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SPONSORS: / Dana M. Hrelic (Principal Sponsor), Tommy Preston, J. Logan Murphy, Casey Kannenberg, Daiquiri Steele, Mark Nichols, Andrew Schpak, Lacy Durham, Stefan Palys, Anna Romanskaya, Shenique Moss, Erica Grinde and Edward Rawl[1]
PROPOSAL: / Amends §7.3 of the Association’s Constitution to reconcile the eligibility requirements for a young lawyer member-at-large on the ABA Board of Governors with the definition of young lawyer in the ABA Young Lawyers Division Bylaws.

Amends §7.3 of the Association’s Constitution to read as follows:

§7.3 Eligibility and Term. While selected from different constituencies within the Association, every member of the Board of Governors owes a fiduciary duty to act solely in the best interests of the Association as a whole. To be eligible for election to the Board of Governors from a district, a person must be accredited to the district for which elected. To be eligible for election as a young lawyer member-at-large, a person must be admitted to practice in his or her first bar within the past five years or be 36 years old or less at the beginning of the term. To be eligible for election as a Goal III member-at-large, a person must be a minority, woman, or self-identify either as LGBT or as having a disability. The judicial member-at-large must be an active member of the judiciary. To be eligible for election as a law student member-at-large, a person must be a law student at the time of election. The term of an elected member of the Board is three Association years, with the exception of the law student member-at-large whose term is one Association year, beginning with the adjournment of the annual meeting during which the member is elected. An elected member of the Board may not be elected to a second consecutive full term.

(Legislative Draft - additions underlined; deletions struck-through):

§7.3 Eligibility and Term. While selected from different constituencies within the Association, every member of the Board of Governors owes a fiduciary duty to act solely in the best interests of the Association as a whole. To be eligible for election to the Board of Governors from a district, a person must be accredited to the district for which elected. To be eligible for election as a young lawyer member-at-large, a person must be admitted to practice in his or her first bar within the past five years or be less than36 years old or lessat the beginning of the term. To be eligible for election as a Goal III member-at-large, a person must be a minority, woman, or self-identify either as LGBT or as having a disability. The judicial member-at-large must be an active member of the judiciary. To be eligible for election as a law student member-at-large, a person must be a law student at the time of election. The term of an elected member of the Board is three Association years, with the exception of the law student member-at-large whose term is one Association year, beginning with the adjournment of the annual meeting during which the member is elected. An elected member of the Board may not be elected to a second consecutive full term.

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REPORT

This amendment reconciles the eligibility requirements for a young lawyer member-at-large on the ABA Board of Governors found in §7.3 of the ABA Constitution with the definition of young lawyer found in the ABA Young Lawyers Division Bylaws. As presently written, §7.3 of the ABA Constitution requires that that a young lawyer member-at-large “be less than36 years old at the beginning of the term,” with a term “beginning with the adjournment of the annual meeting during which the member is elected.”

Article 2.1 of the ABA YLD Bylaws defines a young lawyer as “a lawyer who has been admitted to practice in his or her first bar within the past five years, or is less than thirty-six years old.” However, § 2.2 of the ABA YLD Bylaws further provides that

A young lawyer’s membership begins on the first day of September following the annual meeting. A young lawyer’s membership continues, and the Member is a “young lawyer,” until and through the last day of August in any fiscal year for at least part of which the Member is a young lawyer under section 2.1.

Thus, the ABA YLD Bylaws provide that individuals who turn 36 years old during the ABA fiscal year remain young lawyers for the entirety of the ABA fiscal year.

The language currently used in §7.3 of the ABA Constitution, although intended to track the definition of young lawyer found in the ABA YLD Bylaws, unintentionally creates a doughnut hole that excludes a small number of young lawyers from service on the Board of Governors through no fault of their own. For example, pursuant to §§ 2.1 and 2.2 of the ABA YLD Bylaws, an individual born on August 1, 1982, is a young lawyer through August 31, 2018. However, because that individual would be 36 years old when the ABA Annual Meeting adjourns on August 7, 2018, she could not serve as the young lawyer member-at-large for the 2018-21 term, even though she is still a young lawyer under the ABA YLD Bylaws at the time the term begins. Notably, the young lawyer member-at-large position on the Board of Governors is the only position that this individual could not fill, since the language in the portions of the ABA Constitution providing for the ABA YLD representatives to the Nominating Committeeand the House of Delegates do not utilize language that creates such a doughnut hole.

The proposed amendment simply replaces the “be less than 36 years old at the beginning of the term” language in §7.3 of the ABA Constitution with the similar phrase “be 36 years old or less”. This minor change in the language eliminates the doughnut hole, and ensures that everyone who is a young lawyer under the ABA YLD Bylaws is eligible to serve as a young lawyer member-at-large on the ABA Board of Governors.

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[1] These sponsors consist of the entire Executive Board of the ABA Young Lawyers Division.