
Screen-shot of State Bar Governors election for Pinal County, which closes this Wednesday, May 20.
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum—the election forum, that is.
This month, elections are open for State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors positions for attorney from Pinal County, which is District 8. If you’re in that district and haven’t voted, get to it; all voting is online, and polls close at 5:00 pm this Wednesday, May 20.
More detail about the election is here.
There are a few noteworthy things about that page. First, the functionality is pretty cool. Clicking on the candidates causes their photos to increase in size and their candidate statement to appear. Nicely done by someone in the Bar’s IT world.
But the other interesting things is about the candidate statements themselves. One of the candidates opted not to post a statement (though he may have sent something to voting attorneys directly, as he is permitted to do). And the other candidate statement—well, I’ll get to that in a minute.
The statements (or lack thereof) surprised me, as we published statements for each of the candidates in the print version of Arizona Attorney. You can read them online here. And below is a screen shot of those statements in the May issue.

Pinal County candidate statements in the May 2015 Arizona Attorney Magazine.
So the changes in the online versions caught my attention. And in fact, one of the statements takes an election tack I have never seen before. As Bret Huggins writes:
“I find myself in a pleasant predicament. I was nominated for the position of Pinal County representative on the State Bar Board of Governors before I found out Denis Fitzgibbons would be a candidate as well.”
“Denis Fitzgibbons is a wonderful lawyer and a very good man. Denis would be an excellent representative for all of us practicing in Pinal County.”
“Denis runs a prestigious and successful law firm with his brother Dave in Casa Grande. Their practice is primarily business and civil litigation. The law firm has several lawyers and a quality support staff.”
Mr. Huggins has more to say (and you should read it). But he concludes, “I would not be disappointed in the least if I lose this election to such a strong opponent.”
I will be very interested to see how this election concludes. But has anyone seen such a dialogue in Bar elections? If so, I’d like to know. Write to me at arizona.attorney@azbar.org.
August 12, 2015
Comment period opens for @azcourts review of @AZStateBar mission, governance
Posted by azatty under Arizona Attorney Magazine, Courts, Judge, Legal events, State Bar of Arizona News | Tags: Arizona Supreme Court, Board of Governors, Chief Justice Scott Bales, Justice Rebecca White Berch, mandatory bar, public comment, State Bar of Arizona, voluntary bar |Leave a Comment
A Supreme Court task force report on the State Bar of Arizona is described by Justice Rebecca Berch, via video available on the Court’s website.
In July 2014, Chief Justice Scott Bales signed an administrative order creating a task force to examine “the mission and governance of the State Bar.” The new group was charged with drafting its report by September 1, 2015. That draft report is now available, and the Court is seeking comment.
The task force’s website includes detail about its members, information about its many meetings, and a link to the draft report.
You can link directly to the report here.
Among multiple recommendations, the task force recommends: a reduction in the size of the State Bar Board of Governors (from 30 to between 15 and 18); and clarification of the Bar’s primary mission, which is to serve and protect the public.
One of the elements discussed by the task force was whether the Bar should be maintained as an integrated (mandatory) organization. The task force recommended that it should (though the decision was not unanimous among task force members).
After reading the report, public comment on it can be submitted by email to BarGovernance@courts.az.gov.
You can read Chief Justice Bales’ original Administrative Order here.
More information about the report (and maybe some coverage in Arizona Attorney Magazine) will follow as we head into the fall.
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