Commission Highlights
The Board of Bar Commissioners received the following reports and took the actions indicated during their regularly scheduled January 26, 2007 Commission meeting held at the Law & Justice Center.
1. Gus Chin reported on the Constitutional Law class for legislators and the breakfast held for lawyer-legislators and legislative leadership.
2. The Commission reviewed the request given to the Supreme Court to waive a bylaw provision for a contested election and provide for a retention election this year because only one nominee has been submitted for office of President-elect. We will petition the Court to provide for a retention election in the future, should this happen again. The Commissioners discussed the need to effectively advertise the election process and to do their best to encourage qualified candidates.
3. The Commission discussed the dates for the Commission election and the need to encourage qualified candidates.
4. The Commission discussed December financials and projections through June 20, 2007.
5. The Commission discussed improvements in Casemaker online legal research to include quarterly updates adding recently enacted legislation.
6. John Baldwin reported that the note from the Law and Justice Center to the bar is now paid in full and that the Law and Justice Center Corporation will be dissolved at the end of the fiscal year. There will no longer be a 501(c)3 entity through which tax deductible charitable contributions can be made. There will be no change in the cash outlay for the building operations.
7. Irene Warr was selected for the Dorathy Merrill Brothers
Award for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession
and Judge Glen K. Iwasaki was selected for the Raymond S. Uno
Award for the Advancement of Minorities in the Legal Profession. These awards will be presented at the Spring Convention.
8. The Commission approved the Constitutional Law Section Bylaws.
9. The Commission deferred discussion on the proposed Diversion Rule.
10. The Commission voted to petition the Court to require language of the Bar licensing form which will gather information on: (1) whether or not lawyers have malpractice insurance; (2) how much insurance; (3) name of carrier(s), firm size, how many years of practice, nature of their practice and where they practice. If they have no malpractice insurance, is it because of cost or because they practice in an uninsurable field, or other reasons? This information will be private for Bar statistical purposes only and will not be made public. The Bar wants to encourage lawyers to be insured to protect themselves and their clients.
11. The Commission heard from three representatives from Grant Thornton outlining the Bar governance report.
12. Connie Howard gave a report on the CLE Department. Included were CLE goals of:
• providing diverse subject matter;
• providing geographic access;
• focusing on qualified presenters;
• considering technological variety;
• understanding the need for networking;
• providing CLE hours at a low cost; and
• whether to continue to have the CLE budget break even.
A full text of this and other meetings of the Bar Commission are available at the office of the Executive Director.