State Bar Board Begins Transition Process in Earnest

The State Bar of California has begun the work of transitioning the Board-of-Trustees-to-be (né Board of Governors) from the current 23-member, mostly-elected configuration to the new, 19-member, mostly-appointed configuration that will take effect under the recently-enacted SB 163 (see earlier post).

A special Governance Transition Plan Subcommittee of the Board's Planning, Program Development and Budget Committee, chaired by third-year governor Patrick Kelly of Los Angeles, has posted a memo on the Bar's web site, outlining initial options for transitioning from the old board to the new model. The key issue to be decided will be how to handle the issue of elected lawyer representatives on the board, who make up 15 members of the current board (elected from seven districts established by the Bar), but only six members on the board-to-be (elected from districts coinciding with the six districts of the California Courts of Appeal).

The subcommittee, which, in addition to Kelly, includes attorney members Alec Chang, Craig Holden, and Loren Kieve, and public members Dennis Mangers and Gwen Moore, will hold its initial meeting on Monday, October 10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bar's San Francisco office. 

The final plan has to be submitted to the Legislature by January 12, 2012.  The transition must be accomplished by October 14, 2014, following the expiration of the term of office of all current elected attorney members of the Board.