Ohio State Bar Association

“Any person duly admitted to the practice of law, and not prohibited from being admitted to the practice of law in ohio, may become a regular member of the association. Members must first apply for membership to the association through a written application process. Regular members have limited rights to vote on certain issues regarding the governance of the organization.”

“At the meeting before the commencement of the current president's term of office, the president-elect is elected by the regular members of the association. Regular members of the association also elects representatives for each district to serve on the council of delegates.”

“The council of delegates considers and acts upon all resolutions before it relative to the promotion of the purposes of the association submitted to the council by any of its members, by an association member, or by any local bar association of the state.”

“The form 990 is prepared by an outside accounting firm. Osba general counsel, chief financial officer, and executive director review the form 990 and submit it to the audit committee for consideration. The form 990 is then submitted to the full board of governors prior to filing.”

“The ohio state bar association (osba) has two separate conflict of interest policies. Under the board of governors' conflict of interest policy, board members will annually receive a copy of the conflict of interest policy and are required to submit conflict of interest disclosures annually. The disclosures are then reviewed by the coordinating committee. Any conflicts of interest are reviewed by the entire board of governors. Under the employees' conflict of interest policy, all employees covered by the policy will, on an annual basis, disclose or update to the president on a form provided by the osba their interest that could give rise to conflicts of interest, such as a list of family members, substantial business investment holdings, and other transactions or affiliations with business and other organizations or those of family members.”

“The policy for determining compensation of the organization's executive director/ceo is as follows: the primary evaluators of the executive director's performance are the president, president-elect and immediate past president. They gather information from members of the board of governors. In june, some combination of the president, president-elect and immediate past president conduct a performance review with the executive director. In september, the president recommends to the board of governors' budget and headquarters committee the salary and other compensation items for the executive director for the following calendar year. The budget and headquarters committee considers this recommendation and recommends a compensation package to the full board. Once the board decides on the executive director's compensation for the year, the president sets forth the details in a letter to the executive director at his/her home address. In determining the compensation of the executive director, the president and board must at least once every three years enagage an outside organization to conduct an executive compensation review for the executive director. Such review should compare the salary and total compensation of the osba executive director with competitive market data of non-profit membership organizations with operating budgets of a size similar to osba's. In 2014, osba contracted with a third party consultant to perform a comprehensive compensation study. The study included salaries from both for profit and non-profit entities. The process for determining the compensation of employees other than the executive director is as follows: each year, all supervising employees must hold an annual performance review with each employee who reports to them. Following the performance review, the supervisors make salary adjustment recommendations to their supervisors for each of his or her direct reports. The recommendation is based on 1) the performance of the employee, 2) the increase or decrease in the consumer price index as reported via the us government website, 3) current economic conditions in columbus, and, in the case of executive staff, the usa, 4) to the extent they are available and applicable, comparable salaries and other forms of compensation, 5) other factors as may be appropriate. The executive director and assistant executive directors review all of the salaries (except those of the assistant executive directors) and determine whether modifications are warranted at the september or november meeting of the osba board of governors. The executive director submits a budget request for the total dollars needed for compensation for the following calendar year.”

“The organization does not make its governing documents, conflicts of interest policy or financial statements available to the public. It makes its tax return available upon request.”

“The organization has a committee that oversees the audit of the financial statements and selects an independent accountant. The process by which the organization oversees the audit and selection of an independent accountant has not changed since the previous year.”