Legislature(2009 - 2010)CAPITOL 120
02/04/2009 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Select Committee on Legislative Ethics | |
| HB88 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HB 88 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 88 - EXTEND BAR ASS'N BOARD OF GOVERNORS 1:52:21 PM VICE CHAIR DAHLSTROM announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 88, "An Act extending the termination date of the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association; and providing for an effective date." 1:52:49 PM JANE W. PIERSON, Staff, Representative Jay Ramras, Alaska State Legislature, explained on behalf of Representative Ramras, sponsor, that HB 88 would extend the termination date for the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association (ABA), and noted that the Division of Legislative Audit has recommended that the termination date for the Board of Governors be extended to June 30, 2017, which is the date proposed by the bill. 1:54:04 PM MITCHELL A. SEAVER, President, Board of Governors, Alaska Bar Association (ABA), opined that the sponsor statement for HB 88 succinctly sets forth the duties of the ABA, that being to screen applicants for admission to the ABA, and to discipline members of the ABA to ensure that they adhere to professional standards. Both of those activities are subject to supervision by the Alaska Supreme Court. The ABA is also responsible for, or involved in, a wide number of activities, including fee arbitration, handling disputes between clients and their lawyers, lawyer referral services, continuing legal education (CLE), promoting pro bono legal services to low-income Alaskans, and maintaining a fund that reimburses those clients damaged by an the dishonest acts of an attorney. MR. SEAVER noted that through the efforts of the ABA's staff and countless volunteers, the aforementioned functions are performed without any cost to the State of Alaska. He observed that this is the third time in the past four years that the Board of Governors has been before the legislature regarding a sunset extension; each of the prior times, an eight-year extension was recommended, but only shorter extensions were approved. He concluded by indicating that the Board of Governors would prefer to be granted the eight-year extension. 1:58:00 PM STEPHEN J. VAN GOOR, Bar Counsel, Alaska Bar Association (ABA), mentioned that he has been impressed with the dedication and willingness of the Board of Governors to take on the very difficult issues that it's confronted with, not the least of which involves disciplining members of the ABA; the Board of Governors is dedicated to the timely and complete investigation and prosecution of complaints against ABA members, and ultimately such cases are reviewed by the Alaska Supreme Court. He remarked that the ABA is small compared to bar associations in other states, and that although Alaska has a difficult bar exam, it's one that's designed to illustrate minimal competence to practice law, knowledge of Alaska law, an ability to spot issues, and an ability to thoroughly explain a legal problem in a manner expected of a lawyer. MR. VAN GOOR encouraged the committee to recommend the extension of the Board of Governors' sunset date. The [Board of Governors] is functioning according to statute, he opined, and noted that it is accountable to the Alaska Supreme Court. In response to a question, he explained that every disciplinary case that comes before the Board of Governors is considered both by the lawyers elected to serve on it and by the three public members appointed to serve on it; furthermore, under current rules, at least one of the three members chosen to hear a particular disciplinary case must be a public member. He characterized the participation of the public members, both in such hearings and on the Board of Governors in general, as a tremendous asset in that it brings a different perspective to the Board of Governors. He assured the committee that there is oversight sufficient to ensure that the professional responsibilities of the Board of Governors are being met, and surmised that it is the lawyers themselves who are in the best position to assess whether another lawyer's actions violate the rules of professional conduct, since a certain degree of expertise is required in order to understand the issues involved. MR. VAN GOOR, in response to comments, explained that cases come before the disciplinary board of the Alaska Supreme court in one of two ways: the cases are either prosecuted in front of a hearing committee, or "we" present a stipulated disposition to the disciplinary board and then to the Alaska Supreme Court. Either way, there is public input, which has been extremely valuable. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL referred to Recommendation No. 3 in the Division of Legislative Audit's report regarding Audit Control Number 41-20057-08: "The board should adhere to existing public notice requirements for all meetings or modify the bylaws to clearly address conference call board meeting procedures and public notice requirements." He asked whether that recommendation has been discussed by the Board of Governors yet. 2:07:15 PM MR. VAN GOOR said he'd drafted some bylaw amendments for consideration by the Board of Governors at its January meeting; the Board of Governors voted to publish those proposed amendments for member comment, and so he is anticipating that the amendments will be back before the Board of Governors at its May meeting. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL referred to Recommendation No. 2 in the Division of Legislative Audit's report regarding Audit Control Number 41-20057-08: "The board should consider developing a database of disciplined lawyers in the Bar's website." MR. VAN GOOR relayed that the Board of Governors is in the process of revising its database so that such information can be displayed on its web site. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL, referring to language on page 19 of the aforementioned report, asked how the Board of Governors promotes reform in the law and in judicial procedure. 2:09:23 PM DEBORAH O'REGAN, Executive Director, Alaska Bar Association (ABA), indicated that such reform is mostly promoted via court rules and amendments to them. In response to a question regarding language on pages 13-14 of the aforementioned report, she said that the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection (LFCP) is not something that would be administered by a state regulatory agency, nor is the fee arbitration process or the mediation process or the Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts ("IOLTA funds"). Sometimes, she noted, lawyer referral services are provided by private organizations, but the ABA isn't competing with such organizations because there are so many ways to find a lawyer, particularly with the advent of the Internet. Most of the aforementioned services wouldn't be provided by anybody if the weren't provided by the ABA. In response to a comment, she clarified that although the ABA doesn't require lawyers to do pro bono work, it does have a pro bono director whose job it is to convince lawyers to do more pro bono work. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG referred to Recommendation No. 1 in the Division of Legislative Audit's report regarding Audit Control Number 41-20057-08: "The board should recommend to the Alaska Supreme Court that mandatory minimum CLE for attorneys be adopted." He asked Ms. O'Regan to comment. MS. O'REGAN explained that because of a recent court rule change, lawyers will now have to have completed three hours of Mandatory Ethics CLE (MECLE) by December 31, and must now report the hours they've completed. The ABA anticipates being able to provide the Alaska Supreme Court with some statistics around mid April. In response to questions, she said she envisions that the Board of Governors will continue recommending to the Alaska Supreme Court that it mandate 12 hours of CLE, but noted that a current Board of Governors cannot bind a future Board of Governors. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG mentioned that some states' bars have started to provide programs in specialized fields of law. MS. O'REGAN relayed that the Board of Governors had discussed this issue in the past, but decided that the ABA was too small of an association to be able to provide effective specialization certification and so chose instead to simply recognize the specialization granted at the national level by the American Bar Association. MR. VAN GOOR, in response to a question, relayed that [Rule 7.4(b)] of the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct says: (b) a lawyer may communicate the fact that the lawyer has been certified as a specialist in a field of law by a named organization or authority, but only if that certification is granted by an organization or authority whose specialty certification program is accredited by the American Bar Association. 2:24:57 PM MS. PIERSON, in response to a question about the effective date clause, explained that the Board of Governors has a one-year wind down period and so could continue to operate until 2010 should HB 88 not be enacted. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG questioned whether the title should be altered such that it too would stipulate a sunset date of June 30, 2017. VICE CHAIR DAHLSTROM expressed a preference for moving HB 88 from committee as it's currently written, and suggested to Representative Gruenberg that he discuss any possible amendments with the sponsor before the bill is heard in its next committee of referral. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL, expressing an interest in maintaining legislative oversight, said he is not yet convinced that the sunset date should be 2017. REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES pointed out that the [Board of Governors of the] ABA has offered to provide the legislature with an update every year, but the chairs of the judiciary committees chose not to take advantage of that offer last year because of scheduling conflicts. 2:31:26 PM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL moved to report HB 88 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HB 88 was reported from the House Judiciary Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis Skip Cook.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| Constiuent info ltrs - Obermeyer .pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HB88 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
HB 88 |
| HB88 2007 AK Bar Annual Report.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
HB 88 |
| LB&A ABA 2008 Review p1-16.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| LB&A ABA 2008 Review p17-34.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| LB&A ABA 2008 Review p.35-46.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| Herman G Walker.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
|
| HB88 version A.pdf |
HJUD 2/4/2009 1:00:00 PM |
HB 88 |