2011 Oregon Revised Statutes
ORS Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 55
ORS Chapter 9
9.025 Board of governors; number; eligibility; term; effect of membership.

(1) The Oregon State Bar shall be governed by a board of governors consisting of 18 members. Fourteen of the members shall be active members of the Oregon State Bar, who at the time of appointment, at the time of filing a statement of candidacy, at the time of election, and during the full term for which the member was appointed or elected, maintain the principal office of law practice in the region of this state in which the active members of the Oregon State Bar eligible to vote in the election at which the member was elected maintain their principal offices. Four of the members shall be appointed by the board of governors from among the public. They shall be residents of this state and may not be active or inactive members of the Oregon State Bar. A person charged with official duties under the executive and legislative departments of state government, including but not limited to elected officers of state government, may not serve on the board of governors. Any other person in the executive or legislative department of state government who is otherwise qualified may serve on the board of governors.

(2) The board of governors shall divide the State of Oregon into regions for the purpose of determining eligibility to be a candidate for the board of governors, eligibility to be elected or appointed to the board of governors, and eligibility to vote in board of governors elections. The regions shall be based on the number of attorneys who have their principal offices in the region. To the extent that it is reasonably possible, the regions shall be configured by the board so that the representation of board members to attorney population in each region is equal to the representation provided in other regions. At least once every 10 years the board shall review the number of attorneys in the regions and shall alter or add regions as the board determines is appropriate in seeking to attain the goal of equal representation.

(3) Members of the board of governors may be elected only by the active members of the Oregon State Bar who maintain their principal offices in the regions established by the board. The regular term of a member of the board is four years. The board may establish special terms for positions that are shorter than four years for the purpose of staggering the terms of members of the board. The board must identify a position with a special term before accepting statements of candidacy for the region in which the position is located. The board shall establish rules for determining which of the elected members for a region is assigned to the position with a special term.

(4) No judge of a municipal, state or federal court or any other full-time judicial officer, shall be eligible for appointment or election to the board of governors.

(5) The term of any member of the board of governors shall terminate on the date of the death or resignation of the member, or if the member of the board is required to be a member of the Oregon State Bar, the term terminates on the date:

(a) Of the termination of active membership in the Oregon State Bar for any reason;

(b) When the member discontinues to maintain the principal office of law practice in the region in which it was maintained at the time of the appointment or election of the member; or

(c) When the member assumes office as a judge of a municipal, state or federal court, or fills a full-time judicial office.

(6) No member of the board of governors shall be eligible, during the term of office, for service pro tempore as a judge of any municipal, state or federal court. [1973 c.114 1; 1981 c.193 3; 1993 c.307 1; 1995 c.302 1; 2009 c.218 1; 2011 c.303 1]