BAR ASSOCIATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

Nick Hentoff - Long Term Legal Specialist American Bar Association - Rule of Law Initiative

PRACTICING LAW IN THE UNITED STATES

According to the American Bar Association there are 1,143,358 active and inactive lawyers in the United States. General requirements for practicing law in the United States:
4 year undergraduate degree. Must take the Law School Aptitude Test (LSAT). Must graduate from an ABA accredited law school (3 years). Must pass a bar exam and character and fitness investigation.

Permission to work as a lawyer (being admitted to the bar) is not necessarily the same as membership in an individual state's bar association.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BAR ASSOCIATIONS:

Mandatory Bar Associations:
States where membership in the state's bar association is required to practice law.

Voluntary or Private Bar Associations:

A private organization of lawyers that usually. engages in social, educational, and lobbying functions, but does not normalize the practice of law or admit lawyers to practice before the States courts.

MANDATORY BAR ASSOCIATIONS VOLUNTARY BAR ASSOCIATIONS

MANDATORY BAR ASSOCIATIONS

First Mandatory bar association founded in North Dakota in 1921. In the state of Wisconsin, the mandatory membership requirement is implemented through an order of the state supreme court, which can be revoked or canceled at any time at the court's discretion. In Texas, the "State Bar of Texas" is an agency of the judiciary and is under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. See Tex. Govt Code section 81.011. Attorneys who want to be licensed to practice law are required by statute to join the State Bar by registering with the clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. In Oregon, the state legislature passed a statute which created a new government agency to regulate the admission and discipline of attorneys. California went farther than any other state and wrote the State Bar of California into its State Constitution and established a separate court system for disciplining lawyers. Activities in mandatory bar associations funded by membership dues are limited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Bar Association Role in Admission to Practice Law

State Courts:
Graduate from ABA Accredited Law School Pass Bar Examination. Character and Fitness Examination. General Certification.
Renewals Continuing Education Requirements Trust Account Requirements Pro Bono Requirements Random Audits

Specialization Certification. Reciprocal Admission. Pro Hac Vice Admission.

Bar Association Role in Admission to Practice Law in:

General Admission: State bar membership requirements Pro Hac Vice Admission: Requires admission in another Federal Court

Bar Association Role in Admission to Practice Law

Specialized Courts:
United States Tax Court Patent Practice Military Law Administrative Law Courts

Bar Association Role in Discipline of Lawyers

Rules of Professional Responsibility Initiation of Complaints. Filing of Charges. Hearings: Common Law Precedents. Disciplinary Commission Review. Supreme Court Review.

Bar Association Role in Selection of Judges.

Judges are either elected or appointed Judges are sometimes appointed through merit selection Some state bar associations have judicial selection committees The committee interviews candidates and recommends three candidates for the Governor. The ABA Issues fitness recommendations to Congress on Presidential Federal court appointments.

VOLUNTARY BAR ASSOCIATIONS

Every State without a mandatory bar association has a private state-wide voluntary bar association.

In states without a mandatory bar association the regulation of lawyers -- including admission to practice and discipline -- is typically delegated by court order or state law to one or more administrative office of the state courts. There are also many national voluntary bar associations. The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary bar association with over 400,000 members.
Each voluntary bar association chooses its own purposes (e.g. social, educational, or lobbying). There are also hundreds of voluntary bar associations organized by city, county, or by other community, such as Practice areas, ethnicity, ideology, religion or gender:

GEOGRAPHY

PRACTICE AREAS

ETHNICITY

IDEOLOGY

RELIGION

GENDER

WOMENS BAR ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

1908: First Womens Bar Association founded in New York City. 1917: District of Columbia Womens Bar Association was founded.
DCWBA lobbied for passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution giving women the right to vote in 1920 . DCWBA continued to lobby for equal access to justice for women including the repeal of a law in 1922 which stripped women of their U.S. Citizenship if they married foreign citizens.

1950: 1,200 women enrolled in law school out of a total population of nearly 50,000 law students (5%). 2007: 66,050 women enrolled in law schools out of a total population of over 140,000 law students (almost 50%).

DEVELOPMENT OF AZERBAIJANS WOMENS BAR ASSOCIATION (WBA) November 2006: a working group of twenty female Azeri attorneys was formed after the first USAID-funded International Conference on Women Lawyers was held in Baku.

March 2007: establishment of Azerbaijans first Womens Bar Association was completed by the filing of a charter with the Ministry of Justice.

AZERBAIJANS WBA: A SUCCESS STORY

By June 2007, WBA membership had expanded to 85 attorneys.

By the end of 2008, WBA membership expanded to 250 attorneys.

The WBA is holding a general assembly next month for members to vote on bylaws and board officers, and the formation of new committees.

The WBA recently received a $96,000 grant from USAID and a$250,000 grant from One Woman's Initiative, an NGO based in the United States.

ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct on Importance of Bar Association Independence

An independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal authority is more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on government for the right to practice.