Entries filed under 'Legal Professional'

Rocking to Change

April 24, 2013 1:56 PM by Michael Ward

Posted 4/24/2013 by Maggie Bieniek

Last Thursday, I woke up with a river in front of my house. It was almost seventy degrees outside and my neighbor was barefoot and knee-deep in rain water trying to rescue his drowning car. It was just a matter of time before the weather changed to sunny with a massive temperature drop. What we can learn from Mother Nature is that change is constant and inevitable. We have to learn to roll with the punches.

 

In my case, the flooding forced me to stay home where I tackled my reading list. I started with Peter Bregman’s book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, which was provided to BLI attendees and staff over a month ago. After scanning some of the chapters, it is evident that the professional world is also very much like the weather. Every day, we deal with changes, uncertainties, and concerns about time. One minute everything is dry and sunny and the next there is a massive flood because of forgotten deadlines, a crashed network, or a dip in non-dues revenue. All of these more minor interruptions come amidst a crisis in the legal profession and constantly advancing technology. To combat the onslaught, we need to take action. In Bregman’s words, instead of not rocking the boat, we need to “Rock on”. What is your association doing to rock the change? Updating your membership model? Starting a new program? Investing in social media? We’d love to know. Email barservices@americanbar.org. 

 

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Questions to Make Meaning

January 24, 2013 10:06 AM by Michael Ward

Posted 1/24/2013 by Elizabeth Derrico

 

I looked up and it was the third week in January. How did it happen that we are careening headlong into the NABE-NCBP-NCBF Midyear Meetings with the Bar Leadership Institute following very soon after? No doubt about it, time got away from me as we kicked off 2013. You can see it in the paucity of blog posts and in the receipts to be filed. Time is our one non-renewable resource. Once we’ve spent it idly flipping through the latest celebrity gossip sheet or sitting in a meeting that goes nowhere, we can never get it back. It is true for our organizations as well.

 

Questions of strategy revolve around how we are spending our time. As many of our associations head into budget season, it is a good time to reflect on how we are aligning our mission, vision and values to serve our members and the profession. My colleague Julie Deacon, executive director of the Maine State Bar Association posted a link on her Facebook  page to these questions. They will help shape the next 49 weeks both for ourselves and for our organizations. How will you have a year that matters?

 

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In Defense of the Defenders

January 14, 2013 10:07 AM by Michael Ward

Posted 1/14/2013 by Tori Jo Wible (Guest Blogger)




All lawyer jokes aside, and I’ve heard them all, one of the things that makes me the proudest of our profession is lawyers protecting the rights of the most hated clients.  One of my heroes is John Adams, not just because of his position as a founding father, or because he looks a lot like Paul Giamatti, but because he defended the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre; a truly difficult position, even without a 24 hour a day news cycle.

 

In our society, pro bono counsel frequently take on unpopular clients, such as the lawyers representing detainees held in Guantanamo Bay.  However, the modern-day John Adamses are the public defenders.  The indigent criminal defendant is often an unlovable client.  The fundamental role of the defender is to ensure that the client’s rights are protected.  The three parts of the criminal justice system – the judiciary, the prosecution and the defense – must all do their jobs effectively for the system to work.  All too often, public defenders are overwhelmed with impossible caseloads, unmanageable timelines and dwindling budgets. 

 

What does any of this have to do with bar leaders?  Plenty. Bar associations can help courts avoid the breaking point. Find out how at the Indigent Defense Summit at the ABA Midyear in February. Buck Files, President of the State Bar of Texas and a criminal defense attorney, will be one of several high profile speakers discussing what bars can do to solve the crisis.

 

This year is the 50^th Anniversary of the landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. The promise of Gideon remains unfulfilled; come learn what you can do to help. The Summit runs all day Saturday, February 9, but the sessions most relevant to bar leaders are in the afternoon.  ABA President, Laurel Bellows has been invited to discuss how the private bar can help public defenders meet the promise of Gideon.

 

Tori Jo Wible is assistant staff counsel for the ABA's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants. Reach her at tori.wible@americanbar.org.

 

Posted in Bar Association Executive , Bar Associations , Bar Services, Division for , Legal Professional , Legal Services and Pro Bono | No comments yet »

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Are You Violet or Are You Martha Levinson?

January 7, 2013 3:04 PM by Jennifer Lewin

Posted 1/7/2013 by Jennifer Lewin

 

I confess to being one of the many who scheduled her evening around Downton Abbey last night. And besides witnessing Mary and Matthew’s wedding (finally) and enjoying a reunion with the ever-quotable Violet, I was struck most by the episode’s pull between tradition and change. Most of us spend a good bit of our work lives negotiating that tension. As I reflect on it, I spend most of mine tracking the innovative, and frankly I tend to give traditions pretty short shrift. Maybe it’s because we have just come through the holidays, but I realize I need to change that.

 

There are so many traditions our bars carry out that members continue to value. I think about the bar memorial services that honor attorneys who have passed. These are events local bars have held for decades, and they consistently rank at the top in member surveys. Or it’s the sometimes raucous bench-bar gatherings or the annual crawfish boils where lawyers and judges socialize and interact on equal footing. But what do we do when attendance starts to dwindle or members start to complain about the “old way” that an event is handled? How do we respond? Are we the intractable Violet? Do we want to burn it all down like Martha Levinson? Or are we taking the time to identify what’s valuable in our traditions and occasionally reinterpret them to make them more meaningful to ourselves, our members and our communities? My personal resolution for 2013 is to find a bit more of that middle ground.  

 

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Food from Thoughtfulness from the Bar

December 20, 2012 3:45 PM by Elizabeth Derrico

Posted 12/20/2012 by Elizabeth Derrico

 

My sister and I are texting back and forth about whether Christmas dinner should be beef tenderloin, duck or goose. For me the holidays are all about food. And that means numerous trips to the market for the forgotten olives that go into chicken stew for DBS holiday potluck or the cookie recipe requiring three teaspoons of cream of tartar when I only have two. However, the abundance and ease of running into Jewel or Kroger for that needed ingredient is not universal. An estimated 16 million kids are hungry along with 9 million seniors. During this season of giving, bar associations throughout the country are working to eradicate hunger in their communities.

 

For the Ohio State Bar Association board members and staff delivering food baskets through Neighbor to Neighbor Ministries was a way of honoring retiring executive director Denny Ramey in his hometown. Up in New Hampshire, the Women’s Bar Association put together baskets of holiday cheer with a local food pantry.

 

At the Boone County Bar Association (MO) and other bar associations, the price of admission to the holiday party is the donation of a non-perishable food item. The Iowa State Bar Association is serving as a drop-off location for the Iowa Food Bank and the VA Central Iowa Health Care System. The Genesee County Bar Association and Foundation host a community dinner complete with Santa and all the trimmings. Meanwhile, the Toledo Bar Association raised more than $11,000 with its annual food basket appeal. Not to leave out our furry friends who provide companionship and care, the Austin Bar’s Animal Welfare Committee is collecting pet supplies and pet food.

 

I know that over the next week or so there will be many more waits in the self-service checkout line because the list is never quite accurate and minds change at the last minute about the menu. During these stops I will join my bar colleagues and pick up a few extra items—particularly protein like peanut butter and tuna—to help feed the hungry in my community.

 

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