American Association for Justice

“Aaj education fund is covered by the bylaws of the american association for justice (aaj). 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, the chair of the budget committee, the chair of state delegates, the immediate past president, a member of the national association of trial lawyer executives, the chair of the president's council, a member from the women's caucus, a member from the minority caucus, a member of the new lawyers division, and the ceo of the association (without the right to vote.)”

“The fund's officers and board of governors are appointed by the board of governors of the american association for justice (aaj). The fund's officers and board consist of all of aaj's officers and board of governors - that is, the officers and board of aaj and the fund are identical.”

“The establishment of new sections, the abolition of sections and amalgamation of sections shall be by action of the board, with the approval of the membership, at the annual convention.”

“The fund's form 990 is reviewed by the cfo and coo of the american association for justice (aaj), as well as by the audit committee. A full copy is provided to the full board prior to filing.”

“Because the fund is a charitable fund of the american association for justice (aaj), being created by resolution of the aaj board of directors, the fund is covered by aaj's conflict of interest policy. Following is the procedure embodied in that policy: the governor or organizational manager shall reveal the potential conflict, in writing to the aaj president, unless the president is the governor in question, in which case it shall be disclosed to the aaj president elect. The written disclosure 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 by the president or president elect. In the event of any potential conflict of interest between the aaj/the fund 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 chief executive officer of the fund is an employee of the american association for justice (aaj). Their compensation process is as follows: 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, conflicts 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 cost/benefit other than periodic costs -80,083. Scholarship expenses 10,000.”

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