Executive Director Calls for ABA Action to Increase Lawyer Members

• Author: Molly McDonough
• Pages: 63-63

APRIL 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 63

Executive Director Calls for ABA

Action to Increase Lawyer Members

By Molly McDonough

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King

Jr., ABA Executive Director

Jack Rives told the ABA’s policymak-

ing body that “this is no time to … take

the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

He called on ABA leadership to take

action to increase lawyer members.

Rives’ call to action on a new mem-

bership model came after a stark

presentation of the ABA’s continuous

market share decline.

Forty years ago, 50 percent of the

lawyers in the United States were

members of the ABA. The ABA cur-

rently has a 22 percent market share.

Speaking to the House of Delegates

at the ABA Midyear Meeting, Rives

said the ABA’s membership currently

stands at 412,499 members, 70 per-

cent of whom are lawyers. Another 26

percent are students, and 4 percent—

including paralegals and international

lawyers—are associates.

To reverse the decline, ABA leader-

ship, sta and marketing consultants

are working on a new membership

model that is on a trajectory to be pre-

sented to the House during the annual

meeting in Chicago.

In the current version of the new

membership model, there is a focus

on bundling benefits and significantly

simplifying ABA dues categories. Rives

noted there are currently 157 dues cat-

egories at the ABA, depending on the

types of work members do, their length

of service and other considerations.

The model would reduce the dues

categories to three. Bundled benefits

would include two sections, access to a

CLE library and access to content that

will be organized behind a members-

only paywall.

Rives said the changes, which will

require an investment in products and

resources, are necessary for the ABA

to remain a robust professional asso-

ciation and maintain its status as the

voice of the legal profession.

A later presentation by ABA

Treasurer Michelle A. Behnke put a

finer point on the membership decline,

which has resulted in significant rev-

enue losses for the organization. Even

with deep cuts in the past year, the

ABA’s operating deficit was $7.7 mil-

lion for fiscal year 2017.

While the ABA’s investments put

the association in the black for the

year, Behnke said such a strong per-

formance shouldn’t be relied upon. A

more telling moment came when she

showed delegates the association’s

operating budget decline over the past

five years and a projection for fiscal

year 2019. In that time period, the

ABA’s operating budget has decreased

from $116 million in 2014 to $96.1

million for fiscal year 2018. Behnke is

projecting the need to further decrease

the budget by more than $5 million for

fiscal year 2019 to $90.8 million.

Behnke said she agreed with the

adage that you can’t cut your way to

a healthy organization but cautioned

that the ABA also can’t ignore the real-

ity of the expense and revenue picture.

While she praised the work of the

ABA throughout the United States and

the world, Behnke said the revenue

decline must reverse for the ABA to be

able to conduct its mission work.

“No money, no mission,” she told

delegates. “We’ve got to pay attention

to our finances and take some bold

steps to reverse our dues decrease so

that we will be able to defend liberty

and pursue justice.”

ABA President Hilarie Bass urged

House leaders to make tough decisions

when they’re asked to do so, likely at

the August annual meeting when the

ABA celebrates 140 years. During her

travels in her first six months in oce,

Bass said, she has become aware of the

ABA’s power to eect change.

She’s also been made keenly aware

that the ABA’s “power can only be as

strong as our organization itself.”

She said the House, which sets

policy for the ABA, has to “recognize

that the association needs to evolve

and adapt to the changing needs of

the profession and its lawyers.”

Bass urged that when delegates are

presented with proposed changes, they

shouldn’t nitpick and take the recom-

mendations personally. The changes

must be made for the ABA to maintain

the power to do its work, she said.

After the midyear meeting ended,

Rives announced a buyout plan for vet-

eran ABA employees. The Voluntary

Separation Incentive Program is being

oered because “decisions on reorga-

nization and sta restructuring will

be necessary in the near future,” Rives

said in a stawide announcement.

In a town hall meeting, Rives said

he’s proposing a restructuring to cen-

ter around the four goals of the asso-

ciation: to serve members, improve the

profession, eliminate bias and enhance

diversity, and advance the rule of law.

The reorganization plans are expected

to be announced this month, he said. Q

PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/MICHAEL DESJARDINS

MIDYEAR MEET ING REPORT || Your ABA

Jack Rives