By Mart Tisdal, President, Oklahoma Bar Foundation
I recently ran across an editorial written by Patrick B. McGuigan, at the time an editorialist on the staff of The Daily Oklahoman. Mr. McGuigan began his lawyer denigrating article, curiously, by introducing readers to an explanation of mah-jongg, "a game played by four persons with 144 tiles that are drawn and discarded until one player secures a winning hand." His introduction caught my attention, and I read on until Mr. McGuigan connected the mah-jongg dots by quoting H. L. Mencken:
"All the extravagance and incompetence of our present Government is due, in the main, to lawyers and, in part at least, to good ones. They are responsible for nine-tenths of the useless and vicious laws that now clutter the statute-books, and for all the evils that go with the vain attempts to enforce them.
Every Federal judge is a lawyer. So are most Congressmen. Every invasion of the plain rights of the citizen has a lawyer behind it. If all lawyers were hanged tomorrow, and their bones sold to a mah jong factory, we'd all be freer and safer, and our taxes would be reduced by almost a half."1
Every time I read a diatribe on the order of Mencken and McGuigan, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes:
"The triumph of reason is to live well with those who have none."
To live well, however, in the face of such caustic colloquy commands commitment.
Allow me to shift your focus to the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. The OBF is one of the most understated of our bar-related institutions. By accomplishing its mission of "Advancing Education, Citizenship and Justice for All," it also serves nicely as a constant rebuttal to the likes of Mr. McGuigan's acerbic commentary.
DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT THE OBF IS? WHAT WE DO? ALLOW ME TO DIGRESS.
The OBF is the official charitable 501(c)(3) entity for your organized bar. We were the third such entity to be formed in the United States. Did you know that, since 1986, the OBF has awarded over $5,000,000 to programs such as Law-Related Education and High School Mock Trial Programs, court appointed special advocates and other child advocacy programs, family law, literary and senior programs, scholarships, research and legal clinics, various legal service providers serving those people who cannot afford a lawyer, and many other worthy causes?
So, what's the problem, Mart? The problem is we are under attack, and not just on the editorial pages of our newspapers.
Your OBF is currently suffering from the economy crunch like so many other nonprofit organizations across the country. Moreover, in the last five years approximately 48 percent of OBF revenues have come from our program which provides us interest on lawyer trust accounts (IOLTA). IOLTA revenue is in jeopardy because of legal attacks lodged in several other jurisdictions against programs like ours. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing the issues.
Because of these problems, and absent your commitment to unprecedented support, starting this year, and for the foreseeable future, your OBF will be forced to cut, drastically, our charitable giving to those in need.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Let's commit to something we can control. There are 15,044 members of the Oklahoma Bar Association. As of the end of last year, the OBF had only 1,113 Fellows. If you are not already one, you must commit to becoming a Fellow - today. If you are already a Fellow, you must continue your annual contribution as a Sustaining Fellow. This commitment will cost you a tax deductible contribution of $100/year (a mere $8.33/month or an amount less than the change most of us put in to what used to pass for an ash tray in our cars!) THINK ABOUT IT!
Each of you will hear from us again in the coming months; however, you do not have to wait on us. Volunteer now! As has been said "…mount up and ride to the sound of the guns."
Join us as a Fellow, and we will only make you proud. The unassailable good works of the OBF must continue and expand if charity and reason are to triumph while we "live well" with the myopic regurgitation of mah-jongg malarkey.
1. McGuigan, Patrick B. "Jerry Regier and the Trial Lawyers." Daily Oklahoman, March 20, 2002
Mart Tisdal
TISDAL LAW FIRM
Post Office Box 1387
814 Frisco Avenue
Clinton, OK 73601
Telephone: (580) 323-3964
Fax: (580) 323-3964
marttisdal@itlnet.net
Phil Frazier, Fellow Committee Chair
FRAZIER & PHILLIPS
1424 Terrace Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
Telephone: (918) 744-7200
Fax (918) 744-7210
pfrazlaw@swbell.net
Nancy Norsworthy, Administrator
OKLAHOMA BAR FOUNDATION
Post Office Box 53036
Oklahoma City, OK 73152
Telephone: (405) 416-7048
Toll Free: (800) 522-8065
Fax: (405) 416-7089
nancyn@okbar.org |
