President's Page, 0321 ALBJ, Vol. 82 No. 2 Pg. 92 (March, 2021)

AuthorRobert G. Methvin, Jr.
PositionVol. 82 2 Pg. 92

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

No. Vol. 82 No. 2 Pg. 92

Alabama Bar Lawyer

March, 2021

Robert G. Methvin, Jr.

rgm

mtattorneys com

Telling Our Story

As many of you know, one of my main initiatives is to educate the public on the valuable role that lawyers play in our state, not only from an economic standpoint but also from a charitable standpoint. In furtherance of that goal, I recently spoke to a civic organization where I discussed the importance of Alabama's court system and the legal profession to our state as well as our local communities. The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive. Several people even commented that they had no idea how much lawyers give back to our state each year.

I am working with our Lawyer Public Relations Task Force, chaired by Sara Williams, George Parker, and Mike Ermert, to modify my presentation to be used by members of the task force in speeches to civic organizations throughout the state. If you know of a civic organization in your community that we can speak to, please contact me at rgm@mtattorneys.com or Megan Hughes at megan.hughes@alabar.org. It is my goal that this presentation will be given to at least one civic organization in every county before the summer, either in person or virtually. Working with our outstanding communications department, we will also deliver a shorter version of this message to the general public through a robust advertising campaign.

Through these presentations, we will demonstrate that the court system and the legal profession combine to form one of the largest economic engines in the state. For example, in fiscal year 2020, our court system distributed a total of $382.4 million directly into the Alabama economy, despite the pandemic covering half the year.1 Our court system also currently employs over 1,600 people statewide. When you include the salaries paid to judicial employees, third-party vendors, and others, the Alabama court system adds billions of dollars to the state's economy each year. We will also emphasize the fact that our court system is one of the largest collection agencies in Alabama. For example, our courts collect funds for child support (over $140M collected in fiscal year 2020), restitution, and other county-specific projects and do not receive any compensation for performing this public service.

Alabama lawyers add billions of dollars to the state's economy each year...

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