§ 84-17. Government.
§ 84‑17. Government.
The government of the NorthCarolina State Bar is vested in a council of the North Carolina State Barreferred to in this Chapter as the "Council." The Council shall becomposed of a variable number of councilors equal to the number of judicialdistricts plus 16, the officers of the North Carolina State Bar, who shall becouncilors during their respective terms of office, and each retiring presidentof the North Carolina State Bar who shall be a councilor for one year from thedate of expiration of his term as president. Notwithstanding any otherprovisions of the law, the North Carolina State Bar may borrow money and mayacquire, hold, rent, encumber, alienate, lease, and otherwise deal with real orpersonal property in the same manner as any private person or corporation,subject only to the approval of the Governor and the Council of State as to theborrowing of money and the acquisition, rental, encumbering, leasing and saleof real property. The Council shall be competent to exercise the entire powersof the North Carolina State Bar in respect of the interpretation andadministration of this Article, the borrowing of money, the acquisition, lease,sale, or mortgage of property, real or personal, the seeking of amendments tothis Chapter, and all other matters. There shall be one councilor from eachjudicial district and 16 additional councilors. The additional councilors shallbe allocated and reallocated by the North Carolina State Bar every six yearsbased on the number of active members of each judicial district bar accordingto the records of the North Carolina State Bar and in accordance with a formulato be adopted by the North Carolina State Bar, to insure an allocation based onlawyer population of each judicial district bar as it relates to the totalnumber of active members of the State Bar.
A councilor whose seat hasbeen eliminated due to a reallocation shall continue to serve on the Counciluntil expiration of the remainder of the current term. A councilor whosejudicial district is altered by the General Assembly during the councilor'sterm shall continue to serve on the Council until the expiration of the termand shall represent the district wherein the councilor resides or with whichthe councilor has elected to be affiliated. If before the alteration of thejudicial district of the councilor the judicial district included both theplace of residence and the place of practice of the councilor, and if after thealteration of the judicial district the councilor's place of residence andplace of practice are located in different districts, the councilor must, notlater than 10 days from the effective date of the alteration of the district,notify the Secretary of the North Carolina State Bar of an election toaffiliate with and represent either the councilor's district of residence ordistrict of practice.
In addition to the councilors,there shall be three public members not licensed to practice law in this or anyother state who shall be appointed by the Governor. The public members may voteand participate in all matters before the Council to the same extent ascouncilors elected or appointed from the various judicial districts. (1933, c. 210, s. 3; 1937,c. 51, s. 1; 1955, c. 651, s. 1; 1961, c. 641; 1973, c. 1152, s. 2; 1977, c.841, s. 2; 1979, c. 570, ss. 1, 2; 1981, c. 788, s. 3; 1985, c. 60, s. 1; 1987,c. 316, s. 1; 1995, c. 431, s. 9; 2007‑200, s. 2; 2009‑82, s. 1.)