Candidate for Treasurer
Daniel F. Rinzel
Redmon, Peyton & Braswell LLP, Mount Vernon, Virginia
Email: dfrinzel@rpb-law.com
Platform Statement
I am honored to have been nominated for the position of State Bar Treasurer.
I have past experience as a member of the State Bar Board of Governors and Executive Committee, as well as many years of service with the Nonresident Lawyers Division Board.
The State Bar Treasurer serves on the Finance Committee, a committee which will face difficult decisions in the next two years. With fewer lawyers entering the profession, the State Bar, which has averaged 400 new members per year for the past 30 years, is now facing an absolute reduction in in dues paying members.
The reflexive response is to raise dues again, as was done three years ago. But such an increase may be self-defeating and actually further reduce the number of dues paying State Bar members. Consider the approximately 25 percent of our members who are nonresidents, many barred in more than one state and not required to remain as members of the State Bar in order to practice law.
The Finance Committee and the State Bar should consider additional sources of revenue, such as the recent proposal to offer bar certified paralegals the opportunity to become dues paying associate members of the State Bar. The Board of Governors should also seriously consider reduction of some programs to save money. I worked for the Federal Government for 25 years, so I know how difficult it is to eliminate a program once it has been established. But we need to consider that before raising dues.
Biography
I am currently employed as Counsel at the firm of Redmon, Peyton & Braswell, LLP in Alexandria, Virginia, where I have a general practice, including litigation, estate planning, and business consultation.
Prior to private practice, I worked at the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice and as Chief Counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the United States Senate.
I currently serve on the Wisconsin Law Foundation Board of Trustees and as a member of the board of the Nonresident Lawyers Division. I am a past president of the NRLD board.
I served on the Board of Governors from 2005-2008 and 2012-2016, and on the Executive Committee from 2006-2007 and 2015-2016. During my term as a member and as Chair of the BOG Policy Committee, our Committee reviewed more than 130 policy positions adopted by the BOG over many years, and recommended sunset, simplification or updating of many of them. Virtually all of the recommended changes were approved by the BOG. I also served as liaison to the Legislative Oversight Committee.
I am a native of Washington County, Wisconsin, a graduate of Marquette University and of the U.W. Law School.
