What is the Bar Community?
More than 2,000 bars serve the needs of lawyers and communities throughout the United States. This community includes:
- Geographically-based bars:
- The American Bar Association (voluntary)
- 32 mandatory state bars, 4 mandatory territory bars, and the mandatory D.C. Bar to which lawyers must belong in order to practice
- 24 voluntary state and 3 voluntary territory bars*
- More than 500 voluntary local (metropolitan and county) bars
- Approximately 40 mandatory judicial district bars to which lawyers must belong in order to practice (in North Carolina only)
- Practice specialty bars at the national, state, and local levels (voluntary)
- Racial and ethnic bars at the national, state, and local levels (voluntary)
- Women’s bars at the national, state, and local levels (voluntary)
- LGBTQ+ bars at the national, state, and local levels (voluntary)
- Other affinity bars (voluntary)
The vast majority of voluntary bars are IRS-designated 501(c)(6) organizations, though a few are 501(c)(3) organizations. Just under half of mandatory state bars are 501(c)(6) organizations. The remaining mandatory state bars identify themselves as government agencies, executive state agencies, judicial agencies, public corporations, instruments of the state supreme court, a public body corporate, or a political subdivision of the state supreme court.
Learn more about the types of bars.
View a list of state bars by type.
*Four states (California, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia have both a mandatory state bar and a voluntary state bar.