Washington Lawyer - June 2020 - 11

BAR BUSINESS

D.C. BAR BUDGET FOR 2020-2021

t its April 14, 2020, meeting, the D.C. Bar
Board of Governors approved a budget for
the Bar's fiscal year that begins July 1, 2020.
The Bar's strategic plan, "D.C. Bar 2020,"1 continues to guide the development of the organization's operating budget until its new
strategic plan for 2020-2025 is implemented.
Bar leadership has delivered better-thanbudgeted results from operations - surpluses
for the past three fiscal years and a forecasted
surplus for the current fiscal year. This achievement reflects leadership's efforts to utilize the
skills and expertise of staff, leverage technologies, and continue conducting efficiency
reviews of programs and processes to provide
long-term financial sustainability and resiliency.

For the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Board has
budgeted for a modest expenditure increase to
keep up with market conditions while continuing to provide Bar members with a superior
level of support as well as outstanding programming and services during these uncertain
times. The budget for 2020-2021 is flexible in
the event that conditions change. The Bar's
leadership, volunteers, and staff are prepared to
adjust programming and spending as needed
to ensure compliance with the budget and the
most efficient use of license fee dollars.
The license fee for active members will be
$322,2 which reflects a 1.58 percent increase
over the past year, and $199 for inactive

members, up from $194. The Bar will not raise
the $150 license fee for judicial members.
The expenditure budget for license feefunded activities is $35.7 million, an increase
of 3.9 percent over the previous year. The

budget includes the biennial Judicial and Bar
Conference as well as a transfer of $238,000
to the Clients' Security Fund.
Additional and supporting budget information
is summarized in the table below.

FY2020-2021 PROPOSED OPERATING BUDGET
FUNDING SOURCE

LICENSE
FEE-FUNDED
ACTIVITIES

Total

License
Fee

In-Kind 3

Active
Member
License
Fee

Inactive
Member
License
Fee

Judicial
Member
License
Fee

$81.39

$50.30

$37.91

EXPENSES, BY DIVISION
Board on Professional
Responsibility

$9,890,290

$8,665,627

$1,224,663

Executive Division

2,139,831

1,889,831

250,000

$17.75

$10.97

$8.27

Programs Division

5,041,450

$47.35

$29.26

$22.06

Information
Technology Division

5,262,049

$49.42

$30.54

$23.02

Operations Division4
Total Expenses

13,391,851

13,163,251

228,600

$123.62

$76.40

$57.59

$35,725,471

$34,022,208

$1,703,263

$319.53

$197.47

$148.85

$25,000

$0.23

$0.15

$0.11

$238,000

$2.24

$1.38

$1.04

$35,988,471

$34,285,208

$322.00

$199.00

$150.00

Investment Advisory
Fees
Funding of Reserves
Clients' Security Fund
TOTAL

$1,703,263

NOTES
1 The strategic plan can be viewed at dcbar.org/about-thebar/strategic-plan.
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.

NON-LICENSE
FEE-FUNDED
ACTIVITIES
Communities
Continuing Legal Education
Other
TOTAL BUDGET

Expense

Surplus
(Deficit)

$1,856,680

$1,898,098

($41,418)

2,300,880

2,297,261

3,619

612,435

270,588

341,847

$4,769,995

$4,465,947

$304,048

Revenue

JUNE 2020

WASHINGTON LAWYER

http://www.dcbar.org/about-the-bar/strategic-plan http://www.dcbar.org/about-the-bar/strategic-plan

Washington Lawyer - June 2020

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