I'm in Chicago today to give a couple of workshops on risk management for bar association leaders at the 2011 ABA Bar Leadership Institute.  Here's the agenda:

• Legal Duties of the Board
• Directors' Exposure to Liability
• Delegation of Authority
• Contracts
• Unhappy Employees
• Social Media

Here's an excerpt of part of my planned discussion on meeting a director's duties:

• Attendance is a typical issue.  What is expected?  What is required?  Do your bylaws have low quorum requirements; below a majority of the directors in office; what message does that send?  Do your bylaws have an automatic removal provision for a certain number of consecutive missed meetings?  This may be easier to manage than a removal requiring an affirmative vote of the board. 
• Reviewing financials.  Is your board adequately monitoring the financial health of the organization and performance-to-budget?  If the board is not providing sufficient oversight and the association becomes insolvent, the directors may have some exposure.
• Reviewing non-financial performance.  How well is the association furthering its stated mission?  How do you measure this?  
• Monitoring legal compliance.  What policies do you have in place? 

You can Download Risk Management for Bar Leaders (pdf handout) and  Download BLI (Keynote presentation).