawyers (LHL) proposed budget was discussed. The Committee recommends: (a) LHL be funded with $25,000 for one year and be encouraged to raise money through CLE seminars and to seek other sources of funding; (b) LHL continue to provide educational seminars and coordinate volunteer peer-to-peer assistance from direct calls and through referrals from Blomquist Hale; and (c) that LHL coordinate volunteer lawyer-to-impaired lawyer practice assistance in emergency instances. The program would be evaluated after a year. The motion to approve these recommendations passed unanimously.

17. Mary Kay Griffin reviewed the financial reports. She noted the Bar's 75th Anniversary celebration funds will be largely derived from next fiscal year's budget.

18. Debra Griffiths Handley reported on the Young Lawyers Division. Debra stated that YLD would like to implement an online program entitled "Ten Minute Mentor", which would be available 24 hours a day and would feature helpful information on particular practice areas with Legal Span sponsoring the program. The YLD is anticipating a launch date of May 1st with 30 or more topics to be up and running.

19. David Bird briefed the Commission on a complaint letter relating to security at the Matheson Courthouse. The Executive Committee believes that the Bar lacks the authority to address court security concerns and noted that Peggy Gentles from the AOC is responding in this matter.

20. David Bird reported on the Judicial Council and noted that the appellate courts are considering e-filing for briefs.

21. Rob Jeffs reported on the Bar's Performance Review Committee and noted that the Committee had finalized the RFP and it was ready to be distributed. The motion passed unanimously to finalize and distribute the RFP. A timeline was suggested as follows: 2/15/06 Ð RFP finalized and sent; 3/31/06 Ð responses from entities due; 4/21/06 Ð responses reviewed and recommendation made by Committee to Commission for entity; 7/06 Ð review completed by entity.

22. David Bird reviewed OPC's Annual Report and noted that the caseload has increased. Gus Chin noted that discipline will be a topic for discussion at the Commission retreat.

During its regularly scheduled meeting of March 9, 2006, which was held in St. George, Utah, the Board of Bar Commissioners received the following reports and took the actions indicated:

1. David Bird reported on the Judicial Council, stating that during the last legislative session, the courts requested 7% additional compensation but received 3%. One-half percent of this increase, however, was designated for medical insurance. This package was identical to what all state employees received.

2. David Bird announced that the Lifetime Service to the Bar Award would be presented at the Bar's 75th Anniversary celebration. Criteria for the award will be in recognition of a distinguished career in the law and for the many years of leadership, loyalty, contributions and devotion to the programs, services and activities of the Utah State Bar. Nominations are being sought from Commissioners along with reasons why the individual has been nominated according to the established criteria. The motion to accept the established criteria for the Lifetime Service to the Bar Award passed unopposed.

3. David Bird and John Baldwin reviewed the Spring Convention Calendar and John reminded everyone to make their reservations now for the Annual Convention to be held in Newport Beach, California.

4. Gus Chin reported on the Commission elections. Gus stated that he currently occupies two Commission seats (as President-elect and as a Third Division Commissioner) but will be vacating his Commissioner seat at the conclusion of the year beginning in July. That will leave a one-year unexpired term open in the Third Division. David then interjected that currently there are three people running in the Third Division for two openings: Nate Alder, Christian Clinger and Yvette Diaz. After consideration, Yvette has indicated that she will volunteer to assume the one-year term. As a consequence, there will be no contested election in the Third Division. The motion that in anticipation of Gus resigning his Commission seat, the Commission will appoint Yvette to fill Gus's unexpired one-year term and declare both Christian and Nate Third Division Commissioners so that no election will be necessary, passed unopposed.

5. Lowry Snow introduced Curtis Jensen (who was in attendance at the meeting) as his declared replacement for Commissioner in the Fifth Division.

6. John Baldwin reported that the Judicial Conduct Commission is moving to a new municipal building in Ogden in the fall, and their office space in the Law and Justice Center will be vacant.

7. John Baldwin reported on a violence survey that had been done by Steve Kelson, a lawyer from Kipp and Christian. Towards that end, a survey was distributed via the Bar's e-bulletin. There were approximately 1,000 responses received and John asked what kind of response, if any, the Bar should make to the results of the survey. It was suggested that John follow up with Kelson to ascertain what else Kelson may do with the survey results. Mr. Kelson is writing a Bar Journal article based on the responses in the survey.

8. John Baldwin, Larry Stevens and Billy Walker are currently working on the proposed diversion rule changes for the Rules of Lawyer Discipline and Disability.

9. John reported that currently two petitions are before the Supreme Court: (1) House Counsel petition; and (2) petition to increase inactive full service fees from $90 to $120. The Court did not approve the law school faculty pro bono service petition.

10. The Criminal Law Section would like to amend their bylaws. Nate Alder stated that the current bylaws do not provide contact information for a Governmental Relations Committee liaison. John Baldwin will follow up on this for next month's agenda.

11. John Baldwin informed the Commission that the front landscaping at the Law and Justice Center will be re-done later in the year (xeriscaping) which will ultimately save the Bar money and improve the appearance of this area.

12. Debra Griffiths Handley discussed the issue of possible "sponsorship money" (for attendance purpose) for Young Lawyers Division for the Annual Convention. Discussion followed. On a related note, John said that overall convention attendance isn't increasing as it should with the increase in lawyers.

13. John Baldwin reiterated his statement at the last meeting that although there has not been particular concerns raised about conflicts of interest among Commissioners, he believes it would be a good idea to have a policy in place for the future. The motion to adopt the policy passed unopposed and the policy will be effective July 14, 2006.

14. Lori Nelson reported that the Governmental Relations Committee was a huge success this year. John T. Nielsen noted that it might be a good idea to have an orientation letter containing the committee's policies and procedures distributed to new members next year. John T. Nielsen discussed some of the bills from the latest legislative session and discussion followed.

David Bird expressed appreciation for Commissioners who donated their time and effort on these legislative issues. He said great strides were made in continuing to improve our relationship with legislators.

15. Charles R. Brown reported that ABA Resolution #177B would raise ABA dues by 17% and resolution #302 addressed issues relating to wiretap/surveillance in the executive branch had been recent topics. He also said that Hurricane Katrina issues were discussed at recent meetings as well as the topic that the Department of Justice is coercing clients into waiving attorney/client confidentiality privileges.

16. Grant Clayton, Chair of the Member Benefit Committee, was in attendance to follow up on malpractice insurance disclosure issue. A discussion followed and Rob Jeffs stated that at the Commission meeting scheduled for April 28th in Provo, he would like to have information available relating to the new EAP and malpractice insurance for lawyers who attend the lunch function. Yvette said she and Rod will work on the Bar Journal article and circulate it. John Baldwin said he and Connie Howard will continue to work with Clayton on this issue.

17. Yvette Diaz announced that she will be returning to regular practice as she is leaving the Governor's Office.

18. Rob Jeffs reported on the BarÕs performance review. He stated that the RFP's had been mailed out to various auditing companies including Ray Westergard at Grant Thornton and responses are due April 10th. He also added that Rusty Vetter recently had provided information regarding a firm that recently had conducted the audit of the prosecutor's office of Salt Lake City and Rob will contact that firm.

A full text of minutes of these and other meetings of the Bar Commission is available for inspection at the office of the Executive Director.