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. 

Governor Signs Bill Re-configuring State Bar Governance

 Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., has signed into law SB 163 by Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), which makes the most profound changes in the State Bar of California since the professional disciplinary system was instituted over 20 years ago.

Senator Noreen Evans

The changes made by the bill range from the mostly symbolic (changing the name of the Bar's governing body from the "Board of Governors" to the "Board of Trustees"), to the mostly obvious (establishing in statute that the primary purpose of the State Bar is the protection of the public), to the substantive (changing the composition of the governing board from one dominated (15 of 23) by attorneys elected by their fellow attorneys to one comprised primarily of political appointees.  Once a "grandfathering" process has been completed to permit the current contingent of elected governors to serve out their terms, the resulting board will consist of 19 members, including six attorney members elected from new districts coinciding those of the courts of appeal; five attorney members appointed by the Supreme Court, which is encouraged to appoint the members from specified demographies; non-attorney public members appointed by the Governor, Senate Rules Committee, and Speaker of the Assembly (the same as current law); and two new attorney members appointed by the Senate Rules Committee and Speaker of the Assembly.

The Board of Governors has appointed a "Transition Plan Subcommittee" of its Planning, Program Development and Budget Committee, which will develop a "Proposed Plan to Transition the Bar to a Smaller Board."  The committee is chaired by third year governor Patrick Kelly of Los Angeles, and includes attorney members Alec Chang, Craig Holden, and Loren Kieve, and public members Dennis Mangers and Gwen Moore.  It 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 undisputed good news about the signing of SB 163 is that the bill extends for another year the Bar's authority to collect fees from the state's lawyers, thereby ensuring the continuation of the Bar's activities - and primarily its attorney discipline system - for the coming year.  The fees authorized under the bill are reduced by a $10 rebate, and all members will also be given the option of designating that $20 of their fees (as opposed to the current $10) go to support legal services programs.  In addition, the bill memorializes the Bar's agreement to transfer $2 million in each of the next two fiscal years from funds received from non-mandatory sources to the IOLTA program, again for the support of legal services.

For a detailed description of these and other provisions of SB 163, see the final Assembly Judiciary Committee analysis of the bill prepared for its September 2, 2011, hearing.