Parliamentary Law & Procedure
Professional Parliamentarian Services Nationwide
Law Firm Carolinas provides professional parliamentarian services for associations, governing boards, nonprofit organizations, unions, religious organizations, public bodies, and conventions across the country. We help organizations prepare for meetings, apply their governing rules, protect members’ rights, and conduct business effectively.
Our work includes advice to presiding officers, board and membership meetings, large multiday conventions, parliamentary opinions, Bylaws revision, elections, meeting rules, and training. We assist with in-person, virtual, and hybrid meetings, including those involving complex or contentious issues.
Law Firm Carolinas is the only law firm in the United States with two parliamentarians who are Fellows of the American College of Parliamentary Lawyers. Jim Slaughter and Carole Albright are both attorneys and Professional Registered Parliamentarians. Jim is also a Certified Professional Parliamentarian-Teacher and a past President of the College. Carole serves as an officer of the College.
Jim has authored four books on association meeting procedure, including Robert’s Rules of Order Fast Track and Notes and Comments on Robert’s Rules, Fifth Edition. Together, Jim and Carole bring legal training and practical meeting experience to organizations facing procedural and governance questions.
Contact Our Parliamentary Law & Procedure Team
Contact Law Firm Carolinas to inquire about meeting assistance, parliamentary advice, Bylaws review, professional presiding, or training. Please include the organization’s name, the services needed, meeting dates, location or meeting format, and any approaching deadlines.
Free charts, articles, and practical guides on Robert’s Rules of Order and meeting procedure are available at jimslaughter.com.
Our professional parliamentarians advise presiding officers, boards, and governing bodies before and during meetings. We help leadership prepare for the business ahead and address procedural questions as they arise.
Before a meeting, we review agendas, proposed motions, governing documents, meeting rules, and scripts. We help identify sensitive issues, prepare appropriate procedural language, and consider how matters should be presented and decided.
During meetings, we provide real-time advice to the presiding officer on motions, debate, voting, points of order, and other procedural questions. Our card system supplies suggested wording the chair can use immediately while conducting the meeting.
Our guidance focuses on applying the organization’s rules consistently, protecting members’ rights, and helping the body complete its business fairly and efficiently.
National conventions and large membership meetings require advance planning and coordination among officers, staff, committees, and delegates. Our professional parliamentarians help organizations prepare procedures that support an orderly and effective meeting.
We assist with convention rules, agendas, scripts, proposed amendments, elections, credentials procedures, and delegate training. For virtual and hybrid meetings, we help address procedural questions involving participation, recognition, debate, and voting.
Our firm’s parliamentary practice also supports continuity between meetings. We can maintain familiarity with an organization’s governing documents, prior decisions, and recurring procedural issues.
For significant meetings, we discuss staffing and contingency arrangements in advance. Having two credentialed attorney parliamentarians provides additional options for preparation, consultation, and coverage, subject to availability.
Organizations sometimes need a written opinion about a procedural question, disputed interpretation, or proposed action. Our attorneys and professional parliamentarians review the relevant governing documents, applicable legal requirements, and the organization’s parliamentary authority.
Questions may involve meeting notices, quorum, voting requirements, elections, proxies, credentials, motions, officer authority, or the validity of prior actions. We explain the applicable rules and identify practical steps for addressing the issue.
We also assist with Bylaws review and revision. Our work includes identifying unclear or conflicting provisions, preparing amendments, and helping organizations plan the process for considering and adopting changes.
Our advice is tailored to the organization’s governing documents and circumstances, whether it follows Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised or another parliamentary authority.
Some meetings benefit from an independent professional presider, particularly when the agenda is complex, relationships are strained, or the organization expects significant procedural disputes.
When authorized under the organization’s rules, our professional presiders conduct meetings, recognize speakers, state motions, manage debate, and announce voting results. We prepare by reviewing the governing documents, agenda, meeting rules, and anticipated issues.
The presider’s role is to apply the rules fairly and help the organization conduct its business. Members retain responsibility for debating issues and making decisions.
We also help organizations consider whether they need a professional presider or a parliamentarian who advises their existing chair.
Our workshops help officers, directors, staff, delegates, and members understand parliamentary procedure and use it effectively. Programs emphasize practical skills, clear explanations, and examples suited to the audience.
Topics include preparing agendas, handling motions, managing debate, conducting votes, addressing points of order, and understanding the respective roles of officers, boards, and members. We also provide training for convention delegates and leaders preparing for difficult meetings.
Programs can focus on parliamentary essentials, advanced procedural questions, or the organization’s own Bylaws and meeting rules. We tailor instruction to the applicable parliamentary authority, including Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised.
Training is available as a separate program or as part of preparation for an upcoming board meeting, annual meeting, or convention.
Parliamentary questions often overlap with legal and governance concerns. An election dispute, proposed Bylaws amendment, or question about board authority may require consideration of several sources of authority.
Our attorney parliamentarians consider the organization’s governing documents, applicable law, and adopted parliamentary authority together. We help clients distinguish procedural questions from matters that may require additional legal advice.
We also work with an organization’s existing legal counsel, staff, and leadership. The scope of our role is established for each engagement, whether it involves meeting procedure, legal advice, professional presiding, or training.
This combination of legal and parliamentary experience helps organizations address immediate meeting questions while considering the broader effect on their governance and operations.
