Bar battles against time New bill attempts to restrict bar further while board votes to spend voluntary fees to keep doors open by KATHLEEN O. BEITIKS Staff Writer 覧覧覧覧 Less than a week after the State Bar Board of Governors voted to spend voluntary fees to keep the organization running, longtime bar critic Assemblyman Bill Morrow proposed legislation which would prevent dues from being spent for anything other than discipline or admissions. Morrow痴 is the third bill (AB 1798) before the legislature which would restructure the State Bar and reduce annual dues for California attorneys. His bill would set dues at $316 for active attorneys this year and $272 next year. It would impose severe limits on bar activities such as the certification of lawyer referral services. It also would eliminate many programs such as mandatory continuing legal education, the Client Security Fund and the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE). (See UPDATE for related story.) CONTINUED ...

UPDATE Whittling away ultimately may harm public by NANCY McCARTHY Staff Writer 覧覧覧覧 As lawmakers begin to debate proposals to reconfigure the State Bar, concerns have arisen that protection of the public may suffer in the rush to reduce dues. CONTINUED ...

Former bar president wins hard fought confirmation to U.S. bench by NANCY McCARTHY Staff Writer 覧覧覧覧 Twenty-one months after being nominated for the federal bench, Los Angeles attorney Margaret M. Morrow won Senate confirmation last month to the U.S. District Court for California's Central District. In the interim, she underwent two hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was renominated, and watched her confirmation languish twice on the Senate floor, held up by conservative Republicans opposed to what they feared would be her "judicial activism." CONTINUED ...

NEWS New formula to assess discipline costs, collect additional fees Lobbyist fined $2,000 for illegal bonus REGULARS FROM THE PRESIDENT – Reducing the burden of jury service LEGAL TECH – Technology potpourri MCLE MCLE Self-Study MCLE Self-Assessment Test MCLE Calendar NEW PRODUCTS – Software, digests, e-mail OPINION The right compromise – Andrew J. Guilford Time for meaningful change – Assemblyman Bill Morrow The Kopp bill should be defeated – Jeffrey Tidus Morrow [Margaret]: The ideal activist – Peter Kaye Letters to the editor PUBLIC COMMENT Probation revocation form Cameras in State Bar Court Amendments to rules regulating admissions Enforcing mediated fee arbitration agreements Proposed conflict of interest amendment Confidentiality in arbitration Membership fee waiver TRIALS DIGEST YOU NEED TO KNOW