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Guess Who’s a Lifetime Member of the
American Bar Association?
By Stephen Beam
I attended the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Miami,
Fla., last month. Thank you for sending me. I attended the Oklahoma
delegates dinner with many longtime active ABA lawyers such as our
State Delegate Jimmy Goodman, ABA Past President Bill Paul, ABA Governor
Jim Sturdivant, LPM Section Delegate Mark Robertson, OBA President-Elect
Bill Conger and former GP/Solo Division Chair Dwight Smith. Only
one of those in attendance is a lifetime member of the ABA. I bet
you can’t
guess which one. Wrong, wrong and wrong. The only lifetime ABA member
in attendance at the Oklahoma delegates dinner was me, the sole practitioner
from Weatherford.
I know most of you are not ABA members. I know some
of you were once members and quit over some political or social stance
taken by the ABA. I have been a member of the ABA since law school.
I have been an active member of the ABA for about the last 12 years.
There was a time when the ABA cared little about rural
lawyers in general and solo and small firm lawyers in particular.
Those times have changed.
Many state bar associations have highly successful
solo and small firm conferences. The OBA’s Solo and Small Firm
Conference is in its 10th year. This year’s conference will
be held at Tanglewood Resort at Lake Texoma on June 21 – 23
and includes midyear meetings of the Young Lawyers Division and OBA
Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section. This is generally considered
to be the second most successful solo and small firm conference in
the nation. Many of these state bar-sponsored solo and small firm
conferences have more attendance than state bar annual meetings.
That is true in many states, but Oklahoma enjoys high attendance
both at its Solo and Small Firm Conference and Annual Meeting.
The ABA has taken note of the successful state bar
solo and small firm conferences. The ABA has taken notice that when
a conference is carefully planned with an eye toward what solo and
small firm lawyers really need and want, they respond enthusiastically — and
they attend. The ABA, through the GP/Solo Division, held a 2006 National
Solo and Small Firm Conference.
Thomson West has even created its own solo division.
The purpose of this division is to create products for sole practitioners.
This is an exciting time for the solo and small firm
lawyer. The ABA is really starting to understand that the association
needs to make serious changes if it truly wants to attract solo and
small firm lawyers. The GP/Solo Division is the portal to the ABA
for solo and small firm lawyers. The division is working on several
exciting projects to assist solos in their daily lives. The division
is partnering with the ABA Standing Committee on Membership to do
a survey of solos to find out what they really want. The ABA is actually
going to ask solos what they want and need rather than assuming it
already knows.
The GP/Solo Division will then begin the process of
developing a Solo Center to address the needs of sole practitioners.
None of this will happen overnight, but it is a beginning, at least.
Bill Conger is a member of the ABA GP/Solo Division
because of its publications. Bill told me he uses them as tools for
teaching his law students at OCU.
The OBA clearly “gets it” and intends
to serve the needs of solo and small firm lawyers. The ABA is “getting
it” too. If you have never been an ABA member, I am asking
you to give the ABA a chance. If you were an ABA member and quit,
I am asking you to give the ABA another chance. Join a section or
division that fits your practice
setting or specialty. I am a longtime member of the GP/Solo Division. It has
wonderful publications and has been extremely helpful in my
practice. The contacts I have made through the ABA are invaluable.
I am proud to be a lifetime
member of the ABA.
Sincerely,
To contact President
Beam, e-mail him at sbeam@ionet.net
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