February 22, 2013 - Oregon State Bar

Board of Governors Memo — Amending Appellate Selection Bylaws
November 10, 2013 Page 2
(Emphasis added)
Subsection 2.703 Statewide Judicial Appointments
(a) For judicial appointments to a statewide court, no bar poll will be taken, but bar
members will be notified of the impending appointment and will be asked to inform the
Board of their interest. If an appellate selection process has been concluded within
three months preceding the announcement of a new appellate vacancy, the Board has
the option of not conducting a separate process, but re-submitting the previous list of
highly qualified 2 candidates to the Governor without notification to members.
(b) The Governor’s Office will deliver copies of the completed applications to the bar.
The Board will make recommendations to the Governor from the pool of candidates who
submit information to the Governor’s Office for appointment to fill vacant positions on
the Court of Appeals, Supreme Court or the Oregon Tax Court. For a vacancy on the
Oregon Tax Court, the Board will participate in the process only if requested by the
Governor. Upon completion of the due diligence review, the Board’s Committee on the
Judiciary will recommend a list of candidates suitable for consideration by the Governor
to the Board, based on the statutory requirements of ORS 2.020 for the Supreme Court,
ORS 2.540 for the Court of Appeals, and ORS 305.445 for the Oregon Tax Court, as well
as information obtained in the review process, and as screened in using, at a minimum,
the following criteria: integrity, legal knowledge and ability, professional experience,
judicial temperament, diligence, health, financial responsibility and public service. The
Board will then determine the final list of candidates to submit to the Governor. A lawyer
who seeks appointment to the same position within two years of first having received a
“suitable for consideration by the Governor status” will not be required to submit
another application or to be re-interviewed. Candidates in this category must inform the
Board of any changes in information previously submitted. The Board reserves the right
to request and receive additional information from any candidate prior to deciding
whether to resubmit the candidate’s name to the Governor. The chair of the Board’s
Committee on the Judiciary (along with members of the committee as determined by the
committee) will also provide a written or oral summary of the committee’s information
about each candidate to the Office of General Counsel for the Governor. The summary
will also include comments regarding candidates not submitted for consideration.
(c) The Board will appoint on a yearly basis, pursuant to Subsection 2.102 of the Bar’s
Bylaws, a committee to make candidate qualification recommendations to the Board
using the criteria set forth in this section. Meetings of the committee, including
interviews of candidates, are public meetings, except for portions of meetings during
which reference reports are presented and discussed. The term "reference reports," for
purposes of this section, means information obtained by committee members and staff
from persons listed as references by the candidates and information obtained by
committee members and staff from other persons knowledgeable about candidates as
part of the candidate background check process. The committee will discuss reference
reports in executive session pursuant to ORS 192.660(1)(f). The committee will vote on
its recommendations to the Board in a public meeting. The selection process will
include, but is not limited to, review of the written applications; interviews of each
candidate, unless waived; contacts with judges or hearings officers before whom the
candidate has practiced; contacts with opposing counsel in recent cases or other
matters; contacts with references; and review of writing samples.
The practice described in the bylaw differs slightly from actual practice. For one thing,
the name “Committee on the Judiciary” appears to have been used only briefly (between late
2 Given the changes in 2005, deletion or amendment of this phrase was apparently overlooked.