Trimble: Bar association engagement is a true key to success

Those of you who are kind enough to read my column know that I am a self-described “bar association junkie.” I belong to 11 bar associations, and I am very active in some and an observer or honorary member in others.

I come by it honestly, because on our first day of law school, Professor R. Bruce Townsend told his Remedies class that he had one piece of advice for all of us, and if we remembered nothing else from his class, this was it: “If you want to succeed in law, then as early as possible, join a bar association of your choice and stay persistently involved for your entire career.”

(He also told us to read a daily newspaper front to back every day. You younger readers are asking, “What’s a newspaper?”)

I took Professor Townsend’s advice and immediately joined bar associations even while I was a law student. When I became a law clerk, my mentor, Robert F. Wagner, made it clear to me that I was expected to be engaged in bar associations, and he supported me with the time and the money to do it.

Looking back, I can honestly say that any small measure of professional success that I have enjoyed, I owe to bar association involvement. I can also say that most, if not all, of the lawyers who I respect the most are or have been bar association leaders.

Once a year in this column I try to make the case for why lawyers of all ages should be involved in bar associations, and why law firms should support their lawyers in bar association involvement. So, I hope that you will humor me again this year.

To prepare me this year, I reached out to one of the preeminent bar association executives in America, Julie Armstrong of the Indianapolis Bar Association.

For those who do not know it, IndyBar is considered to be the Gold Standard for metropolitan bar associations in the country. Julie has long been deeply immersed in what is happening in the bar association world and is a recent past president of the National Association of Bar Executives that is supported by the American Bar Association.

She has her finger on the pulse of bar association news and innovation. I was particularly interested to know how bar associations are doing in the wake of COVID-19 in 2020 and since then.

Since the beginning of 2024 I have attended two national defense bar association multi-day meetings, and both had record attendance. This encouraged me to believe that bar association engagement was back and on the rise. However, I was only partially correct.

According to Julie, “In person attendance at conferences is back and on the rise. Associations are seeing a renewed interest in relationship building, and conferences are a very convenient way of reaching out to numerous people at once. The trick is not mistaking this interest as a renewed interest in in-person meetings generally.”

Lawyers are still preferring to attend committees and engage if it can be done by email exchanges or Zoom, and that is here to stay. She summed it up, saying, “Colleagues agree that we all value our time, and are not willing to commit it without a perceived high return. Multi-hour and multi-day conferences punch that ticket.”

On the membership side of the ledger, the majority of bar associations are seeing falling membership numbers. According to Julie, there are multiple causes:

Competing virtual environments provide opportunities for connection.

There is decreased visibility and opportunity for building relationships with potential members due to lingering post-COVID separation.

More lawyers are leaving the profession due to retirement and/or discontent.

There are fewer lawyers entering the profession in part due to lower bar passage rates.

I will add a few more reasons that I have personally observed:

Law firms are increasingly less likely to support bar association unless they can see an immediate return on investment (and this is short-sighted).

Cell phones, email, and social media messaging have changed how younger people communicate, and not all younger lawyers are comfortable in face-to-
face settings.

Some, not all, younger lawyers do not enter law with a concern about building a book of business and becoming a partner in a law firm.

An abundance of in-house legal jobs has prompted some in-house lawyers to believe that there is no longer value in bar association involvement (also short-sighted).

Bar association involvement still provides lawyers with worthwhile CLE, and for lawyers of all ages, it provides opportunities for speaking, writing, networking, and leadership experience. All of which is important in building a professional resume.

The substantive committees of bar associations are often the place to find cutting edge information on trends and legal issues in many practice areas.

Involvement in committees that have lawyers who often oppose one another, provides opportunity for lawyers to learn that we are not enemies, and that we can have civil discourse about contested issues without losing collegiality. Committee friendships also produce referral and job opportunities.

The annual Bench/Bar Conference hosted by IndyBar is coming up in June down in French Lick. The last couple of years they have seen nearly record attendance, and diversity among the attendees is significant.

I am hoping that this year will be no exception. Please consider attending and bringing an entourage of friends and colleagues. You will love it. The educational tracks for family law, criminal law, and civil litigation are worth your time, and the social gatherings are outstanding.

The Indiana State Bar Association will have its annual meeting in October, and it too will have great CLE, excellent networking opportunities, and a whole lot of fun. Put it on your calendar.

So, in closing, I urge you to join, engage, and stay persistently involved in bar associations of your choice. If you want some guidance about how to join and get involved, call me. I am not exaggerating when I say that it can be your key to success!

#WillYouBeThere?•

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John Trimble (@indytrims) is a senior partner at the Indianapolis firm of Lewis Wagner LLP. He is a self-described bar association “junkie” who admits that he spends an inordinate amount of time on law practice management, judicial independence and legal profession issues. Opinions expressed are those of the author.