Rules Governing the Utah State Bar – Effective August 1, 2022
USB14-0209. Utah Bar Foundation. REPEAL. The Utah Bar Foundation amended and restated its Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws and no longer has a defined membership. This rule is thus moot and is therefore repealed.
Background
The Utah Bar Foundation (UBF) was created in 1963 as a 501(c)(3) organization. Its original purpose was to raise funds from members of the legal community in order to support civil legal aid for lower-income Utahns, to fund law-related education, to further the administration of justice, and to support other worthwhile law-related causes.
Section 2.1 of UBF’s 1963 founding Bylaws stated the following: “Section 2.1 Classification, Qualification, Privileges and Election of Members. The corporation shall have one class of members consisting of all duly qualified, active members of the Utah State Bar who are in good standing. Each member shall have one (1) vote at any meeting of the members.” At some point many years ago, language in substantially the same form was codified in Rule 14-209.
UBF stopped raising private funds from the legal community in 1999 when nonprofit “and Justice for all” was created. “and Justice for all” now serves as the primary fundraising organization in the legal community.
Because UBF has evolved to receive financial support from a wide variety of sources and not solely from private legal community funds, the UBF Board held a meeting of its members to vote on proposed Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws that would eliminate a defined membership. By removing the defined membership, now any active, inactive, and non-attorney with an interest in access to justice issues is eligible to serve on the Utah Bar Foundation Board of Directors. It also rendered moot the language of Rule 14-209.
The vote on the Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws took place in December 2021. All duly qualified, active members of the Utah State Bar in good standing were invited to attend. Notice for that meeting was provided in the Utah Bar Journal and given via email to all qualified UBF members as their email addresses appeared on the records of the Utah State Bar.
Please contact the Foundation offices for any questions or additional information at 801-297-7046 or via email at kim@utahbarfoundation.org.