Request for Comment -- Legal Counsel proposal

Submitted by Justin on Tue, 2008-07-22 19:08
Patrick Anderson, President of the SCA, Inc., has published a request for comments on a proposed change to the SCA's Corporate Policies.

Mr. Anderson writes:

Due to a number of inquiries it became prudent to ask the Board to put the following out for comment as a proposed change to the Corporate Policies:
"No Officer, at any level of governance of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., save the President, has the authority to retain (even pro bono) legal counsel (attorney, barrister, solicitor, et al.) to represent the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc, without prior written authorization from the President".
The Directors request comments from the membership regarding this proposed revision no later than October 1st, 2008. Please send them to:
Corpora Revision
SCA Inc.
Box 360789
Milpitas CA, 95036
email: comments@sca.org

Patrick Anderson
President
Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
president@sca.org
952-412-4112

Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:

SCA Inc.
Box 360789
Milpitas, CA 95036

You may also email comments@lists.sca.org.

This announcement is an official informational release by the Society for Creative Anachronism , Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce this announcement in its entirety in newsletters, websites and electronic mailing lists.

SCA Legal Counsel Proposal

Submitted by hywela on Tue, 2008-07-22 22:35.
Where is this a problem? And how is it that it has become so large a problem that the President must make such a far-reaching judgment? Is this more of this "Let's correct the problem before we have one" attitude that's been demonstrated of late, or is this truly a situation worthy of concern?

Duchess Hywela frech ferch Wyddel, OP

I don't speak for the Board, but...

Submitted by Justin on Wed, 2008-07-23 13:36.
...I'm guessing that this is a problem because in many jurisdictions someone who has the status of "legal counsel" has broad power to act on behalf of the represented party. That power needs to be handed out with discretion and care.

I would think that common sense would tell any reasonable person that only the Board (or their designate) can appoint legal counsel, just as is the case with companies in the business world. But maybe there have been situations in the SCA where common sense wasn't so common. :-)

I'd encourage you to contact Patrick Anderson directly with your questions. I've corresponded with him on numerous occasions, and I've found him to be approachable and forthright in replies.

Justin