Program to examine impact on bar groups of changes in regulatory legal landscape

The American Bar Association’s fifth virtual Redesigning Legal Speaker Series will explore the impact on bar associations of the regulatory changes in the legal profession that some predict will be transformational.

“Redesigning Legal: Unified Bars and the Art of the Long View” will take place online Thursday, February 24, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Utah and Arizona have already enacted sweeping changes to how legal services can be delivered and who can provide them. Nationally, no fewer than 10 other states are in different stages of exploring, recommending or implementing regulatory change that would generally allow nonlawyers to provide some legal services.

The changes pose new challenges to individual state bar groups, whose membership can be compulsory (usually called unified or integrated), or of a voluntary nature, such as the American Bar Association. The program will specifically examine the status of some 33 mandatory state bars, as well as the most recent legal challenges to them based, in part, that compelling dues violates members’ First Amendment rights. In addition, panelists will offer insight to the innovative ways bars are meeting these challenges.

The program will be moderated by Joe Sullivan, former president of the State Bar of Montana and president-elect of the National Center of Bar Presidents (NCBP). Others on the panel are:

• John M. Stewart, a former president of The Florida Bar and shareholder in the firm of Gray Robinson. He focuses his practice on trust and estate litigation, mediation and arbitration. Stewart now serves on the executive committee of the NCBP and chairs The Florida Bar’s Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services.

• Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer of the Arizona Supreme Court, who has served since 2012. Prior to her appointment, Timmer was a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2012, serving three years as chief judge. She also chaired the state Supreme Court’s Legal Services Task Force, which recently recommended removing barriers for lawyers and nonlawyers to share fees.

• Janet Welch, who served as executive director of the State Bar of Michigan from 2007 to 2021. She has an extensive history of involvement in court and legal profession reform, and has presented nationally and internationally on the role of bar associations in access to justice and the future of legal services

Launched in June 2021, the Redesigning Legal Speaker Series features legal industry leaders and experts who offer a variety of perspectives and break down common assumptions and misunderstandings, as well as provide information on the nature and scope of the access to justice challenges and barriers to sustainable legal access.

For this program, NCBP is an added sponsor, joining other co-sponsors: Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver (IAALS) and Legal Hackers, in addition to support from three ABA entities: Center for Innovation, Center for Professional Responsibility and the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services.

Registration is free but required in advance and can be found at https://iaals.du.edu/events/redesigning-legal-unified-bars-and-art-long-view.