Back to BASICS (and Other Issues) at the 2011 Midyear Board of Governors Meeting
by Katie Wood
At its midyear meeting, the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia voted against abolishing the BASICS Committee, a move tantamount to a promise of future financial support for the program whose aim is to reduce prison recidivism. Other highlights of the Jan. 15 meeting in Nashville, Tenn., included the nominations of officers for the State Bar for 2011-12; the creation of a new Professional Liability Section; and the presentation of the Marshall-Tuttle Award for pro bono service through the Military Legal Assistance program.BASICS
Last June, the Board of Governors agreed to appropriate $140,000 to the BASICS program, ostensibly as a stop-gap measure to keep it alive while it secured independent sources of funding. However, fundraising for BASICS – which stands for Bar Association Support to Improve Correctional Services – has proved difficult in the past year.
As a result, State Bar President Lester Tate determined that the Board of Governors should vote on whether the standing bar committee that oversees the program should be abolished. The reasoning was that if the board voted to continue the committee, then funding for the program should be included in the upcoming budget for the State Bar.
“It is a stark policy choice that you have to make,” Tate told the board, equating abolition of the committee to setting the BASICS program adrift in a storm in a small life raft.
BASICS is a 30-hour course for soon-to-be released prison inmates that provides instruction, guidance and employability counseling to help them transition back into society and thus reduce recidivism. According to the State Bar’s website: “BASICS’s mission is to aid and steer inmates in the direction of self-rehabilitation. During the classes, we assist with developing career, educational and/or work plans, preparing resumes, setting goals, and teaching interviewing techniques. Upon release, we assist with job research, applying for colleges or vocational schools, completing or changing personal action plans, as well as developing financial plans. This decreases the likelihood that these individuals will return to jail.”
As Seth Kirschenbaum, the chair of the State Bar’s BASICS Committee, explained in June, the 35-year-old program has been funded in the recent past by the Georgia Bar Foundation. However, he said those funds were not available last year because low interest rates have caused IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts) to dry up. Thus, the request in June for State Bar funding.
While fundraisers have been held since that time, and efforts are being made to secure grants, there have been some impediments, Tate and Kirschenbaum explained at the midyear meeting. One problem is the program is not a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, and thus is not attractive to those who prefer to make donations or grants to tax-exempt organizations. In addition, there is a perception that “rich lawyers” should pay for a program that is a creature of the State Bar.
The program trains approximately 500 inmates a year. While precise statistics on its effect on recidivism rates were not available at the board meeting, Kirschenbaum said such information is being gathered to quantify anecdotal claims about its success.
Nomination of Officers
The Board received nominations of officers for the State Bar for 2011-12. President-elect will be Robin Frazer Clark, who currently serves as secretary. This nomination puts her in line to become only the second female president in the State Bar’s history. (Linda Klein, who currently chairs the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, was the first, serving in 1997-98.)
Buck Ruffin was nominated to serve an additional term as treasurer. Two candidates were nominated for secretary, creating a contested election between Patrise Perkins-Hooker of Atlanta and Derek White of Pooler. In other election action, the Board received the nominations of Paula Frederick and Donna Barwick to succeed themselves in two-year terms to the ABA Board of Delegates. The State Bar will send all Bar members their ballots in the coming weeks.
Marshall-Tuttle Award
Buck Ruffin presented the Marshall-Tuttle Award to Drew Early for his pro bono work with the Military Legal Assistance program. The award is named in honor and memory of Corporal Evan Andrew Marshall, a soldier from Athens, Ga., who was killed in action in Iraq in 2008, and United States Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Elbert Parr Tuttle, who handled many pro bono cases before his appointment to the bench.
The Marshall family attended the board meeting and was recognized for the sacrifice of their son and brother. Also recognized in the presentation of awards were Past President Jeffrey Bramlett and Jay Elmore for their work in establishing the program.
Other Board Actions
The Board adopted a policy to have its advisory committee on legislation review proposed amendments to the state constitution and decide whether the State Bar should take a stance on such measures.
The Board voted to petition the Supreme Court to allow law students to become student State Bar members at no cost and receive bar publications electronically. Student members have been required to pay $25 to offset the cost of publications being printed and mailed to them.
The Board created a new Professional Liability Section, which will focus on non-medical fields, including architects, attorneys, CPAs, land surveyors and professional engineers.
In other action, a by-law change was approved to allow the Executive Committee to meet by telephone or electronic conference, in lieu of in-person. Specially called Executive Committee meetings could occur upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Executive Committee membership.
Legislative Issues
The Board voted to support legislation regarding indigent defense in Georgia that would move the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council from the executive branch back to the judicial branch. Another key legislative point supported by the bar to improve governance and functionality of the indigent defense system includes having a director hired by and reporting to the council, who could be removed for cause by a super majority of the council.
Henry Walker, chair of the Indigent Defense Committee, also reported that the ability to obtain a dedicated funding source for indigent defense through an amendment to the state constitution would be improved if the legislature can become comfortable with the governance of the program.
The Board did not consider a repeal of the rule against perpetuities because the matter had been previously tabled by the Advisory Committee on Legislation (ACL). Similarly, adoption of a uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act, which had been on the board’s agenda, was not reached because it was not approved by the ACL.
The Board did vote in favor of amendments to the Georgia Code regarding utility liens; funding requests by the Judicial Qualifications Commission; and adoption of a statewide jury source list that would eliminate forced balancing of the jury list.
As for correcting the problems created by HB 1055, which after last year’s legislative session raised the per-page cost of preparation of an appellate record to $10 from $1.50, the Board approved a legislative proposal to return the fee to $1.50. At the same time, the Board approved a resolution to urge the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals to retain the dual system that allows attorneys to prepare their own record if they prefer. In addition, President Lester Tate will appoint a committee to work with the Court of Appeals to determine what, if any, kinks there have been in having attorneys prepare the record and what can be done to ameliorate such problems.
The Board also learned that the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians did NOT recommend a tax on legal services among the various personal and household services for which it did recommend taxation.
Informational Reports
The YLD (Young Lawyers Division) will hold a fundraiser to benefit Georgia Legal Services on March 5 at the Palomar Hotel in Midtown Atlanta.
The Board discussed confusion over a request from the Georgia Supreme Court that asked the State Bar for briefing regarding an Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee Advisory Opinion. The opinion at issue stated that a nonlawyer who answers for a garnishee, other than him or her self, in a legal proceeding pending with a court of record is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The confusion was over whether the State Bar should present a brief in support of that opinion or whether the court wanted to know more generally what the Bar really thinks about the issue. The Chamber of Commerce has taken a position against the advisory opinion. Executive Committee members expressed concerns about banks needing legal advice on what funds are subject to attachment before freezing bank accounts and about preserving the ability of lawyers to protect their livelihood rather than opening the floodgates to other areas of unauthorized law practice.
Past President Linda Klein, who now chairs the ABA’s House of Delegates, invited all to the ABA’s Midyear Meeting in Atlanta, Feb. 9-15, for which there is no registration fee. There will even be a free CLE on Value Billing, held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 11.
Stone Mountain Circuit
Your representatives to the Board of Governors are: Katie Wood (Post 1, exp. ’12); Johnny W. Mason, Jr. (Post 2, exp. ’11); J. Antonio DelCampo (post 3, exp. ’12); John M. Hyatt (Post 4, exp. ’11); Gwen Keyes Fleming (Post 5, exp. ’12); Claudia Saari (Post 6, exp. ’11); Anne Workman (Post 7, exp. ’12); R. Javoyne Hicks White (Post 8, exp. ’11); Edward E. Carriere, Jr. (Post 9, exp. ’12); and Tara Adyanthaya (Post 10, exp. ’11). Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions about what the State Bar is doing or suggestions for what it should undertake.
Similarly, if you are interested in serving on the Board of Governors, you can run for election. Each representative serves a two-year term. The even-numbered posts are up for election this year and Johnny Mason has announced that he is not seeking re-election. (Even when incumbents are seeking re-election, anyone in the Stone Mountain Circuit can run.) To do so, you must file a petition to place your name in nomination for a particular post. For more information contact Brinda Lovvorn (404-527-8780) or Judy Hill (404-526-8625) at the State Bar.
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