(a) The members of the Board of Commissioners for each judicial circuit shall be elected by the members of the State Bar who maintain their principal office in such circuit; provided, however, that for the Tenth Circuit, each commissioner shall be elected by the lawyers who maintain their principal office in the portion of the circuit outside the Bessemer Cut-off electoral district and each commissioner for the Bessemer Cut-off electoral district shall be elected by the lawyers who maintain their principal office in that portion of the circuit inside the Bessemer Cut-off electoral district. Such election shall be by secret ballot, mailed or delivered to the State Bar headquarters by a date established by the Board of Commissioners. Nothing contained in this article shall prohibit the election of the president of the State Bar as provided in this chapter, who shall be a bona fide resident of any judicial circuit of this state and who shall be ex officio president of the Board of Commissioners in case he or she is not already a member of said board. If hereafter additional judicial circuits are constituted, each such additional circuit shall be entitled to a commissioner or commissioners on said board, as provided by Section 34-3-40. There shall be an annual election for the purpose of selecting successors to the commissioners whose terms expire.
The board shall prescribe rules and regulations in regard to such annual elections and establishment of additional commissioner positions as required, not in conflict with the provisions of this article. The board shall, in accordance with its rules, give at least 60 days' notice of the time for holding the election each year. Such annual election shall be held on the first Tuesday in June of each year and continue for one week. The term of each commissioner shall be three years from July first following his or her election, except initial terms prescribed by the Board of Commissioners pursuant to subdivision (b)(2) of this section.
(b)(1) The Board of Commissioners shall identify annually the circuits entitled to more than one commissioner based upon the principal location of bar members' offices as of March 1. In such circuits the original commissioner shall be identified as "Commissioner No. 1" and each additional commissioner shall be designated in sequential numbers.
(2) The Board of Commissioners shall establish initial terms for new commissioners so that, to the extent possible, the terms of the commissioners for a particular circuit will not expire simultaneously. To accomplish this the Board of Commissioners may designate the initial term of any new commissioner position for one year, two years, or three years. Regardless of the length of the initial term, subsequent terms of that commissioner's position shall be three years.
(3) No person shall serve more than three consecutive terms as a commissioner.
(4) The number of lawyers per circuit shall be determined by the number of members whose principal office is within a circuit. In determining the number of commissioners for the Tenth Judicial Circuit, members maintaining their principal office in the electoral district known as the "Bessemer Cut-off" district shall not be included in this district for determining additional commissioners for the Tenth Circuit.
(5) In order to ensure that, to the extent possible, the membership of the Board of Commissioners reflects the racial, ethnic, gender, and age diversity, as well as the geographical diversity, of the membership of the Alabama State Bar, there shall be, in addition to the election of members of the Board of Commissioners as provided in subsection (a), nine at-large members of the Board of Commissioners who shall be selected by a majority vote of the members of the board from nominations submitted to the board by members of the Alabama State Bar, by associations of lawyers, or by sections of the Alabama State Bar, pursuant to such rules and procedures as may be prescribed by the Board of Commissioners. In selecting the nine at-large members of the board, the Board of Commissioners shall seek to ensure, to the extent possible, that the Board of Commissioners reflects the racial, ethnic, gender, and age diversity, as well as the geographic diversity, of the membership of the Alabama State Bar. The term of office of each at-large commissioner shall be the same as that provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection, provided that, for the year 2005, three at-large members shall be selected for terms of one year each, three at-large members shall be selected for terms of two years each, and three at-large members shall be selected for terms of three years each. All subsequent terms of the at-large members of the Board of Commissioners shall be for terms of three years.