Maryland State Bar Association, Inc.

Overview

Established: 1896
Total Number of Members: 23,000
Membership is: Voluntary
Membership in Other Bar Associations: Mid-Atlantic Bar Conference, Southern Conference of Bar Presidents

Bar Profile:
The Maryland State Bar Association is a professional, non-profit, voluntary organization comprised of over 23,000 attorneys and judges across the state of Maryland. It monitors judicial and legislative issues in the state, offers legal education opportunities and promotes leadership within its programs that ensure the delivery of quality legal services to all citizens. MSBA is committed to furthering the efficient administration of justice and equality for all under the law.

Founded in 1896, the Maryland State Bar Association celebrated its Centennial over the course of 1996, following the theme "Striving for Justice." In addition to special events, a 300 page Centennial Book and other promotions, a public service project was an integral part of MSBA's Centennial.

MSBA is known for its outstanding membership services, dedication to public service and voluntary pro bono efforts. MSBA offers an array of membership services and benefits for its members and works to continually better the legal profession. MSBA promotes the spirit of public service and the spirit of volunteerism. It functions as an excellent mechanism to channel the volunteer efforts of Maryland attorneys to help society, serve to those in need and tackle some of the state's most pressing problems, like the current legal service to the poor funding crisis. The strength of MSBA lies in its members, and their willingness to volunteer for the public service.

Service to MSBA Members
Quality member services have always been a priority for MSBA. Members may join up to 24 MSBA Sections. In addition, MSBA has 30 active Committees. MSBA publishes a bi-monthly magazine, the Maryland Bar Journal, a monthly tabloid newsletter, the Bar Bulletin, a comprehensive directory, the Lawyers' Manual, and an Annual Report to keep members informed on legal trends and bar activities. The Association hosts an Annual Meeting every June in Ocean City, Maryland, and a Mid-Year Meeting in February. Through its Sections and Committee meetings, MSBA holds over 500 meetings every year. Many of MSBA's Sections publish a Section newsletter for their members.

In addition to media relations, legislative lobbying and public relations, MSBA offers members a number of exclusive membership services including:

Car Rentals Computerized Legal Research - Fastcase Courthouse Identification Badges Electronic Bar Briefs Ethics Hotline Ethics Opinions Package of Financial Services Law Office Management Administration Lawyer Counseling Legal Education (MICPEL) Life, Disability & Liability Dental Insurance Long Distance Mailing Lists Shipping Services Travel Programs

Responding to the needs of solo and small practitioners and the technological revolution in today's legal profession, MSBA also has an active Law Office Management Assistance Department. LOMA disseminates information on technology, marketing, trust accounts and office management, and sponsors the Resource Network to assist MSBA members. It produces publications, houses a library on legal software, and sponsors numerous educational sessions and technology fairs to keep members on the cutting edge of technology.

Public Service
MSBA has built a reputation, locally and nationally, as a powerful presence in the area of public service. MSBA gives lawyers the forum, plus the opportunity, to participate in public service projects. For decades, MSBA has been committed to public service projects, programs to help the indigent, and pro bono causes. MSBA is one of the top state bar associations in the nation, recognized for its innovative programs, outreach, and outstanding volunteerism.

Most notably, MSBA has received national acclaim for its commitment to legal professionalism. In 1988, MSBA implemented the now famous lawyer satisfaction survey, which indicated that dissatisfaction within the legal profession had soared to the point where one-third of the state's lawyer's were uncertain as to whether they wished to remain in the profession. This was the first report of its kind in the U.S. and the results received nationwide exposure.

The results of this survey disturbed MSBA, which convened a special professionalism conference in 1989 to improve lawyer satisfaction and enhance professionalism. One of the top recommendations was a mandatory professionalism course for all new attorneys. With approval by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, MSBA instituted this course in 1992, and over 9,000 Maryland, MSBA attorneys have now completed it. MSBA received the ABA Gambrell Professionalism Award for this initiative.

MSBA also captured national acclaim for its 1989 "People Pro Bono Campaign." Through this campaign, MSBA recruited volunteer attorneys for pro bono public service to help the state's one million poor people with access to free legal services. MSBA successfully recruited 9,000 volunteers for this worthy cause and created the People's Pro Bono Action Center to act as a clearinghouse, a connecting the volunteer attorneys with pro bono provider organizations. In turn, these organizations link the attorneys with clients in need of their help. As a result of the overwhelming success of this campaign, MSBA was honored with the ABA Harrison Tweed Award.

Over the last decade, MSBA has conducted a number of studies, including the Gender Bias/Courtwatch initiative, to promote gender equality in the judicial system and the legal profession. It launched a comprehensive study of lawyer advertising across the state, and offered more stringent lawyer and regulations to the Court of Appeals, some of which were enacted. It also created sample policy and procedure guidelines regarding sexual harassment in the legal workplace and disseminated them to members, and recently created a voluntary Code of Civility for all attorneys in Maryland in an effort to enhance professionalism and improve attorney civility.

In the last few years, the Association sought passage of legislation that created a Commission on the Future of Maryland Courts. Through this vehicle, MSBA has worked closely with Maryland's Judiciary and Legislature to improve the justice system. Its Access to Justice Taskforce and the Maryland Coalition on Civil Justice have worked to improve access and the delivery of justice to all Marylanders.

In 1995, MSBA created LAW LINKS, the innovative student internship program that gives Baltimore City High School juniors and seniors the opportunity to work in a law firm or law-related agency during the summer. Through this program, 50 students will be paid for eight weeks of summer employment by the local law firms and given time off each week to participate in the educational component of the program to prepare them for college and the business world. This is only one example of the many programs MSBA sponsors in the school system in conjunction with the Citizenship Law-Related Education Program.