Editor’s Note: The July 16, 2014, issue of the Grand Rapids Legal News featured an in-depth summary of the findings of the Task Force on the Role of the State Bar. For a letter to the editor on the subject by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Judge Avern Cohn, please see page 2.
The State Bar of Michigan filed comments on July 31 in response to the Report of the Michigan Supreme Court Task Force on the Role of the State Bar of Michigan. The comments were submitted by the State Bar Board of Commissioners upon the Supreme Court’s invitation for public comment on whether the Task Force Report adequately assessed the First Amendment problems concerning required membership in a State Bar association and whether the Task Force Report provided a sufficient blueprint to ensure that the State Bar’s ideological activities will not encroach on the First Amendment rights of its members.
The State Bar agrees with the Task Force recommendation that the State Bar of Michigan should remain a mandatory State Bar.
The State Bar agrees that State Bar advocacy outside the judicial branch should be subject to a rigorous decision-making process to conform to Keller v. State Bar of California, the constitutional standard for mandatory bar advocacy. In place of the Task Force recommendations, the State Bar offers alternatives that would enhance the current process to further safeguard members’ 1st Amendment rights and expand opportunities for dissenting members to communicate their opposing views. The State Bar recommendations are designed to make the proposed strict interpretation of Keller unnecessary.
The State Bar agrees with the recommendation that the State Bar’s regulatory services should be better integrated with the activities of the other attorney regulatory agencies. It also agrees that the State Bar governance process could benefit from greater clarity and efficiency, but does not agree that State Bar governance should be modified.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available