Letter From Membership Committee Chair

November 15, 2002

Dear D. C. Bar Committee Chair

The D. C. Bar's Membership Committee has undertaken a careful review of the Bar's existing policy on the use of members' records and will propose a revision of this policy to the Board of Governors at its meeting in January 2003. An important step in ensuring that the recommended changes to the policy have been thoroughly scrutinized is the solicitation of comments prior to its submission to the Board of Governors. The proposed policy is being distributed to you for consideration by the members of your committee. It is also being distributed to the Bar's sections, the clerks of the local courts, and the chair of the Board on Professional Responsibility. In addition, the committee's intent to recommend changes will be announced in the December edition of the Washington Lawyer magazine and the full text of the proposed policy will be posted on the Bar's Web site for the purpose of soliciting comments from the general membership.
     Enclosed for your consideration and comments is a copy of the proposed Policy on Use of Members' Records. The proposed policy is both a consolidation of the two existing policies under which the Bar has been operating for the last five years (copies enclosed) and three new policies that the committee believes will better serve the membership now and in the future.
     If adopted, the new policy will: (1) expand the availability of members' Bar identification numbers, (2) allow members to make a single election to select e-mail communication as their primary means of communication from the Bar if the specific communication is made available in that form, and (3) allow the Membership Committee to communicate the availability of endorsed member benefit programs to membership through electronic means on a quarterly basis.
     As to the first change, the Bar often receives telephone requests for a member's identification number. Currently, the Bar's policy allows the release of this information to the member or designated representative if the caller can correctly state the member's birth date. For the member who quickly needs this information for a filing or other time-sensitive purpose, the availability of this information is limited to the Bar's office hours. Having this information included in the Bar's Member Look-up feature on the D.C. Bar's Web site would give the member unrestricted access to this information. Many of the state bar associations responding to a survey conducted by the committee indicated that they have made this information available for varied lengths of time. None of these bars have reported any problems since making this information available.
     There is another important reason why the committee recommends this first change. The Office of Bar Counsel has taken a strong position that Bar identification numbers be included when disciplinary notices are published in Washington Lawyer and on the Bar's Web site. The reason for this is to assist in the proper identification of the members disciplined. With the Bar's membership growing beyond 75,000, many Bar members share the same first and last names, and even middle initials. Including the Bar identification. number in published disciplinary cases does not fully address this problem. Under the new policy, the correct identity of a member could either be verified by a staff member in the Bar's Member Service Center using the identification number or be viewed using the Member Look-up feature on the Bar Web site. Neither of these actions would yield the needed information under our existing policy.
     The second recommended change anticipates continued expansion of electronic communication both within the Bar and legal profession. We now take for granted the use of e-mail and Web sites in the practice of law. And while the Bar may be years away from wide-spread electronic billing, balloting, and publication, steps need to be taken now if we are to make them a reality. The Bar can facilitate this process by allowing members to use e-mail as their primary method of communication with the Bar. The result of such an election by the individual member would mean the member would receive any Bar, Section, CLE or Pro Bono Program communication via e-mail if it is made available in that format.
     The third recommendation is designed to help the Bar keep the membership informed of the various benefit programs available for their use. One of the committee's primary responsibilities is developing and maintaining successful benefit programs for the membership and communicating the availability of these benefit products and services to the membership.
     Royalties generated from the successful operation of these programs also provide critical non-dues funding to the Bar's Pro Bono and CLE Programs and other Bar activities which are also not eligible for dues funding. In fact, the member benefit programs provide nearly 10% of the Pro Bono Program's annual funding. The current policy prohibits the provision of a member's e-mail address to any third-party. The recommended changes would enable the Membership Committee to reinforce the success of these programs by making them known to the membership using e-mail communication. This change would provide a single exception to that restriction to allow the Committee itself to communicate with the membership on the subject of programs and benefits provided by endorsed programs operated by third-parties.
     The Membership Committee invites comments from your committee and hopes that you will support our recommendations. The deadline for receiving comments is Monday, December 16, 2002. You may submit comments in writing to the Membership Committee in care of the D.C. Bar. Any questions, suggestions or requests for clarification may be submitted to the committee through its staff liaison, Wilbur Smallwood at wsmallwood@dcbar.org. We will try to respond to inquiries directly.
     Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Lois Hochhauser
Membership Committee Chair Enclosures