Tinder Box

"Stream of Consciousness"

Here are just some thoughts off the top of my mind - sort of a stream of consciousness.

*Some members of the State Bar believe very strongly that the organization is run by large defense oriented law firms located in Charleston. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bar's Board of Governors, which makes all of the policy decisions, consists of twenty-four lawyers from all parts of the state. Nineteen of the Board members are elected by the lawyers in their districts, three Officers are selected by the Board members and there are additional positions on the Board for a Black Lawyer representative and a Young Lawyers Section Chairperson.

The current breakdown of those twenty-four lawyers is that eight of them have a plaintiffs oriented law practice, eight of them have a defense oriented law practice, six of them have a general law practice and two work for governmental entities. Twenty-two of the twenty-four Board members are in the private practice of law with twelve of them being in a small practice (one to five lawyers), five in a medium sized law firm (six to ten lawyers) and five being in a large practice (ten or more lawyers).

There are currently four women lawyers on the Board and two African American lawyers. The ages of the Board members range from early 30's to late 50's.

The State Bar's By-Laws do provide for four Board members from Charleston/Kanawha County, which is one-sixth of the total Board membership. However, Kanawha County has approximately thirty-five percent of the total lawyers in the state - more than 1,400 of the total of 3,900.

The current Bar Officers are a sole practitioner, a member of a small law firm with a plaintiff oriented practice and a defense oriented attorney from a large law firm. The State Bar's leader individuals on the Board of Governors represent the diverse make-up of the legal profession in West Virginia.

*The State Bar's Young Lawyers Section will be implementing an important Bridge the Gap Program this fall. This one day program will be a requirement for all new lawyers who are admitted to practice in our state. It is set up through an Order of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

The objective of this program is to assist new lawyers as they begin the practice of law in our state. It will include the basic general information that every lawyer needs to know no matter what type of law practice in which they will be engaged. There will be presentations on legal topics, office management practices and lawyer lifestyles. Continuing Legal Education credit will be provided to the participants.

*Sometime in the next few weeks, the 4,000th active practicing member of the State Bar will be admitted before the Supreme Court.

The State Bar has had a net growth of a little over one-hundred additional lawyers each year for the past twenty years. In 1980, there were approximately two-thousand active practicing lawyers in the state and now, just about twenty years later, we will reach the four-thousand member mark.

Each year, a little more than two-hundred lawyers are admitted to practice in the state with some of them leaving to practice law in other states. Each year, approximately one-hundred lawyers leave the active practice of law because of retirement, death, pursuing other activities, etc. Therefore, the net gain has been just about one-hundred lawyers each year for the past twenty years.

For your information, the number of lawyers admitted to practice law here in West Virginia, through passage of the Bar examination or reciprocity, is as follows:

1992- 179
1993 - 243
1994 - 257
1995 - 269
1996 - 251
1997 - 263
1998 - 229

*The new Family Law Legislation makes major changes and modifications in the family law system in West Virginia. The new law contains numerous modifications and several different dates for implementation of the changes.

Since about fifty percent of the cases in the court system relate to family law matters, the impact of this new law is substantial and far reaching. The new law can be found on the State Bar's homepage - www.wvbar.org

This new law was passed after a great deal of debate and discussion during the Regular State Legislative Session as well as an extraordinary Legislative Session. Many State Bar members, including the Board of Governors, were involved in putting together legislation to meet numerous divergent points of view relating to family law.

*The State Bar's Long Range Planning Committee has begun the process of formulating the goals and objectives that the organization will pursue during the next five year period of 2000 to 2005. A tremendous amount of time and effort goes into these five year plans which set the course for the organization.

The Long Range Planning Committee, which is made up of State Bar Past Presidents and other State Bar leaders, meets on a regular basis to achieve the Five Year Plan as well as to monitor it during the intervening years. It's not easy to gauge the future, but the Long Range Planning Committee members do an excellent job with this five year forecast.

*For more than ten years, I have been writing this column, "The Tinder Box." It is a communications tool to inform State Bar members about various programs and activities - on only a handful of occasions have I discussed non-legal matters. Sometimes, I wonder if anyone reads this stuff.

Consequently, I was overwhelmed with the large number of telephone calls, letters, e-mail messages and personal comments that occurred after my article entitled, "Keep Dancing Like No One Is Watching." It was just an article about life that was sent to me by a very good friend.

It definitely struck a nerve among our lawyers and judges as well as the other persons who receive The West Virginia Lawyer magazine. I appreciate the many favorable comments that I received and I strongly encourage each and every one of you to always remember to ......"Keep Dancing"!