1A.0701 Proposed Amendments to Rule .0701, Standing Committees and Boards

(a) Standing Committees. Promptly after his or her election, the president shall appoint members to the standing committees identified below to serve for one year beginning January 1 of the year succeeding his or her election. Members of the committees need not be councilors, except to the extent expressly required by these rules, and may include non-lawyers. Unless otherwise directed by resolution of the council, all members of a standing committee, whether councilors or non-councilors, shall be entitled to vote as members of the standing committee or any subcommittee or panel thereof.

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(3) Grievance Committee. It shall be the duty of the Grievance Committee to exercise the disciplinary and disability functions and responsibilities set forth in Section .0100 of Subchapter 1B of these rules, and to make recommendations to the council for such rule amendments to that section as the committee deems necessary or appropriate, and to perform any other duties delegated to it by the council or the president. The Grievance Committee shall have at least 30 members and shall sit in subcommittees, as assigned by the president. Each subcommittee each of which shall have at least ten members. Two members of each subcommittee shall be nonlawyers, one member may be a lawyer advisory member who is not a member of the council, and the remaining members of each subcommittee shall be councilors of the North Carolina State Bar. A quorum of the Grievance Committee shall be ten members of the committee and a quorum of a subcommittee shall be five members of the subcommittee. serving at a particular time. One subcommittee shall oversee the Attorney Client Assistance Program. It shall be the duty of the Attorney Client Assistance subcommittee to develop and oversee policies and programs to help clients and lawyers resolve difficulties or disputes, including fee disputes, using means other than the formal grievance or civil litigation processes; and to perform such other duties and consider such other matters as the council or the president may designate. Each subcommittee shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the Grievance Committee with respect to the grievances, fee disputes, and other matters referred to it by the chairperson of the Grievance Committee. Each subcommittee member of the Grievance Committee shall be furnished a brief description of all matters referred to other subcommittees (and such other available information as he or she may request) and be given a reasonable opportunity to receive all reports of counsel and supporting materials for all grievances on the committee’s quarterly meeting agenda and may provide comments to any such other subcommittees. subcommittee. Each subcommittee shall vote upon the disposition of each grievance on the quarterly meeting agenda that is assigned to it. During the quarterly meeting of the full Grievance Committee, the committee shall vote to adopt the disposition of the subcommittee or to reach a different disposition. The decision of the full Grievance Committee is a final decision and is not subject to appeal. The president shall appoint the chair of the Grievance Committee, the members of the Grievance Committee, the vice-chair of each subcommittee, and the members of each subcommittee. The president may appoint as advisory members lawyers and nonlawyers who are not councilors of the North Carolina State Bar. The chair of the Grievance Committee shall have the powers enumerated in Section .0105 of Subchapter 1B of these rules and any other powers delegated to the chair by the president. The chair of the Grievance Committee shall appoint one Grievance Committee member who is a councilor of the State Bar to oversee the Attorney Client Assistance Program and the Fee Dispute Resolution Program. ‘s decision respecting the grievances, fee disputes, and other matters assigned to it will be deemed final action of the Grievance Committee, unless the full committee at its next meeting, by a majority vote of those present, elects to review a subcommittee decision and upon further consideration decides to reverse or modify that decision. There will be no other right of appeal to the committee as a whole or to another subcommittee. The president shall designate a vice-chairperson to preside over, and oversee the functions of each subcommittee. The vice-chairpersons shall have such other powers as may be delegated to them by the chairperson of the Grievance Committee. The Grievance Committee shall perform such other duties and consider such other matters as the council or the president may designate.

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(9) Access to Justic Issues Committee. It shall be the duty of the Access to Justice Issues Committee to identify and explore issues concerning the regulation of the legal profession and the improvement of the quality of legal services available to the people of North Carolina, including to study and to recommend to the council programs and initiatives that respond to the profession’s responsibility, set forth in the Preamble to the Rules of Professional Conduct, “to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who, because of economic or social barriers, cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel.” 27 N.C. Admin. Code 2.0.1, Preamble.

(b) …