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