Do I Have a New Bar Number?
You may have noticed an extra digit in your bar number on
some recent bar communications, including the 2007 Membership Directory.
In reality this extra digit has existed all along as a “check
digit” to prevent data entry errors. You can continue using your
five-digit number but will increasingly see the six-digit number on
bar communications.
The reason for the shift is an accelerating rate of growth
in bar membership. In 2006, a total of 892 applicants sat
for the bar exam. Reciprocal admissions have also increased in recent
years. If these trends continue, we will soon run out of unique bar
numbers to assign in the traditional five-digit format.
New members will receive bar cards displaying all six digits
of their bar numbers. Current members will receive new bar
cards displaying all six digits during the summer of 2007.
Your five-digit number will remain valid as an identifier for all bar
business, including access to website services such as Casemaker and
BarBooks. It also remains your access number for non-OSB services such
as OJIN and the PLF website.
‘Class Act’ set for April 27
Soprano Diane Syrcle and mezzo-soprano Alexis Hamilton will
be “Dueling Divas” during the fundraising event, “A
Class Act,” Friday, April 27, at the Old Church, 1422 S.W. 11th
Ave., in Portland.
The “divas” plan an evening of duets and solos from opera,
Broadway and art song. Doors open at 7 for the 8 p.m. curtain. A reception
afterward will showcase pastries from several Portland sweeteries. Tickets
are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, and are available at Balloons on
Broadway, 617 S.W. Washington St., Portland. For more information, call
(503) 286-1752.
The 13th annual event is a benefit for the Bill & Ann Shepherd Legal
Scholarship Fund of Equity Foundation. Shepherd scholars are third- and
fourth-year law students dedicated to donating part of their legal expertise
to fighting bigotry and discrimination.
The Search for Innovation Continues
The 2007 InnovAction Awards, sponsored by the College of
Law Practice Management, is searching worldwide for lawyers, law firms
and others who have invented and successfully applied totally new business
practices to the delivery of legal services.
“We intend to seek out and recognize creativity and genuinely new
ways of thinking in law practices wherever they may be,” says college
president Merrilyn Astin Tarlton.
All entries must be received by June 1, 2007 with a $325
entry fee. For early-bird entries received by May 1, 2007, the entry
fee will be reduced to $250. Further information about the award criteria,
eligibility restrictions and nomination forms are available at www.innovactionaward.com.
Law Firm Leverage Varied With Firm Size, Location in 2006
Major law firms employ one associate for every partner nationally,
and the overall ratio of lawyers to partners is just over 2.0, according
to the 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers.
Whether measured as the ratio of all lawyers to partners,
as the ratio of associates to partners, or as the ratio of other lawyers
(of counsel, senior and staff attorneys) to partners, law firms vary
widely in their mix of lawyers.
City averages for leverage vary from city to city: lawyer/partner
ratios ranged from a low of about 1.6 in Grand Rapids and Milwaukee,
to a high of 3.16 in New York City. A number of cities, including Portland,
are in the middle, with leverage in the 1.68 to 1.75 range.
The directory is available online at www.nalpdirectory.com.
Upcoming Special Events
• April 20: OSB 50-Year Member Luncheon
Location: Columbia Edgewater
Country Club in Portland
• April 24: Classroom Law Project
Legal Citizen of the Year
Location: Governor Hotel
• May 31: Presentation of the
Wallace P. Carson Jr. Award
for Judicial Excellence
Location: Governor Hotel
20 Years Ago in the OSB Bulletin
• OSB members participated in the bar’s first referendum vote,
which considered draft rules for the implementation of MCLE. The membership
had adopted a resolution to implement MCLE in the previous year.
• The number of new admittees to the Oregon State Bar was
reported to be falling, gradually, and law schools nationally were seeing
a drastic reduction in applicants for admission.
• An innovative new product called the CD-ROM was extolled
as a data-storage solution for law offices.
• The Oregon Law Foundation awarded $375,000 in grants to
law-related charitable programs, the largest amount since its inception
in 1981.
• In a column, Board of Governors member Thomas J. Moore
suggested creating a House of Delegates as a possible option
for improving bar governance. At the time, barwide policy issues were decided
at the annual “town hall” meeting.
• The OSB joined other legal organizations in the national
celebration of the Constitutional Bicentennial. The bar provided education
and public information through radio advertisements, speakers, publications,
a Bicentennial-themed Law Day and the Oregon Bicentennial Mock Trial
Competition.
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