Conflict of Interest Statement for ALA, Council, Joint, and ALA-APA Committee Service

Conflict of Interest: a term, the legal significance of which is confined to representation of the interest, as where a real estate broker is representing both buyer and seller, and an attorney of law attempts to act for his client and for one whose interest is adverse to or conflicting with that of his client in the same general matter. (Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, 3rd ed., p.246)

The ethical and moral attributes and the requisites of qualification for positions as members of a committee are integrity, independence in judgment, courage, conscientiousness, and a good faith. Such general attributes coincide with the specific criteria inherent in the nature of a fiduciary relationship.

Members of ALA, Council, Joint, and ALA Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) committees may not use their relation to the Associations for their own personal gain. Full disclosure by a member of any potential conflict between his or her personal interest and the interests of the Associations is required by the standard of good faith. Likewise, committee members are not privileged to use their position as a committee member or inside information for their own personal advantage or fail to disclose relevant information or misrepresent facts to the ALA’s or the ALA-APA's members.

In order to ensure that any conflict of interest on the part of any member of the ALA, Council, Joint, and ALA-APA committees shall be made a matter of record, the following statement shall serve as a guide to committee members in reporting conflict of interest.

When any such interest becomes relevant to any subject requiring action …, the member having a conflict shall call it to the attention of the committee, and the committee member shall not vote [or participate in debate] on the subject which the has a conflict of interest, shall not use personal influence, and in those cases where the quorum of the meeting called for the purpose of voting on the subject has not yet been established, the committee member shall not be counted.

If excluded from voting because of a conflict of interest, a committee member will be required to briefly state the nature of the conflict and may be requested to answer pertinent questions of other committee members when that committee member’s knowledge of the subject will assist the committee. The committee may request that a committee member thus excluded from voting on a subject leave the meeting temporarily while the subject is debated and voted upon.

The minutes of the meeting shall reflect that a disclosure was made, that the committee member who stated the conflict of interest did abstain from debate and voting, and, in those cases where the quorum was not already established, that the committee member was not counted in determining the quorum.

In addition, if any committee member, who by reason of his or her institutional affiliation or any other pertinent matter, anticipates that in the future certain issues to be placed before the committee may place him or her in a position of conflict of interest, the committee member shall disclose such conflict in writing to the committee and make it a matter of record.

SOURCES:

George G. Bogert, Trusts and Trustees. St. Paul, MN: West, 1978, pp. 471-510.

M.S. Nicholson, Duties and Liabilities of Corporate Officers and Directors. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972, pp. 182ff.