From the President, 1015 GABJ, Vol. 39 No. 5. 8
| Author | John A. Masterson, Wyoming State Bar President. |
| Position | Vol. 39 5 Pg. 8 |
John A. Masterson, Wyoming State Bar President.
The View From Here
So one of the more glamorous duties of your Bar President is to write a column for the Wyoming Lawyer. Welcome to my inaugural effort.
I thought a lot about what to write and had a number of good suggestions. So after deciding to ignore them, I figured I’d break this up into a few different topics about your Bar and the view from here.
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It’s critical that your Bar be transparent in its actions and responsive to you. When you have a question, please ask. An idea? Please share it – we want to be better. Do you want to use Casemaker for that research project (after all, it’s free)? How about an ethical concern – we have a hotline for that. Service on a Board or Committee? Please! Put in your name. Or maybe you want to know more about where your dues go? Or perhaps you know a lawyer who is going through a hard time or is at risk for substance abuse. We can help. You should expect and should receive quick responses to your questions and concerns, and whatever information we have to help you in your professional or personal life is yours for the asking. It’s our job to support you.
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I went through 27 years of my legal life being petrified of having contact with the Bar. I was sure it would be something bad. Forgot to pay my dues. Was behind on my CLE or, God forbid, getting one of THOSE letters. Well I’m not any better at getting my dues paid on time, but I’ve learned how much our Bar has to offer. The CLE, the legal services programs, the personal and professional services are remarkable. How about a system to allow your practice to take credit cards? How about a cloud-based system to help manage your law practice? All these services at no cost or low cost and they’re for you to take full advantage of in what you do every day.
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About your Officers and Commissioners. You can find a list of them at https:// www.wyomingbar.org/about-us/bar-leader-ship/. These are the folks you’ve elected to represent you. Please use them. Whether it’s an idea or a problem, they’re there to help you as well and on top of that they’re just good people who are only a phone call away.
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I’ve generally heard two questions over and over since becoming President-Elect a year ago and I imagine they’ll continue.
The first is why I would do...
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