1. (1) The court shall appoint two attorney grievance committees for the First Judicial Department, each committee consisting of 21 members, all of whom shall be appointed by the court. Each grievance committee shall have the power to appoint its members to subcommittees. Each committee may act through its chairperson, vice-chairperson or subcommittee.
2. (2) The court shall appoint as members of the committees attorneys in good standing with the Bar of the State of New York and non-lawyers, who reside or have a principal place of business in the First Judicial Department. At least three members of each committee shall be non-lawyers. Appointment to a committee shall be for a term of three years, except members who have been appointed to complete unexpired terms, in which case such members may be reappointed for three years or shorter terms. A member who has served for two consecutive terms is not eligible for reappointment for at least one year following the expiration of the second term. Appointments to the committees may be made from lists of nominees submitted by the bar associations and by such other means which the court deems in the public interest.
3. (3) Each grievance committee shall have a chairperson and a vice-chairperson who shall be lawyer members appointed by the court. The chairperson and vice-chairperson shall serve in that capacity for a term of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment for not more than one additional term of three years.

4. (4) Committee members serving as special counsel as of September 30, 2016 shall be deemed attorney grievance committee members effective October 1, 2016 and shall thereafter continue to serve for one three-year term.

   (b) Meetings of the attorney grievance committees.

5. (1) Meetings. Each committee shall meet not less frequently than every other month. The committee chairperson shall preside at all meetings of the committee. An agenda for each meeting of the committee shall be prepared by or with the approval of the committee chairperson and distributed to each member.

6. (2) Quorum and manner of acting. Two-thirds of the membership of a grievance committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and all action shall require the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the members present.

   (c) Pro bono special counsel.

   Pro bono special counsel shall be volunteer attorneys appointed by the court for the purposes of assisting with the investigation of complaints and providing expert legal advice to the committees, chief attorney and legal staff. Upon initial determination by the chief attorney that a potential volunteer is qualified, the chief attorney shall submit the volunteer’s name to the chairperson of the committee, and upon approval by the chairperson, the chief attorney shall forward the volunteer’s name and descriptive information to the court, requesting the appointment of the volunteer attorney as special counsel. Pro bono special counsels shall be appointed for one-year terms.

(a) Attorney grievance committees.