CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR BRANCH
Executive Committee, Branch Section and Committee Chair Position Descriptions
1. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE POSITIONS AVAILABLE FOR ELECTION
The Executive Committee consists of: the Branch President, Vice President, Treasurer, PastPresident, Secretary, Membership Chair, Young Lawyers Chair, Professional Development
Chair, Communications Chair and the Central, Western and Labrador Regional Chairs.
The President, Vice President, Treasurer and Past-President are the senior Executive
Committee members and shall be known as the Table Officers of the Branch.
Roles and Responsibilities:
Vice-President
 Assist the President in carrying out the administration of the Branch and act in the place
of the President during any absence or inability of the President to act;
 Attend the Annual Meeting (“CLC”) and the Mid-Winter Meetings of the Association on
behalf of the Branch;
 Promote Branch and Section activities in the province;
 Sit as a member of the Branch Professional Development Committee;
 Perform other duties as assigned.
The person occupying the office of Vice-President shall become President of the Branch in the
succeeding year. Any person wishing to serve as Vice-President shall have served as Treasurer
within the ten years prior to nomination.
Treasurer
 Monitors the budget, account, financial information and control systems for the Branch;
 Reports to Council at the Mid-Winter Meeting on the preceding years financial
statements;
 Presents the Branch budget at the Annual Meeting along with a report on the anticipated
revenue and expenses for the current fiscal year;
 Interprets and reports on financial conditions to the Executive Committee;
 Other financial duties as required.
Secretary
 Shall carry out the secretarial duties of the Branch, including taking minutes of Branch
Council and Executive Committee meetings;
 Conduct periodic reviews of the Branch Bylaws.
Professional Development Chair
 Coordinate and implement Professional Development programs, including those held in
conjunction with the Mid-Winter and Annual Meetings of the Branch.
Membership Chair
 Actively promote membership in the Branch and ensure that all members are aware of
services available through the Branch and the Association;
 Report on membership at the Annual Meeting of the Branch;
 Participate as the Branch representative on the National Membership Committee.
Communications Chair
 Shall serve as Editor of the Branch magazine Squid pro quo.
Young Lawyers Chair
 Shall represent the interests of young lawyers in the province;
 Report to the Executive Committee on programs or policy matters to be implemented in
the interests of young lawyers;
 Coordinate educational and social activities as may be appropriate in advancing the
interests or promoting collegiality among young lawyers in the province;
 Participate as the Branch representative on the National Young Lawyers Conference
Directorate;
 Sit as a member of the Branch Law Day Committee.
Central, Western and Labrador Regional Chairs
 Assist the President in carrying on the administration and activities of the Branch in their
geographic region.
 Coordinate activities of the Branch, along with luncheons, professional development
seminars or other meetings of the Branch in that region.
Any person wishing to serve as Western, Central or Labrador Regional Chairs must be resident
in the geographical region the position represents.
2. BRANCH SECTION CHAIRS
Roles and Responsibilities
The purpose of Canadian Bar Association Branch Sections:
 To respond to the needs of Branch members, facilitating wide participation and
involvement by Section members;
 To ensure members are kept up-to-date on current developments in the law and Section
activities;
 To submit recommendations for effective action that might be undertaken with regards to
legal issues and legislation;
 To stimulate and strengthen Section activity;
 To respond to proposed legislation in a timely and effective manner; and
 To promote equality in the legal profession and the Section.
Section Professional Development (PD) Luncheons (aka: “Lunch and Learns”)
Section Chairs are required to host a minimum of one Professional Development Luncheon per
year with presentations by persons of interest to the Section’s members. PD Luncheons are free
to all CBA members and are to take place at the Branch office.
Section Chairs are responsible for booking the speakers, formalizing the topic and providing the
speakers bio and session description to the Branch Executive Director for distribution to the
Section(s) membership.
Branch Section Chairs are encouraged to collaborate with other Sections to host PD Luncheons
of interest to various Branch Sections.
National Sections
All Branch Section Chairs will serve on their Sections National Committee as a representative
from this province. All Branch Section Chairs are strongly encouraged to actively participate in
their National Section, by way of participating in the Sections conference calls and in-person
National Section meetings as organized by the CBA National Office in Ottawa.
3. COMMITTEE CHAIR POSITIONS
Law Day Committee Chair
Leads the Branch Law Day Committee in planning Branch events is celebration of Law Day,
held in April of each year.
Pro Bono Committee Chair
Leads the Pro Bono Committee, supervises and assists in the delivery of the CBA-NL Pro Bono
Pilot Project.
4. BRANCH COMMITTEE VOLUNTEERS (NON-ELECTED)
We are also seeking members to sit on the following Committees (non-elected) for the 2014-15
year:
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Law Day Committee
Professional Development Committee
Pro Bono Committee
Squid pro quo Magazine Committee
Please email the Branch at [email protected] indicating your interest to sit on any of the above
committees during the 2015-16 CBA year (September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2016). A
nomination form is not required.