Cynthia Nance, dean of the U of A School of Law, will receive the Association of American Law Schools Section on Women in Legal Education’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award in January. Nance
Andrea G. Woods has joined Vestas – American Wind Technology as Corporate Counsel, Legal Offshore
Hall Booth Smith, P.C. announced that Dalton Huerkamp joined the firm as an associate in its Rogers office.
McDaniel Wolff, PLLC, announced that partner Dustin McDaniel was honored to receive the 2022 Francis X. Bellotti Award from the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C. McDaniel
The Center for Arkansas Legal Services (CALS), announced its first new Executive Director in almost three decades. Milo Mumgaard joins CALS as its new Executive Director with over 30 years of experience leading civil legal services and public interest legal programs across the country. Most recently, Mumgaard served seven years as Executive Director of Legal Aid of Nebraska.
Send your oyez to ahubbard@arkbar.com
Pro
2023 Mock Trial Competition Call for Volunteers
The Arkansas Bar Association Mock Trial Committee is seeking volunteers for its 2023 competition year. In addition to our normal call for volunteers at our regional competitions and state championship, we will also need the legal community’s help as we host the 2023 National High School Mock Trial Championship in May.
"Every year, our students are excited about taking on the roles of attorneys and witnesses and digging into each year’s case,” said Anthony McMullen, chair of the Mock Trial Committee. “I can think of no other activity in the state of Arkansas that engages students on this level on knowledge of the legal system and the judicial process. Students continue to participate,
in part, because of the positive interactions with members of our legal community.” To this end, we seek judges and lawyers to serve as scoring and presiding judges during the competition. No mock trial experience is necessary, as we provide a brief orientation before the round.
Regional competitions are scheduled to be held in Fayetteville, Jonesboro, and Pine Bluff on Saturday, February 11, 2023, and the State Championship will be held in Little Rock on Saturday, March 4, 2023. To volunteer, go to www. arkbar.com/ARMockTrial or contact McMullen at AnthonyLMcMullen@ gmail.com. The Mock Trial Committee appreciates your support.
The Arkansas Bar Association’s Legislation Committee will meet each Friday during the session that begins on January 9, 2023. Once the session begins, watch for weekly updates in ArkBar’s e-bulletin.
Visit the Legislative Resources website at www.arkbar.com/ legislativeresources/home for information on ArkBar’s legislative advocacy/government relations program. Also view the article by Aaron Squyres in the Fall issue of The Arkansas Lawyer magazine “ Legislative Advocacy: Protecting the Profession”
Notice of a Special Meeting of The Arkansas Bar Association’s Board of Trustees
Pursuant to Articles IX and XIII of the Association’s Constitution and Article IV of its Bylaws, notice is hereby given that a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustee will be held at the call of the President via Zoom on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, beginning at 12:00 noon.
The purpose of the meeting is to consider and act upon proposed amendments to the Association’s Constitution, Bylaws, Policies and Procedures, and Rules of Order as described below to provide for more transparency in elections and legislative advocacy, continuity in operations, and efficiency and effectiveness in governance and management.
Proposed amendments to Constitution, Bylaws, Policies and Procedures, and Rules of Order to be considered include amendments:
1. to provide that a trustee who has requested and obtained from the President an excused absence will not be counted for the purpose of establishing a quorum for any meeting of the Board of Trustees. (See Constitution Article IV, Section 8)
2. to amend various provisions relating to elections, including the annual election of the President-Elect Designee, (See primarily Constitution Article III, Section 7 and related provisions):
(a) to strike from the Association’s Constitution the last sentence of Article II, Section 1;
(b) to provide that a Regular Member is entitled to vote in any election in which ballots have not been distributed as of the date the member completes all requirements of Regular Membership as prescribed by the Association’s governing documents;
(c) to provide that the deadline for filing a nominating petition for the office of President-Elect Designee shall be the first Monday of October; to provide that ballots for the election of the PresidentElect Designee shall be distributed on or
before the third Monday in October; to provide that electronic votes for the office of President-Elect Designee will be accepted and counted if received at Association offices at or before 11:59:59 p.m. on the second Monday of November and that paper ballots will be accepted and counted if received at Association offices at or before 5:00:00 p.m. on the second Monday in November;
(d) to provide that timely ballots for President-Elect Designee will be counted and the results of the election certified no later than 5:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday of November; that the Secretary may declare his/her inability to supervise the counting of ballots and certification of the election results in which event the Parliamentarian shall supervise the counting of ballots and certify the election results;
(e) to provide substantially the same procedures and timelines as above for the election of the Secretary and trustees of the Association in a separate election to be conducted in February/March;
(f) to provide that the office of a trustee who is elected to the office of President-Elect Designee, Secretary, Treasurer, or Chair of the Young Lawyer Section, or who is appointed to the office of Parliamentarian, shall be deemed vacant effective upon certification of the election results, or appointment, and the vacancy shall be filled pursuant to Constitution Article IV, Section 6;
3. to require that all legislation on which the Association may take a position or approve be subject to the process provided for under Bylaws Article VIII, Section 3, and to strike the alternative procedure in Bylaws Article X, Section 4.
4. to codify in Bylaws Article X the current practice and time lines related to the selection of legislation to be included in the Association’s legislative package and to require that the Jurisprudence and Law Reform Committee make a written report of its recommendations to the Board of Trustee
which shall include a brief description of all legislation considered by the committee and a brief statement of the reason(s) why the committee did or did not recommend the legislation for inclusion in the bar package.
5. to clarify the Executive Committee has the authority to conduct the business of the Association between meetings of the Board of Trustees; to require that Executive Committee timely report its actions to the Board of Trustees; and to provide that in the absence of President, the President-Elect shall preside over meetings of the Executive Committee. (See Constitution Article IV, Section 10).
6. to require only the Association’s Executive Director, Director of Government Relations, President, and Treasurer be authorized signers on the Association’s accounts under Procedure 2.
The Board may also consider and act upon a recommendation of the Program Review Task Force to adopt a policy and procedure by which existing and new programs of the Association are periodically evaluated to ensure the Association is using its resources effectively and efficiently and its programing remains relevant to members.
Board packets, which will include the text of each proposed amendment, policy, or rule change will be distributed to Trustees prior to the meeting along with the meeting link,. All meetings of the Board of Trustees are open to Association members. Floor privileges are limited to trustees. To request a link to attend the meeting and/or a copy of the text of each proposed amendment, policy, or rule change, email Michele Glasgow at MGlasgow@arkbar.com>.
January 31st
Deadline for submission of completed nomination forms to the Arkansas Bar Association’s Secretary
Districts Total No. Seats
