1977, March, Pg. 464. CBA Reports.

6 Colo.Law. 464

Colorado Lawyer

1977.

1977, March, Pg. 464.

CBA Reports

464Vol. 6, No. 3, Pg. 464CBA ReportsFederal Judge's Selection Plan Sent To Senators And President

Summaries of the Board of Governors and Executive Council meetings, January 28, 29, 1977.A selection plan for Federal judges providing for a merit screening commission similar to that used for Colorado state judges was approved by the board of governors at its mid-winter meeting in Denver on Saturday, January 29, 1977, and forwarded for consideration to the President, Colorado's U.S. Senators, other members of the Colorado congressional delegation, and the officers of national and state bar associations. (The resolution and full text of the plan follow these meeting reports.)

Parenthetically, the board also authorized the president to contact the Colorado delegation in support of the salary increases for Federal judges proposed by both the Ford and Carter administrations.

Another landmark decision of the board on January 29th was the approval of the Colorado rules of evidence with only minor amendments to the draft submitted by the evidence code review committee last September, and summarized in The Colorado Lawyer, Vol. 5 (Dec. 1976), p. 1808. After making the minor changes, Committee Chairman Francis Jamison was directed to forward the rules to the Supreme Court for consideration of this monumental three-year job "codifying" the Colorado rules of evidence for the first time, and, where not in conflict with Colorado statutory or decisional law, tailoring them after the recently enacted Federal code.

Legislation Given Bar Support By the Board1. A proposal of the judicial department based on caseload for seven additional district judges, one each in the 1st, 2nd, 11th, 17th, 18th, 20th and 21st districts, and one additional county judge in Adams, El Paso, Jefferson, and Larimer Counties.

  1. A bill increasing jurors' and witnesses' fees to $10 per day.

  2. A bill permitting acceptance of a 10 percent cash bail bond in criminal proceedings.

  3. A requested appropriation of $465,109 as state matching funds to support the various legal aid projects throughout the state.

  4. An amendment to S.B. 100, which is a proposal of the state inheritance tax division itself for certain technical procedural changes, the amendment recommended by the probate section providing that in unsupervised estates the notice of assessment filed in the probate court not contain the detail of estate assets.

  5. Changes in the disclaimer of succession---nontestamentary instruments act 15-1-901, 902, 906 and 15-11-802(2), subject to the working out of differences or adjustments requested by the real estate section.

    While not endorsing specific legislation as yet, the board also approved the general concept of grand jury reform as proposed by the Pueblo County Bar Association and outlined in a report of the ABA section on criminal justice, and directed that the criminal law section work with other interested groups in drafting acceptable legislation.

    Another possible future legislative matter was the work of the special ad hoc committee on "right to die" legislation, which, in view of the recent defeat of a similar measure in the General Assembly, was asked to continue its study of the problem, including making contact with and seeking input from medical societies, hospital administrators, and other groups with diverse theological and ethical viewpoints.

    Other Board Actions1. Authorized continued support of Prepaid Legal Services of Colorado for another year at an amount not to exceed $2,500 per month.

  6. Approved a change in the name of the former negligence law section to the litigation section, and on its recommendation passed the following resolution:

    RESOLVED, that the board of governors of the Colorado Bar Association supports the American Bar Association resolution suggesting amendment of Rule 47 (a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require the court to permit the parties or their attorneys to conduct oral examination of prospective jurors. The board of governors of the Colorado Bar Association expresses its preference, however, for the system presently in effect in the state courts in Colorado, under which the court first conducts an oral examination of the jurors, after which the parties or their counsel have the right to ask the prospective jurors additional questions.

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