Washington Lawyer - June 2019 - 33

BAR BUSINESS

D.C. Bar Budget for 2019-2020

t its April 9, 2019, meeting, the D.C. Bar
Board of Governors approved a budget for
the Bar's fiscal year that begins July 1, 2019.
The Bar's strategic plan, "D.C. Bar 2020,"1 continues
to guide the development of the organization's
operating budget. In addition, for the first time in
22 years, the Board of Governors approved no
increase in Bar members' annual license fees.
By continuing to deliver better-than-budgeted
results from operations - surpluses for the past
two fiscal years and a forecasted surplus for the
current fiscal year - the Board has budgeted for
an increase in services and benefits to members
without having to raise their license fees.
The license fee for active members will remain
at $317,2 at $150 for judicial members, and at $194
for inactive members.
A conservative budget was presented to the
Board of Governors for review. The expenditure
budget for license fee-funded activities is
$34.4 million, a decrease of 0.2 percent over the
previous year. Leadership continues to provide
organizational and operational excellence by
utilizing the skills and expertise of staff, leveraging
technologies, and continuing to conduct
efficiency and effectiveness reviews of programs
and processes to provide long-term financial
sustainability and resiliency.
New in the 2019-2020 budget is a multiday
conference the D.C. Bar will be hosting to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's
suffrage in June 2020. The conference will feature
high-profile keynote speakers, accredited programming tracks, and evening receptions. In
accordance with the strategic plan, the conference will enhance member value by strengthening
the Bar's programming and networking offerings,
foster community and connections by attracting

members outside of the D.C. metro area, and
help the Bar lead within the profession by tackling
domestic and global issues affecting the legal
profession while setting the standard for bar
multiday conferences across the country. The
conference is expected to become one of the
Bar's cornerstone events to serve its global
membership.

FUNDING SOURCE

LICENSE
FEE-FUNDED
ACTIVITIES

Total

License
Fee

In-Kind 3

Active
Member
License
Fee

Inactive
Member
License
Fee

Judicial
Member
License
Fee

EXPENSES, BY DIVISION
Board on Professional
Responsibility

$9,482,506

$8,287,560

$1,194,946

$79.73

$48.80

$37.73

Executive Division

2,142,294

1,892,294

250,000

$18.21

$11.14

$8.61

Programs Division

4,880,658

$46.96

$28.74

$22.22

Information
Technology Division

5,211,947

$50.14

$30.69

$23.73

Operations Division4

12,667,062

12,438,402

228,660

$119.66

$73.22

$56.62

$34,384,467

$32,710,861

$1,673,606

$314.70

$192.59

$148.91

$238,935

$2.30

$1.41

$1.09

$34,623,402

$32,949,796

$317.00

$194.00

$150.00

Total Expenses
Funding of Reserves
Clients' Security Fund
TOTAL

NON-LICENSE
FEE-FUNDED
ACTIVITIES
Continuing Legal Education
Other

NOTES

Additional and supporting budget information
is summarized in the table below.

FY2019-2020 PROPOSED OPERATING BUDGET

Communities

1 The strategic plan can be viewed at dcbar.org,
keywords: strategic plan.

The budget also includes a transfer of funds to
the Clients' Security Fund. Expenses of the fund
are budgeted at $238,935.

TOTAL BUDGET

$1,673,606

Expense

Transfer

Surplus
(Deficit)

$1,733,500

($1,920,046)

($12,000)

($198,546)

2,604,650

(2,621,952)

(17,302)

498,382

(735,821)

(237,439)

$4,836,532

($5,277,819)

($12,000)

($453,287)

Revenue

2 The current dues ceiling approved by the D.C. Court
of Appeals for active members is $380.
3 "In-Kind" includes contributed legal services as well
as office space contributed by the D.C. Court of Appeals
for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Executive
Attorney's offices.
4 Operations expenses are reduced by the internal
service cost recovery.

JUNE 2019

WASHINGTON LAWYER 33

http://www.dcbar.org https://www.dcbar.org/

Washington Lawyer - June 2019

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