American Association for Justice

“Aaj has an executive committee with the authority to act for the organization between board of governors meetings, except with regard to those matters specifically reserved to the board. Executive committee actions are reported to the board at the next board meeting. The executive committee consists of the officers of the association; two members appointed by the president; five members of the board of governors elected by the board of governors; the chair of the budget committee; the chair of state delegates; the chair of the membership oversight committee; the immediate past president; a member of the national association of trial lawyer executives (natle) selected by natle; the chair of the president's council; a member from the women's caucus selected by the women's caucus; a member from the minority caucus selected by the minority caucus; a member of the new lawyers division selected by the new lawyers division; and the ceo of the association (without the right to vote).”

“Stephen j. Herman, russ m. Herman business relationship, family relationship zachary mandell, mark s. Mandell business relationship, family relationship matthew a. Nace, christopher t. Nace, barry j. Nace business relationship, family relationship frank verderame, nicholas verderame business relationship, family relationship christopher placitella, jared m. Placitella business relationship, family relationship bradley j. Prochaska, ryan a. Prochaska business relationship, family relationship derrick l. Walker, bridget n. Long business relationship lori e. Andrus, jennie lee anderson business relationship elise r. Sanguinetti, mike arias business relationship navan ward, c. Gibson vance business relationship daniel g. Kagan, michael t. Bigos business relationship n. John bey, tifanie owens business relationship frederick schenk, david s. Casey business relationship charles g. Monnett, lauren o. Newton business relationship patrick s. Montoya, s. Mike eidson, julie kane business relationship jeff orenstein, andrea grass business relationship emily mills, gregory s. Cusimano business relationship sean c. Domnick, jeanmarie whalen business relationship simone fulmer, matthew j. Sill business relationship terence r. Quinn, nathan r. Oviatt business relationship christine spagnoli, ashley t. Rayfield business relationship robert l. Jaskulski, robert l. Habush business relationship michael a. Galpern, francisco j. Rodriguez business relationship kathleen nastrie, preston tisdale, richard bieder business relationship david efron, alberto perez hernandez business relationship jim leventhal, molly greenblatt, bruce braley business relationship wendy r. Fleishman, elizabeth j. Cabraser business relationship tim o'keeffe, tatum o'brien lindbo business relationship joseph gates, paul byrd business relationship mary beth ramey, richard d. Hailey business relationship larry bendesky, patrick a. Salvi business relationship mel orchard iii, bryan ulmer iii, gerry spence business relationship peter a. Kraus, gary m. Paul business relationship jory c. Ruggiero, domenic a. Cossi business relationship”

“The association has the following classes of members: regular member: licensed to practice law and for the most part, based on caseload and time, represents the plaintiff in civil litigation or represents the defendant in criminal litigation. Associate member: licensed to practice law and does not otherwise qualify for any other membership class. Government member: licensed to practice law and is in the full-time employ of any local, state, or federal government agency or public defender. Law professor member: engaged in full-time teaching of the law at any accredited law school or college and is licensed to practice law in any country, state, or jurisdiction. Military member: licensed to practice law in any country, state, or jurisdiction, and is in the full-time active service of the armed forces of the united states. Law student member: a law student engaged in a course of study at a law school. Law graduate member: has received a degree in law from an accredited law school or college but has not been licensed to practice law. Paralegal affiliate member: has membership in an affiliated unit of aaj composed of paralegals. Retired members-members who have attained the age of seventy years, who has retired from the active practice of law, and who has completed ten years as a dues-paying member of the association. In addition, any member attaining 70 years of age and 30 years of paid aaj membership, regardless of employment status, will be eligible for retired status. Emeritus members-any person who has attained the age of sixty years, who has retired from the active practice of law, and who has completed ten years as a dues-paying member of the association will be eligible for emeritus membership and shall, prior to attaining the age of seventy years, continue to be an emeritus member.”

“Members of the board of governors and state delegates are nominated and elected at aaj's annual convention by a majority of aaj members eligible as provided for in in its bylaws, and who are present and voting at a caucus meeting called for that purpose. No member shall be elected whose principal office is located within a state where an official affiliate of the association is located, if such affiliate has nominated one or more members, unless such member shall have been nominated by that official affiliate. No member of the board of governors or state delegates shall be elected unless said governor or delegate is an eligible member as provided for in the aaj bylaws. No member shall be eligible to vote on any matter or in any election at the annual convention unless such member has been a member or has applied for membership at least sixty days prior to the annual convention and is a paid registrant at such convention.”

“The establishment of new aaj sections, the abolition of sections and amalgamation of sections shall be by action of the board of governors with the approval of the membership at the annual convention. The bylaws may be amended at business meeting by a two-thirds vote of members eligible as provided for in these bylaws, and who are present and voting. An amendment must be proposed in writing to the members of the board of governors prior to the meeting at which the amendment will be considered. Proposed amendments in written form shall be circulated by the ceo by deposit in the united states mail to the entire membership not less than fifteen days prior to the business meeting at which the amendment will be considered and the notice shall specify the date and time of such business meeting.”

“The association has state affiliates but each is an independently incorporated entity, with its own bylaws and entirely separate articles of incorporation. An attorney does not need to be a member of aaj in order to be a member of a state affiliate. The board has designated affiliates pursuant to article xiii of the bylaws, which provides "any state or local trial lawyers association may become an affiliate of the association upon approval by the board of governors, provided that its purposes are consistent with the purposes of the association, and provided the state or local trial lawyers association does not sponsor a federal political action committee. The board of governors shall be entitled to review the programs, activities, and policies of each affiliate and may, after appropriate notice to the affiliate, rescind the affiliate status." other than this bylaws provision, there are no other written policies and procedures governing affiliate activities.”

“The form 990 is reviewed by aaj's cfo, coo, and the audit committee. A full copy is made available to the full board prior to filing.”

“Employees and board of governors members are required to disclose conflicts annually. The director of hr reviews the annual conflicts of interest certifications submitted by all employees. General counsel reviews disclosures from the board of governors members. The written disclosure of any potential conflict of interest shall include, at a minimum, the following: i. The nature of the transaction. Ii. The terms and conditions of the transaction, including money or other benefits flowing to the governor, the organizational manager or the other disqualified person. Iii. To the extent that it is a disqualified person and not an organizational manager or governor, the name, address and relationship of the disqualified person to the organizational manager or governor and the extent of that person's interest in the transaction. Iv. Any other information reasonably requested. In the event of any potential conflict of interest between the aaj and its governors, organizational managers, or other disqualified persons, no transaction will be consummated if: i. The transaction is not based upon fair market value, including reasonable compensation with respect to any organizational manager who is an employee; or, ii. Any transaction in which the governor, organizational manager or other disqualified person receives a percentage of the revenues of the association.”

“The ceo's compensation is reviewed and approved by a board committee on an annual basis. Compensation for other individuals is reviewed and approved by management, using comparable data from sites like guidestar.org or salaryrate.com.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and audited financial statements are not generally made available to the general public, but if requests for copies of these documents were to be received, the organization would consider making them available to the requestor.”

“Pension benefit other than periodic -56,723.”

“The audit oversight process has not changed from the prior year.”