SBM Blog

What do lawyers and home health care workers have in common?

According to today's U.S. Supreme Court decision Harris v. Quinn, not much. Mandatory state bars, including Michigan's, were watching Harris closely (see the amicus brief submitted by 21 past presidents of the District of Columbia Bar), worried that if, as some amici urged, the court repudiated the seminal Michigan public union case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the decision would undermine the reasoning of Keller v. State Bar of California, the case defining what mandatory state bars are allowed to do, because Keller referred to Abood by analogy. Instead, the decision today expressly offers this reassurance to mandatory state bars:

In Keller, we considered the constitutionality of a rule applicable to all members of an “integrated” bar, i.e., “an association of attorneys in which membership and dues are required as a condition of practicing law.” 496 U.S., at 5. We held that members of this bar could not be re­quired to pay the portion of bar dues used for political or ideological purposes but that they could be required to pay the portion of the dues used for activities connected with proposing ethical codes and disciplining bar members. Id., at 14.

This decision fits comfortably within the framework applied in the present case. Licensed attorneys are sub­ject to detailed ethics rules, and the bar rule requiring the payment of dues was part of this regulatory scheme. The portion of the rule that we upheld served the “state’s interest in regulating the legal profession and improving the quality of legal services.” Ibid. States also have a strong interest in allocating to the members of the bar, rather than the general public, the expense of ensuring that attorneys adhere to ethical practices. Thus, our decision in this case is wholly consistent with our holding in Keller. 

This language offers some comfort to supporters of the mandatory bar, given the troubling signs in Harris that Abood is on very thin ice.  Prof. John Eastman, writing today in SCOTUSblog, said "One can almost see the ghoul of Abood walking ever more slowly, arms outstretched, as its legs are shot out from under it piece by piece."

Scary.

SBM recognizes law firms for doing pro bono service in 2014 Circle of Excellence

The State Bar of Michigan is proud to announce the 2014 Pro Bono Circle of Excellence, which recognizes every firm that fully complied with the State Bar Voluntary Pro Bono Standard during the 2013 calendar year.

“Lawyers have a unique ethical responsibility to support legal services for the poor, and the law firms recognized today in the 2014 Circle of Excellence are our leaders in this important obligation,” said SBM Executive Director Janet Welch.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Governor Appoints Mark Braunlich To Monroe County Circuit Court

Governor Rick Snyder has appointed Mark S. Braunlich, Monroe County district judge, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of 38th Circuit Court Judge Michael LaBeau. Judge Braunlich has served on the district court bench since 2003, and served as chief judge from 2008-2010. Prior to that he served as Monroe County assistant prosecuting attorney. He is the board president for Monroe Center for Healthy Aging and a past president of the Monroe County Bar Association. He is a graduate of Notre Dame University, and earned his law degree at the University of Toledo.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

State Court Administrative Office and 36th District Court Start Income Tax Garnishment Pilot Program

The Michigan Supreme Court issued an order yesterday stating that the State Court Administrative Office and the 36th District Court have developed a pilot program to automate the process of issuing writs for income tax garnishment.

The 36th District Court will begin operating the pilot program immediately through a web-based system called GarnIT.

Administrative Order 2014-13 outlines in detail the procedures associated with transmission of requests and writs through GarnIT and the rules designed to address issues unique to the implementation of the program.

The program will run through Nov. 30, 2014.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Michigan Supreme Court Creates Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum

The Michigan Supreme Court issued an order today creating the Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum.

The forum will address working relationships among the court systems of the state, tribal and federal jurisdictions in Michigan.

The following will serve two-year terms on the forum: Hon. Susan Dobrich, Hon. William Hupy, Hon. Jeffrey Nellis, Hon. Larry Nelson, Hon. George Quist and Hon. Frank Szymanski. The following will serve three-year terms on the forum: Hon. Robert Butts, Hon. William Ervin, Hon. Cheryl Hill, Hon. James Lambros, Hon. Timothy Connors and Justice Michael Cavanagh.

In addition, chief tribal judges will appoint a judge to the forum to represent each of Michigan's 12 federally recognized American Indian tribes: Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe).

Justice Bridget McCormack will serve as the Supreme Court liaison to the forum.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

How do SBM dues stack up compared to those paid by attorneys in other states?

Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court announced that the portion of dues paid by State Bar of Michigan members to fund the disciplinary system in Michigan will decrease by $20 for every Michigan attorney during the next dues cycle. That means the total amount of dues paid by active Michigan attorneys will drop from $305 a year to $285 a year.

After that decrease in dues takes place, how expensive will Michigan's dues be compared to those in other states?

First, it's important to note that every state in the country and the District of Columbia require attorneys to pay some sort of licensing fee or membership dues to practice law.

There are 33 mandatory bar jurisdictions, which are comprised of 32 states and the District of Columbia. There are six jurisdictions (comprising 18.2 percent of all mandatory jurisdictions) with required dues and fees that will be less expensive than the new State Bar of Michigan dues, and 26 jurisdictions (78.8%) that will be more expensive than the new SBM dues. The mean of the dues of the 33 mandatory bar jurisdictions is $378 and the median of the dues of the mandatory jurisdictions is $385.

So the State Bar of Michigan's dues will be less expensive than those charged to attorneys in more than 75 percent of mandatory bar states.

There are 18 voluntary bar jurisdictions, but within these voluntary jurisdictions, attorneys are still required to pay dues or fees. Taking these into consideration in combination with the 33 mandatory jurisdictions (the District of Columbia and all of the states, totaling 51 jurisdictions), 18 jurisdictions (35.3%) have required dues and fees that are less expensive than the SBM, and 32 jurisdictions (62.7%) are more expensive. The mean of dues and required fees of the 51 jurisdictions is $323 and the median is $325.

In sum, it will be cheaper to practice law in Michigan than in more than 60 percent of all other jurisdictions, mandatory and voluntary combined, across the country.

Posted by Samantha Meinke
Statistics were compiled by SBM Director of Finance and Administration Jim Horsch, from data gathered by the American Bar Association

Michigan Supreme Court lowers disciplinary portion of attorney dues by $20

The Michigan Supreme Court issued the following order on Friday, June 20:

In 2011, the Court directed the discipline portion of the dues members pay to the State Bar of Michigan to be reduced by $10 (to $110) in light of the $5 million surplus of the discipline system. Today, there is an even greater surplus. Therefore, the Court directs that the amount of discipline dues be adjusted to $90. This change will be reflected in the dues notice for the 2014-2015 fiscal year that is distributed to all bar members under Rule 4 of the Rules Concerning the State Bar.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Governor Rick Snyder Appointed 15 to the Indigent Defense Commission

Governor Rick Snyder announced yesterday that he appointed 15 people to the newly created Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.

The commission was created to collect and compile data necessary for the review of indigent defense services in Michigan, create standards to ensure all systems providing indigent defense meet constitutional obligations for effective assistance of counsel and develop requirements by which a person may establish a claim of indigence so those truly in need of a public defender will have one. 

John Campbell, Kevin Oeffner and David Schuringa will all serve initial one-year terms expiring in April of 2015.

Frank Eaman, Brandy Robinson, William Swor and Kimberly Thomas will all serve initial two-year terms expiring in April of 2016.

Richard Lindsey, Shela Motley, Michael Puerner and Cletus Smith will all serve initial three-year terms expiring in April of 2017.

Thomas Boyd, Nancy Diehl, Jim Fisher and Gary Walker will all serve initial four-year terms expiring in April of 2018.

After the initial terms, members will serve four-year terms.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Michigan Supreme Court seeks a new grievance administrator

The Michigan Supreme Court is currently seeking applicants for a grievance administrator, to oversee administrative and legal actions for the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

The grievance administrator is appointed by the Supreme Court and supervised by the Commission.

For more information, visit the official job posting on the Michigan Supreme Court website.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Take a summer road trip to a Michigan Legal Milestone

Did you know that no matter where you travel in Michigan, you are never far from at least one Michigan Legal Milestone plaque?

We encourage you to check out the plaques on your road trips across Michigan this summer. SBM has created a handy interactive Google map of the milestones, with the locations of all of the maps marked on it. Click on the plaque you're interested in visiting and a description of where it is located will pop up for you.

Bonus: If you take a selfie with a plaque, send it to me (SBM Communications Manager Samantha Meinke) at [email protected], and I will share your photo on SBM Blog.

Posted by Samantha Meinke