Serving the Profession

• Author: Hilarie Bass
• Pages: 8-8

8 || ABA JOURNAL MARCH 2018

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

President’s Message || By Hilarie Bass

Serving the Profession

The ABA fi ghts for lawyers, legal rights and a better system of justice

In meetings w ith lawyers

around the countr y, a question

I often hear is: “ What does the

ABA do for me?”

My answer every time: More

than you realize . Here are some

recent ex amples.

In early January, U.S. Customs

and Border Protection issued

a revised dire ctive regarding

searches of lawyers’ lapt ops and

other electronic devices at b or-

ders that adopts several key A BA-

requested reforms. The cha nge

came in response to the A BA’s

meetings and negotiations w ith

senior Department of Homeland

Security o cia ls to request revi-

sions of the standards th at we

viewed as a potentia l threat to

attorney- client privilege. Wh ile not

all of our proposals were adopte d,

and more needs to be done, the

new directive is a clea r improve-

ment over prior policy.

This is just one recent example of our hard work to pro -

tect the legal profession. A BA lobbyists continually work

to limit regulat ions and laws that could impede the abil-

ity of lawyers to do our jobs or represent our cl ients. And,

like our work on border searches of laptops, we ar e per-

sistent in challenging r ules that undermine the profes-

sion’s independence and the lawyer-client relationship.

The ABA was an ac tive participant during the debate

in Washington, D.C. regarding the t ax package passed

last December. Our e orts ensured that law fi rms would

not be forced to use the unfai r accrual accounting sys-

tem—paying tax on phantom income that ha d yet to be

received and might never be paid. At the sa me time, we

ensured law fi rms were included in the lower tax rates

that other professional serv ices received.

The ABA also st ands up for lawyers who have

devoted themselves to publ ic service. When the

Department of Education reneged on its com mitments

to public service law yers who had qualifi ed for the Public

Service L oan Forgiveness program and were meeting

their obligations under the program for year s, the ABA

sued. The case is stil l pending in the courts, but the ABA

is determined to do its ut most to assist the best and

brightest young people who are working for the public

good.

The ABA also works hard t o uphold the values of our

profession. We have recently spoken out to defend the

independence of the judiciary when

the judicial system a nd individ-

ual judges were disparage d. While

criticism of judicial deci sions is a

constitutionally prote cted right of

every America n, we have stressed

that judges should not be attacked

or diminished by another branch

of government just because they do

not agree with a r uling.

Ensuring that the federa l judi-

ciary is sta  ed with highly qualifi ed

judges benefi ts ever yone in the legal

system. For 65 years, the A BA’s

independent Standing Committ ee

on the Federal Judiciary has con-

ducted a comprehensive and non-

partisan ev aluation that rates the

qualifi cat ions of every federal judi-

cial nominee based on integ rity,

competence and temperament. By

providing this impor tant informa-

tion to decision-makers, the AB A

has helped make the judiciar y

str onge r.

Our system of ju stice and the health of our profes-

sion also depend on an inclusi ve legal profession. But

we know the law is often a chal lenging place for lawyers

of color, disabled lawyers, LGBT lawyers a nd female law-

yers. So, we continue our fi ght for a tru ly inclusive profes-

sion. In fact, diversit y and inclusion is one of the ABA’s

four core goals. In 2016, our House of Delegates urged

businesses to direc t more legal services to diverse att or-

neys. More than 70 major corporations have signed on to

this pledge, including Walmart , Facebook, Microsoft and

McDo na ld’s.

Our recent successes h ave also included the restora-

tion of funding to the Lega l Services Corporation af ter

the current admin istration proposed the program’s elimi-

nation. We brought hundreds of lawyers to Washington

to visit their representat ives and advocate for the pro-

gram, which provides leg al representation to hundreds of

thousands of low-income American s. We a lso delivered

20,000 personalized messa ges on the value of LSC writ-

ten by a cross-sect ion of Americans. This award-winning

grassroots c ampaign made a huge impact on the mem-

bers of Congress who received t hem.

This is just a small sa mple of the ABA’s recent accom-

plishments. We have much more work ahead, and we will

continually strive t o represent our more than 400,000

members, our profession and our justice sys tem. I hope

you will join us on this m ission. Q

Follow Preside nt Bass on Twitter @ABAPreside nt or email abapresid ent@americanba r.org.