MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
A Regular Meeting of the Board of Governors of the State Bar
of Nevada was convened on
The following members
were in attendance :
Rew Goodenow President
Nancy Allf President – Elect
Vince Consul Immediate Past President
James Bradshaw
Francis Flaherty
Gregg Kamer
Bradley Kenny
Richard Morgan
William Turner
Robert Witek
State Bar Staff
Present:
Kimberly Farmer
Marc Mersol
Member of the Young Lawyers Section in attendance:
Micheline Fairbank
1. CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTIONS
The meeting was called to order by President
Rew Goodenow at
2. CONSENT ITEMS
The Board of Governors agreed that item 4, Report of the Young Lawyers Section, should be removed from the Consent Agenda. The remainder of the following Consent Agenda were accepted or approved unanimously, as follows:
Approval of Minutes of
Report of the Fee Dispute Arbitration Committee
It was moved and unanimously
approved to appoint Shann D. Winesett to a three year term on the Las Vegas
Panel C. It was moved and unanimously
approved to reappoint Jean A. Donaho to a three year term on Las Vegas Panel A;
Stephanie Cooper Herdman, Robert C. Reade, Kelly H. Swanson, Michael C. Van,
Lawrence E. Mittin, Dana E. Morris to a three year term on Las Vegas Panel B
and Terry McConnell to a three year term on Las Vegas Panel C.
3. REPORT ON THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION
Micheline
Fairbank gave a status report on the activities of the Young Lawyers Section of
the State Bar of Nevada. Fairbank
reminded the Board of the 2007 Rocky Mountain Regional Young Lawyers Conference
that the YLS is hosting in
4. CONSIDER
REAPPOINTMENT TO JUDICIAL DISCIPLINE COMMISSION
It was moved and approved to reappoint Karl W. Armstrong to the Nevada
Judicial Discipline Commission to run from
5. CONSIDER APPOINTMENT OF TEMPORARY MEMBER TO THE JUDICIAL SELECTION COMMISSION
Nancy Allf
recused herself from the discussion of the candidates. After constructive discussion of the
candidates, it was moved and approved that the Board appoint Thomas R. Sheets
as a temporary member to the Commission on Judicial Selection.
6. CONSIDER LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE OF
BUSINESS LAW SECTION
Rew Goodenow explained that the following language will be adopted in order for the Business Law Section to introduce revisions to certain business related statutes before the Legislature.
“I am here today in my capacity as the Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the business Law Section of the State Bar of
“As part of my presentation, I will
summarize the key aspects of the bill and identify the key amendments that are
proposed. In addition, you will be able
to follow the proposed revisions using the summary memorandum that is currently
being distributed.”
“During the course of my presentation,
please feel free to ask any questions or comments. Please note that any questions that relate
to matters outside the immediate scope of the revisions presented shall be made
in my capacity as practitioner and not as a representative of the State Bar of
After clarifying some of the
proposed changes, it was moved and approved unanimously to endorse the changes
the Business Law Section.
7. DISCUSSION OF MODIFYING THE SCR 42
RULE
Rew Goodenow gave a review on
the letter from Former President Gloria Sturman. Goodenow then appointed a committee to study
modifying the SCR 42 rule and report back to the Board at the March
meeting. The committee members are:
8. CONSIDER
APPOINTMENTS TO
9. CONSIDER
SUSPENSION OF MEMBER FOR NON-PAYMENT OF DUES
It was moved and unanimously approved that Matthew Oravec be suspended for the non-payment of his 2006 bar dues.
10. CONSIDER
PROPOSED LEGISLATION REGARDING FILING DATE FOR JUDICIAL CANDIDATES
Rew Goodenow discussed the Bill Draft Request concerning the proposed change
in the filing date for Judicial candidates. After a lengthy discussion among the Board members, no action was taken.
However, the
Board of Governors held a joint meeting with the Supreme Court in the afternoon
on
11. CONSIDER
PROPOSED LEGISLATION REGARDING JUDICIAL ELECTIONS
Rew Goodenow explained his view on the proposed changes. The text of proposed legislation was not available at this time; therefore, the Board was unable to review the specifics of the proposal going before the Legislature. However the Board supports the concept of the Nevada Plan.
Therefore, it was moved and approved to support the proposal before the legislature titled “The Nevada Plan.” The Board of Governors urges the legislature to adopt the Plan. The Board understands that the proposed plan contains expansion of the Selection Commission to include community and elected representatives.
12. REPORT OF ATTORNEY OATH COMMITTEE
Gregg Kamer
reviewed highlights of the Attorney Oath Committee meeting and discussed
conclusions that were made during the meeting.
It was agreed by the committee that the current oath did not require any
additional civility language. The
committee was split on their vote whether to remove the word “the government”
from the current Attorney Oath. No action was taken.
13. REPORT
OF THE PRESIDENT
Goodenow
shared with the Board that he and
EXECUTIVE SESSION
14. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
Nancy Allf requested that the Board table the discussion on the Bar Exam Study Committee until the March meeting. Allf requested that the Board members share any ideas they might have concerning admission to the Nevada Bar.
15. REPORT OF BAR COUNSEL
It was moved and approved to accept the resignation of Jennifer C. Schwarz, Esq.
It was
moved and approved that Bernard Zadrowski be reappointed as Vice Chair of the
Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board to run from
It was moved and approved that Daniel Hammack and Irene L. Vogel will be appointed to serve as an alternate laymember of the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board.
It was moved
and approved that John Leland,
It was moved and approved that Jodi Travis be appointed as an alternate laymember to the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board.
16. REPORT OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.