Chair's Duties
I. Schedule meetings and meeting sites
A. Schedule monthly meetings, typically held the first Saturday in Sept (opt.), Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan (2nd and 4th Sat in busy year) and Feb (2nd and 4th Sat in busy year). This schedule should be proposed and ratified at the Annual Retreat and forwarded to the WSBA Section Liaison in July.
B. Host dinner meeting following the Skills Institute, usually in April. Site is selected and reservations made by the Chair. The Chair's credit card pays for this meal, so retain the receipt (and preferably the original restaurant check itself) to submit within 60 days to the WSBA for reimbursement. This is typically a working dinner.
C. Host Annual Retreat (chaired by the Chair-Elect), held in late June in conjunction with the Annual Meeting/CLE. The Retreat begins with an on-site lunch on Thursday before the Annual Meeting, continues with an off-site dinner Thursday night (see above re using Chair's credit card for dinner) and ends with another on-site lunch on Friday. Coordinate the on-site luncheon reservations with a) the FLEC program chair and b) the WSBA CLE administrator. On-site meals are paid by the WSBA, together with the CLE conference room bookings. Coordinate the off-site Thursday dinner reservation with the FLEC program chair.
D. Host Annual Meeting at the Saturday luncheon attended by all section members (WSBA arranges and pays for this on-site luncheon.
1. Introduce FLEC members, specifying what city they practice in and thanking outgoing members
2. Describe FLEC activities
a. Legislative representation
1. FLEC members who testified
2. Number of bills addressed by FLEC
3. Outcome of our efforts
4. Progress of Hot Sheet
b. Liaison with other committees
1. WSBA Board of Governors
2. WSBA committees
a. Section leader meetings
b. Web site meetings
c. CLE meetings
d. Finance meetings
e. Planning meetings
3. Superior Court Judges Assoc. Family Law Section
4. KCBA Family Law Section
5. Counsel of Community Property States
6. ADR committees
7. Ad hoc committees
a. Domestic violence issues
b. Access to justice issues
c. Pro se litigants issues
d. Unauthorized practice issues
c. CLEs given by FLEC
1. Midyear CLE
a. Thank this year's chairs
b. Upcoming sites, dates and chairs
2. Skills Training
a. Thank this year's chair
b. Announce upcoming site, date and chair
d. Section Newsletter
1. Introduce and thank editors
e. Section Directory
1. Introduce and thank editors
2. Solicit names of experts
3. Begin awards presentations and introduce each of the awards presenters.
a. Solicit nominations for next year's awards
4. Announce FLEC nominees for upcoming FLEC positions
a. Solicit nominees from the floor
5. Other business
a. Surveys on important or controversial issues
b. Budget issues, if important
c. Amendments to by-laws
E. Arrange joint November meeting with Superior Court Judges' Family Law Committee.
F. Call OAC after the Annual Retreat to set the date and site for the joint meeting; typically wherever the FLEC meeting will occur. G. Call OAC in mid-October to coordinate agenda for joint meeting. Generally, FLEC sets the agenda, so the chair needs to determine what topics to cover while the judges are in attendance from 9:00 to noon (they do lunch and the afternoon session by themselves).
II. Chair FLEC's monthly meetings and mail agenda with attachments one week in advance
A. Attachments typically include:
1. Minutes of last meeting
2. Latest financial report from WSBA
3. All legislative proposals, letters to the section, etc. that need attention
B. Agenda items typically include:
1. Review and approve minutes (FLEC Secretary)
2. Review financial report (Chair-Elect)
3. Approve annual budget at Annual Retreat in June (Chair-Elect)
4. Election of officers at first fall meeting
5. Committee reports (committee chairs)
6. Counsel of Community Property States delegates selected
7. Legislative report
8. Newsletter report (editor)
9. BOG report (whoever was assigned to cover it that month)
10. Annual Meeting report (program chair)
C. CC minutes and agenda (without attachments) to the WSBA Section Coordinator
D. CC any official letters regarding positions taken by FLEC to WSBA Executive Director (Dennis Harwick) and lobbyist (John Fattorini)
III. Chair's Column for each Newsletter
IV. Oversee standing committees and positions
A. Awards Committee for attorney, jurist and professional of the year
B. Nominations Committee for open FLEC positions in fall election C. Legislative Coordinator
1. Hotsheet
2. Liaison with WSBA lobbyist
D. Newsletter Editor
1. Editor position
2. Article assignments
3. Membership surveys
E. Member service initiatives
1. WEB page
2. Brief Bank
3. Directory
V. Liaison with other bodies
A. WSBA Board of Governors
B. KCBA Family Law Section
C. Northwest Women's Law Center
D. WSBA ADR Section E. Counsel of Community Property States
Duties of the Chair-Elect of the Section of Family Law
I. Deliver Financial Report at each meeting
II. Prepare and submit news items regarding the Family Law Section,
particularly items intended to stimulate increased membership, to
the FYI Section editor of the WSBA Bar News with the goal of getting
into print 3-4 times per year
III. Prepare and mail (via WSBA Section liaison) the annual "oops,
you forgot to renew your membership" letter to non-renewing members
in January
IV. Maintain and distribute FLEC membership list with contact information
V. Prepare the Annual Budget for submission to WSBA in early June
VI. Chair Annual Retreat in late June
VII. Prepare the Annual Report from FLEC to BOG in July
