Chairman’s Message

FRED ROWBOTHAM
Chairman

Regardless of the position we occupy, be it with PORAC or our own local association, we should continuously strive to improve it and leave the members we serve better off for having allowed us to fill that role. I have done my best to employ this thinking as we take an important next step in fully implementing the modernization program that the LDF Board of Trustees has set out on.

Over the last couple of years, your LDF trustees have sought out and engaged the foremost experts in the field of attorney billing and oversight. The people and firms we have hired truly are the subject-matter experts (SMEs) in their fields. These SMEs have developed the industry best practices and fine-tuned them for our purposes.

These best practices are now fully incorporated into the PORAC Legal Defense Fund’s day-to-day business and how we will interact with all our vendors going forward. We have implemented a new Panel Attorney Contract that clearly spells out the nature of the relationship between the vendor and LDF. It also distinctly sets LDF’s expectations and the ramifications should anyone fall short of those expectations.

Along with the new Panel Attorney Contract, each attorney is required to read, understand and agree to a clear set of Panel Attorney Engagement Rules and a Panel Attorney Code of Conduct dictating how LDF and the vendors will interact, as well as how the attorneys will interact with LDF members, participants and one another. Never will an attorney who works for you be in a position to say that they weren’t notified in advance that it was not an acceptable practice to double- or even triple-bill PORAC members.

The Attorney Code of Conduct also clearly describes prohibitions against panel firm involvement in the election of LDF trustees. The firms are prohibited from directly or indirectly endorsing or promoting a candidate for trustee by way of funding a campaign, providing intellectual property (i.e., association leadership contact information) or suggesting and encouraging associations to vote for a particular candidate. I plan to take this language to the next PORAC Executive Board meeting and encourage them to adopt it as well for the elections of PORAC officers.

I encourage everyone to register for and attend the upcoming PORAC Conference. Many of our fine LDF panel attorneys have spent countless hours putting together fantastic training that, regardless of your background and level of knowledge, you will find interesting and beneficial. I hope to see you there!