President's Page, 0713 ALBJ, 74 The Alabama Lawyer 216 (2013)

• Author: Phillip W. McCallum

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

Vol. 74 No. 4 Pg. 216

Alabama Bar Lawyer

July 2013

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0 Phillip W. McCallum

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0The Land of Oz:

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0The Alabama State Bar’s Return to Relevance With the Alabama State Legislature

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0One of my favorite scenes in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz is when Dorothy and her companions, after dispatching the Wicked Witch of the West, re-present themselves to the great Wizard to claim their promised rewards of a heart, courage, a brain and safe passage home. After initially being rebuked by the Wizard, trusty Toto pulls back a curtain exposing an elderly illusionist busily pushing buttons and pulling levers to produce pyrotechnics. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, ” booms the illusionist, as he attempts to maintain the facade.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Unfortunately, for way too long, the Alabama State Bar paid little attention to the folks “behind the curtain” in Montgomery, resulting in a diminished role of the Alabama State Bar within our state government. The reasons for this lack of attention may be attributed to several factors, some of which are identified below. Thankfully, however, due to the fine leadership and vision of some of my predecessors, significant progress is being made by the bar to restore a detached relationship between the bar and our legislature, to the benefit of our profession, the legislative process and the citizens of our state. In fact, through a thoughtfully-cultivated partnership between leaders in the bar and the legislature, the bar is now often invited to give input on important legislative issues, which, in turn, has increased the bar’s relevance again in the legislature. The bar has become a neutral third-party conduit through which many pieces of important legislation are being negotiated and forged. This change is well-needed and appropriate; after all, the bar has a significant amount of resources and l awyers with expertise in almost all areas of the law available to advise and help our legislators enact meaningful and appropriate legislation for our state, citizens and businesses.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Lost in Oz

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Like other mandatory bar associations across the country, the Alabama State Bar is controlled by the Keller Doctrine¹ (1990), which restricts mandatory dues-paying bar associations from advancing political issues not germane to the central purposes of (1) regulation and licensing and (2) the improvement of the administration of justice. As such, from a political standpoint, from roughly 1990-2005, the Alabama State Bar had taken a hands-off approach. Other mandatory state bars found themselves in a similar situation, so much so that the subject has...