by The Jacksonville Bar Association President Michael Freed
Most bar associations (and ours is no exception) are litigator focused.
This stems from a variety of factors including: litigators tend to be a bit more outspoken; judges, who are a critical part of most bar associations, preside over litigation and litigators; and much of the pro bono lawyer outreach opportunities are for litigators.
Nevertheless, roughly half of practicing lawyers are transactional attorneys. This leads to the obvious conclusion that we need to do more to make The JBA relevant and important to transactional lawyers. Now is the time.
Several initiatives already are under way.
The JBA biannual professionalism symposium, scheduled for Aug. 23, will feature content and material designed for the transactional lawyer.
JBA President-elect Ray Driver is putting together a corporate lawyer presentation for The JBA’s inaugural “CLE at Sea,” which will sail in February.
And we are reinvigorating our Corporate, Banking, and Real Estate Sections to better attract transactional lawyers to section membership (it’s free by the way) and participation.
We are also actively seeking out meaningful pro bono and other community outreach opportunities. These initiatives stand to make The JBA a model for positive opportunities and benefits for transactional attorneys.
As in all areas, we need your help. Do you have interest in supporting any of these initiatives? We need, and would welcome, that support. Do you have other ideas to complement or add to these? We are a member organization governed by a voluntary board.
Your ideas, input and participation are every bit as important as anyone else’s. Please contact me or any of our board members to help make us a better organization.
My email is [email protected].