Nominating Petition

OFFICERS

Chairperson-Elect

• Qualifications: Any member of the division having previously served for at least one year on the OBA/YLD Board of Directors.
• Term: One-year term (Jan.- Dec. 2010) The chairperson-elect automatically becomes the chairperson of the division for 2011.

Treasurer

• Qualifications: Any member of the OBA/YLD Board of Directors may be elected by the membership of the division to serve in this office.
• Term: One-year term (Jan.- Dec. 2010)

Secretary

• Qualifications: Any member of the OBA/YLD Board of Directors may be elected by the membership of the division to serve in this office.
• Term: One-year term (Jan.- Dec. 2010)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS — TWO-YEAR VACANCIES

The following directorships are open for election for a two-year term from January 2010 to December 2011.

Vacancies will be in:

• District No. 2: Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Haskell, Johnson, Latimer, LeFlore, McCurtain, McIntosh, Marshall, Pittsburg, Pushmataha and Sequoyah counties
• District No. 3: (two seats) Oklahoma County
• District No. 4: Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cimarron, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Harper, Kingfisher, Major, Roger Mills, Texas, Washita, Woods and Woodward counties
• District No. 6: Tulsa County
• District No. 8: Coal, Hughes, Lincoln, Logan, Noble, Okfuskee, Payne, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties
• At-Large: (three seats)
• At-Large Rural: (one seat) Any county other than Tulsa County or Oklahoma Count

NOMINATING PROCEDURE

Article 5 of the division bylaws requires that any eligible member wishing to run for office must submit a nominating petition to the Nominating Committee. The petition must be signed by at least 10 members of the OBA/YLD. The original petition must be submitted by the deadline set by the Nominating Committee chairperson. A separate petition must be filed for each opening, except that a petition for a directorship shall be valid for one year and two year terms and at large positions. A person must be eligible for division membership for the entire term for which elected.

ELIGIBILITY

All OBA members in good standing who were admitted to the practice of law 10 years ago or less are members of the OBA/YLD.

Membership is automatic – If you were first admitted to the practice of law in 1999 or later, you are a member of the OBA/YLD!

ELECTION PROCEDURE

Article 5 of the division bylaws govern the election procedure. In October, a list of all eligible candidates and ballots will be published in the OBJ. Deadlines for voting will be published with the ballots. All members of the division may vote for officers and at-large directorships. Only those members with OBA roster addresses within a subject judicial district may vote for that district’s director. The members of the Nominating Committee shall only vote in the event of a tie. Please see OBA/YLD bylaws for additional information.

DEADLINE

Nominating petitions, accompanied by a photograph and brief resume (in electronic form) for publication in the OBJ, must be received by the Nominating Committee chairperson no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, at the following address:

Kimberly Warren
Nominating Committee Chairperson
531 Couch Drive, Ste 200
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(405) 218-4735
Fax: (405) 235-0042
e-mail: kwarren(at)coleandreed.com

TIPS FROM THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON

• The OBA Web site has a sample nominating petition to give you an idea of format and information required by OBA Bylaws (one is also available from the nominating committee)
• Signatures on the nominating petitions do not have to be from young lawyers in your own district (the restriction on districts only applies to voting)
• Take your petition to local county bar meetings or to the courthouse and introduce yourself to other young lawyers while asking them to sign – it’s a good way to start networking
• You can have more than one petition for the same position and add the total number of original signatures – if you live in a rural area, you may want to fax or e-mail petitions to colleagues and have them return the petitions with original signatures by snail mail
• Don’t wait until the last minute – I will only accept faxes or e-mails of the petitions IF the original petitions are postmarked by the deadline
• Membership eligibility extends to Dec. 31 of any year which you are eligible
• Membership eligibility starts from the date of your first admission to the practice of law, even if outside of the state of Oklahoma
• All candidates’ photographs and brief biographical data are required to be published in the OBJ. All biographical data must be submitted by e-mail or on a disk, NO EXCEPTIONS. Petitions submitted without a photograph and/or brief resume are subject to being disqualified at the discretion of the Nominating Committee