the beginning of the program. The next is an open forum. I think the chairman would be very pleased to have the various members of the Judicial Section bring up any matters for discussion that have come to their attention since the last meeting. (No response to this suggestion) Judge Fletcher: If there is nothing to bring up for discussion I move that the meeting adjourn. Judge Thomas B. Robertson: I second the motion. Judge Fletcher: Before putting the motion to adjourn we should proceed to the election of officers for the ensuing year. Under the by-laws of the Virginia State Bar Association you are entitled to the election of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Secretary, and I appoint a Committee consisting of Judge Halsey, Judge Robertson and Judge Westcott to retire and decide upon nominations for officers for the ensuing year. The Committee, after considering the matter, reported that as they could not make any improvement the same officers for the forthcoming year were recommended, and thereupon the Section unanimously elected, as Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary, respectively, Judge Robert R. Prentis, Judge George Latham Fletcher and Judge Frank T. Sutton, Jr. PROCEEDINGS OF Convention of the Bar of Virginia HELD AT THE CAVALIER, VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA Mr. R. Gray Williams, President of the Virginia State Bar Association, called the Convention to order at 10:30 o'clock A. M. and said: Gentlemen: While the Virginia State Bar Association inspires this convention of delegates as the result of the address of Mr. Tunstall while President, we do not officially hold the Convention. The Chairman of the Committee on Organization of the Bar will probably take charge and ask for nominations for officers and so on. Mr. C. M. Chichester, of Richmond, moved that the courtesies of the floor be extended to Mr. Henry C. Coke, of Dallas, Texas, and to Mr. Fitzgerald Hall, General Counsel L. & N. Railway Company, of Nashville, Tenn., which was seconded and adopted. Mr. Williams: I now turn the meeting over to Mr. Robert B. Tunstall, Chairman of the Committee on Organization of the Bar, and the Virginia State Bar Association disappears from the picture for to-day. Mr. Robert B. Tunstall, of Richmond, Chairman: Ladies and gentlemen: I think that possibly, in calling this meeting. to order, it might be desirable, for the benefit of some members who may not be entirely familiar with what has taken place, to state the circumstances under which we are assembled. This Convention is the result of a resolution adopted by the Virginia State Bar Association at its last annual meeting, when this subject of the organization of the bar was brought before it and quite extensively debated. It was felt by the members of the Association that they should not undertake to pass upon a question of such importance without doing their utmost to secure the most representative gathering of Virginia lawyers which it would be possible to get together. Accordingly, the Committee of Ten which had been considering the matter was requested to cause to be assembled a convention of the bar of Virginia. The Committee met, rather without chart or compass. There had never been a convention of the bar of Virginia; there was no prescription as to the basis of representation; there were no rules by which the Committee was to be governed. I think I can at least claim for the Committee that they were animated by the single purpose of securing the fairest possible arrangements for the convention which could be secured. The first question, of course, was that of the basis of representation, and they adopted as the rule, which I suppose all of you know, that there should be a representation of three delegates from each judicial circuit and, in addition, one delegate for each twenty-five members or fraction of twenty-five members of the bar residing in the circuit over and above the first twenty-five. It is obvious that, so far as that basis of representation could be said to favor anybody, it favored the small bar. For example, a bar with only twenty-five members with three delegates had approximately one delegate for each eight members; if there were fifty members, there would be one delegate for each twelve members. In case of a large bar, as in Richmond or Norfolk, the representation is roughly one delegate to every twenty-two or twenty-three lawyers. We felt that that was fair, that the larger city bars should not be allowed representation on a strictly numerical basis; because this matter is not a matter of appropriating money; it is a matter of taking counsel on whether this is a good thing for the bar of Virginia. So we felt that the basis of representation which was adopted was fair, and I have heard no criticism of it. The Convention, of course, will adopt its own rules and its own method of organization. I think I would like to add this before calling for nominations for permanent officers. One of the subjects that was referred to the Committee was the duty of making further study of the bar act in the light of various criticisms that have been made. That duty the Committee has, to the best of its ability, performed, and they have considered a number of amendments suggested by the Committee and suggested by others. Those of you who were here yesterday will recall that the Committee extended an invitation to all the delegates or alternates present to meet with the Committee yesterday afternoon and offer any amendments, for the purpose of improving the bill, that might be suggested. Some were offered. The meeting was not as numerously attended as we could wish. The amendments recommended by the Committee have been distributed and are in your possession. Now I am not going to do anything but state for your consideration what the amendments are; I am not going to take any time in speaking of the merits of them. The first amendment, which is in Section 6, has this purpose only: The bill originally provided for a compensation of ten dollars a day for the members of the Council for their attendance at meetings. There was some question whether those words were broad enough to cover attendance at committee meetings. The effect of the amendment is that a member of the Council is given the same compensation for his attendance at committee meetings as for attendance at meetings of the Council itself. The amendments numbered 2 all relate to Section 9. The first two substitute for "Council" "The Virginia State Bar." That is the section which deals with the powers proposed to be vested in the organization, and instead of vesting them in the Council, they are vested in The Virginia State Bar. That was |