Thomas G. Stolpman

This month's question and Stolpman's response:

QUESTION: The State Bar is looking for a new executive director. How will the decision be made?

STOLPMAN: The State Bar of California, with almost 800 employees and a budget this year of just over $100 million, is an extremely large institution.

Leadership of the State Bar is vested in the board of governors, which delegates the management of the bar's services and programs through a chief executive officer with the title of executive director.

Herb Rosenthal, a 32-year employee of the bar who has been at its helm for 10 years, is retiring as executive director in September. The board of governors must search for qualified candidates for this position and hire a new executive director before then.

Although people not involved in the search process have criticized it, I can assure you as president that the search will be thorough, fair to all concerned, and will result in having several extremely well-qualified candidates to be considered by the entire board of governors, which will make the hiring decision.

There are several distinct steps involved in putting a new executive director in place. First, we found an executive director search committee, consisting of the president, four elected governors and two public members. The members of the committee and its mission -- to bring highly qualified candidates to the board of governors -- were announced in January with no objection from any member.

The members of the executive search committee represent a broad cross-section of the board. Members include the president of the bar. The lawyer members of the committee represent a broad cross-section of the board, in terms of practice areas and geography.

Marc Adelman, a solo practitioner from San Diego, and Pauline Weaver, a deputy public defender from Alameda, were chosen from the third-year class.

Leon Goldin, a solo practitioner in the probate area from Los Angeles, represents the second-year class. Jim Seff, a first-year member from a large firm in San Francisco, is in the first year of his service on the board of governors.

Likewise, the public members represent a broad diversity of background and experience. Greg Segall is in his second year of service on the board and has extensive background in the business area in his area of expertise as a workout specialist for troubled companies. Dr. Dorothy Tucker, also from Los Angeles, has extensive experience in management consulting.

As president, I bring to the table my experience in a small firm as a trial lawyer and my experience in having hired bar executives in the past, including the executive director of one of the largest specialty bar associations in the country. The committee is ably supported by Toni Smith, the bar's senior executive for human resources.

As its first tasks, the search committee worked to try to set down on paper the actual, as well as potential, responsibilities to be given to the new executive director. Utilizing input from the board of governors' planning sessions, historical documents within the bar, and the statutory framework in the Business & Professions Code, our committee appointed a subcommittee to accomplish this. The subcommittee produced a working document for discussion purposes to assist the committee and the executive search consultant to conduct the search.

Also included in the first stage was interviewing executive recruiting consultants. The committee recommended to the board of governors at its March meeting that the board retain the services of Martha Fay Africa of the firm of Major, Hagen & Africa, a national recruitment firm.

Marty Africa, the partner in charge of the State Bar search, has extensive experience in both bar association activities as a volunteer and in searches for bar personnel.

In the next phase of the recruiting process, input was sought from members of the board of governors, past bar leaders, senior executives of the bar, the current executive director and others who have an interest. Once this information has been compiled, the actual search process will begin narrowing down potential candidates. We anticipate that some candidates will come forward on their own, and some will be recommended by others.

The search committee will assist Africa and her staff in filtering qualified candidates so that a small number of the best and the brightest can be recommended to the board for the position.

Many have asked whether the bar is looking outside of the bar, or whether it is giving consideration to candidates from within the bar family. The short answer is "yes."

The committee has made a decision to give all candidates equal consideration, whether from within or without the bar, in seeking to find the best executive to guide the bar into the next millennium.

The final stage in the process will involve interviews by the entire board of governors of the finalists recommended by the committee. A majority of the board will determine who the new executive director is.