Time for a Report Card?

HALT, a legal consumer organization, does an annual review, state-by-state, of lawyer discipline. Here's how one state in the top 10 (with a grade of C) breaks down:

1. Fairness of Disciplinary Procedures - A
2. Publicity and Responsiveness - B
3. Openness of the Process - B
4. Promptness - C
5. Adequacy of Discipline Imposed - D
6. Public Participation - F
   

I wish we had a "consumer" group to review our disciplinary process for ministers. It would be in everyone's best interest if, for example, the Board set up a review panel and made this kind of analysis part of its mission. This could happen fairly soon. However, people like me have been waiting for over a year now and it's foolish to only continue to hope.

So meanwhile, what can we learn from HALT's report card? A lot, I'd say. Its sections are carefully delineated (with clear measurables) and germane to us. This would become a very long post if I went through each section and reflected on how we might apply it to our circumstances, so instead I will break it down and cover this in a series of posts over the next few weeks. I'll be sure to group them in a category called report card.