ABA Section
ABA Section
DONNIE MURRELL
For the past twenty years it has been my honor to represent the Palm Beach County Bar Association in the American Bar Association ’ s House of Delegates . Twice a year I traveled to cities across the United States and Canada to participate in the business of the House . Twice a year I would write reports about those meetings . Some of my reports read more like travelogues than reports of Bar activities . I usually resorted to that when there was simply little of substance to report on . Some of the cities we visited were great and some were not so great . Or we were there at the wrong time of the year ( winter in Chicago and Philadelphia are two examples .) There is just no good time to visit Dallas . My term in the House expired this year . The purpose of this final report is provide my perspective on the ABA . Because the ABA prides itself on being the Voice of the Legal Profession , it is an organization of monstrous size and scope . The first annual meeting I attended in Toronto had 12,000 lawyers in attendance . Lawyers from around the world . Lawyers involved in every aspect of the practice of law : human rights , real estate , probate , copyright , family law , intellectual property , insurance defense , tribal law , military justice and many , many more . The CLE catalogue was literally more than an inch thick . There was a committee or meeting or CLE for every legal topic imaginable . It was ten days of non-stop lectures , panel discussions , committee meetings , section meetings and politicking for leadership positions .
Most people are simply unaware of the vast range of ABA projects . The ABA has some role in every aspect of the practice of law . It reviews the qualifications of nominees for the federal bench ; handles the accreditation of all law schools nationwide ; drafts , adopts and publishes the Model Rules of Professional Conduct ; works with the American Law Institute in producing Model Codes ; lobbies Congress every year for funding for the Legal Services Corporation and supports hundreds of other smaller projects throughout the country . Additionally , the ABA has exported the notion of the rule of law overseas with international initiatives such as CEELI ( Central and Eastern European Legal Initiative ) ( created after the collapse of the Soviet Union to assist fledgling democracies in establishing governments ) and later ROLI ( Rule of Law Initiative ) which essentially expanded CEELI world-wide .
It sent official observers to the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay . The ABA also maintains and funds two charitable arms : The American Bar Foundation and the Fund For Justice , both of which have provided millions of dollars in contributions to worthy causes over the years . The ABA has done all of these things and many , many more . Twenty years ago it led the effort to update the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility in a program called “ Ethics 2000 ”. Sounds kind of quaint now , doesn ’ t it ? Back then the Big Eight accounting firms were threatening to take over the practice of law . There was long and heated debate on the topic of non-lawyer ownership of law firms . A committee was formed to study the threat to the profession posed by an up-start on-line company called Legal Zoom — predicted at the time to be the financial ruin of solo and small firms . Suddenly , the Big Eight imploded in scandal and Legal Zoom started to look benign compared to the newer threats posed by AVVO and others . The ABA struggled to keep abreast of the evolving challenges , doing its best to anticipate the unforeseeable future , remain relevant and provide the traditional services to its members it had always been known for . A tall order for any organization . It had to revise the Model Rules of Professional Conduct once again , largely to keep pace with issues presented by the internet . As we have all heard , the practice of law changed more in the last twenty years than it did in the previous 200 . The ABA did what it could to not only keep up , but to lead . It did not always manage to do so .
Some of my reports were snarky , critical and sarcastic . On more than one occasion I actually received anonymous letters responding to things I wrote and inviting me in no uncertain terms to leave the ABA . My reports were not intended to be insulting . But when the ABA fouls something up , it really fouls up . One example : a few years ago , a committee was formed to study the needs of solo and small firm practitioners , fully 65-70 % of the ABA membership . Despite the fact that there is a Section of Solo and Small Firms , a special committee was appointed to identify and study the issues of particular concern to solo and small firms . That wasn ’ t the bad part . The bad part was the committee was chaired by a senior partner from a New York law firm with over 700 partners . The guy was really familiar with life in my world .
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 27
If you have read my reports you know the ABA has been struggling since the recession . Membership has plunged dramatically . The number of dues paying members has decreased every year for the last decade . Now only about 13 % of the practicing lawyers country-wide are members of the ABA . Attendance at the annual and mid-year meetings is way down . I never saw a number for attendance in Chicago , but my guess would be less than 5,000 lawyers were there . ( The program for the entire meeting was approximately 80 pages , less than a quarter inch thick .) With declining membership comes declining revenue . The ABA is in a fight for its life and doing everything it can to stay viable . It has drastically reduced spending , reduced staff , closed offices , and just approved a more streamlined dues structure that reduces the cost of membership for younger lawyers . It still has large cash reserves , but given its obligations , little room for error . And if we , American lawyers , let the ABA fail after 140 years , we should be ashamed . Whether you choose to be involved or not , we need the ABA .
I say that because the ABA is an incredible organization . It does an amazing array of things for an astonishing number of people . And most of it gets done by volunteer lawyers who are passionate about the particular areas in which they work . During my time in the House of Delegates , I can truly say that I was exposed to greatness : senators ; Supreme Court justices ; attorneys general ; JAG officers who literally put their military careers on the line to defend accused terrorists because they considered that assignment part of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution .
This August I got to hear Bryan Stevenson accept the ABA Medal of Honor and then deliver the best speech I have ever heard . Mr . Stevenson is a Harvard educated , black lawyer who chose to move to Alabama and found the Equal Justice Institute because Alabama does not have a state-funded public defender office . The EJI fills that gap and does incredibly effective work . Mr . Stevenson told us that “ The opposite of poverty is Justice .”
I thank you for allowing me to attend these meetings as your representative . The experience enriched my life and made me a better lawyer . I urge you to join and support the ABA .