Executive Director’s Message by Karen A. Gould Council: the Governing Body of the Virginia State Bar The governing body of the Virginia State Bar is Council, which consists of eighty-one lawyers, six-ty-fi ve of whom are elected represen-tatives of their judicial circuits. The number of representatives from each circuit varies, depending upon the number of lawyers in their respective circuits, representing over 23,000 active Virginia lawyers. 1 The Fairfax con-tingent, the 19 th circuit, has the most representatives with fourteen, repre-senting more than 6,000 lawyers. Each of the thirty-one judicial circuits has at least one representative, 2 no matter how few lawyers it has, 3 as set forth by the Council bylaws. Nine members are appointed as “at large” members by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Four members represent the confer-ences: the Diversity Conference, the Conference of Local Bar Associations, the Senior Lawyers Conference, and the Young Lawyers Conference. The president, president-elect, and imme-diate past president are also members of Council. The three offi cers and four conference representatives serve yearly terms; the remainder are elected or appointed to serve three-year terms and may be re-elected or reappointed for a second three-year term. Council is almost as diverse as the composition of the legal profession in Virginia in terms of ethnic back-ground, practice type, fi rm size, gen-der, religion, and sexual orientation. There are or have been whites, blacks, Asians, Middle Easterners, Hispanics, etc. There are four Council members employed by legal aid societies spread throughout Virginia. Commonwealth’s attorneys and criminal defense atttorneys populate the ranks. Beverly Leatherbury, of the Eastern Shore, is both an assistant commonwealth’s attorney and county attorney for her jurisdiction. Rhysa South is with the Henrico County Attorney’s Offi ce. There are many family law lawyers on Council. Solo and general practitioner Bill Bradshaw hails from Big Stone Gap in far Southwest Virginia. Bankruptcy lawyer Paula Beran practices in a two-person setting in Richmond. President Michael Robinson is with mega-fi rm Venable, one of the few big fi rms represented on Council. The plaintiffs’ bar and defense bar are also well represented. Why are these facts important? Council serves an important function in the regulation of the legal profession in Virginia. Its members analyze, com-ment, debate, and vote upon proposed rule changes and statutory amend-ments affecting the legal profession before the proposed rule changes and statutory amendments are presented to the Supreme Court of Virginia for con-sideration. Diversity is important. No matter what the source of the diversity is it brings different viewpoints to the table and enriches the discussion. In these troubling times of eco-nomic downturn, the Virginia State Bar is always looking for ways to save money. Should the size of Council be reduced to cut costs? Council meets three times a year. The Executive Committee meets fi ve times a year and can act on matters for Council between its meetings. The Executive Committee consists of thirteen members of Council: the three offi cers; the four conference chairs, and six at-large members from Council. The VSB currently budgets $97,000 for the three meetings of Council, which includes the travel expenses of the Council members. EC meetings are budgeted at $22,000 for fi ve meet-ings. The Council and EC meetings are planned to occur throughout the commonwealth, not just in Richmond, thereby incurring more expense (staff has to travel to support the out-of-town meetings). Meetings of Council generally last between two and three hours, depending upon the complexity of the agenda items. They are preceded by a reception and dinner the night before the meeting. Because of the eighty-one-person size of Council, the VSB has to rent hotel space for its meetings. Our neighboring state bar to the South, the North Carolina State Bar, has a governing body of sixty-eight members: sixty-one lawyers elect-ed from forty-fi ve judicial districts, three public members appointed by the governor and four elected offi -cers. This year’s budget for the North Carolina State Bar council is $320,000 to cover the cost of quarterly meetings for at least three days at a time. 4 The $320,000 also covers travel expense re-imbursement for the council members, who are drawn from all over the state. A recent law review article, “Right-Sizing Association Governance,” 63 Hastings Law Journal: Voir Dire 1 12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | October 2016 | Vol. 65 www.vsb.org