According
to the Old Farmer's Almanac, it was your typical
August day around those parts-hot and humid-barely registering
a breeze.
"It" was August
11, 2000 and "those parts" refers to Fort
Smith, Ark. where the newly formed Board of Governors
convened its first meeting, hosted by past Association
President Ron Harrison and his wife, Rebecca.
Created earlier that year
to replace the Executive Council, the Board of Governors
was designed to function much like a corporate board
of directors. It would, as past President Harry Truman
Moore wrote in The Arkansas Lawyer, "manage
the ever increasing business of the Association."
It was Moore who in 1996
appointed the Organization and Redistricting Committee
to look critically at the organizational structure and
governance of the Association.
Whereas the Executive
Council served more as a recommending agency to the
Association's House of Delegates, the Board of Governors
was invested with the authority to make immediate decisions
regarding the Association's day-to-day business.
"The Association
was growing and evolving," said Board of Governors
Secretary-Treasurer Bill Martin. "More and more
business decisions needed to be made. We thought this
would help take some of the burden off of the House
of Delegates so that it could make more policy-related
decisions."
The Board consists of
27 voting members (18 elected, three appointed, six
Association officers) and 6 liaison non-voting members.
Six new governors are elected each year.
Aside from creating the
Association's annual budget and establishing business
relationships with other entities, the Board also has
the power to create new committees and task forces.
For example, as part of
the Board's regular emerging trends discussion, Legal
Futurist and past Executive Director of the Arizona
State Bar, Stuart Forsyth, delivered a presentation
to the Board at its April 2001 meeting on the presence
of bars on the Internet.
Recognizing the rapid
growth of the Internet and the possibilities it provided,
the Board decided at that meeting to establish the Task
Force on Future Internet Presence, chaired by Price
Marshall of Barrett and Deacon in Jonesboro.
From this spawned such
member benefits as Arkansas VersusLaw, which provides
members of the Association with online legal research.
Only a few bar associations can boast such a first-rate
benefit, one that is free to all members.
The Board, along with
the House of Delegates, also expanded the Association's
Legislative Advocacy Network - an electronic network
that, in part, delivers to participating members alerts
on pending bills that affect the legal system. It is
an outgrowth of the Legislative Task Force, chaired
by Jim Julian of Chisenhall, Nestrud and Julian, PA
in Little Rock.
According to Board Chair,
Jim Sprott of Harrison, the Board also has been working
on recommendations from the Professional Ethics Committee
related to changes in the Arkansas Rules of Professional
Conduct as well as hearing suggestions from a special
committee appointed to consider amendments to the Association's
Constitution.
"We are fortunate
to have a group of men and women lawyers dedicated to
the principles of this Association and the mutual benefit
of all its members, willing to devote their time and
talents to its day-to-day business affairs," said
Sprott.• |
