Member Participation: A Challenge
By James L. Baillie

“The trouble with socialism is that it would take too many evenings.”
— Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s quip wasn’t altogether serious. But it does lead us to think about something that is important. The health of our bar association, and indeed the health of our society and our individual health call on us to take occasional evenings with our fellow attorneys and others in our communities in furtherance, not of socialism, but of all of our common interests.

We have a strong bar association with a strong history. We were early leaders in mandatory CLE, IOLTA, and creation of an insurance company. We have been nationally recognized for leadership in a number of areas including continuing legal education, IOLTA, access to justice, diversity, elimination of bias, and gender equality.

We take a good deal of pride (sometimes to the point of smugness) in the level of our civic activities. But a future of civic participation is not assured. In an earlier column I introduced Bowling Alone, a book by Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam about civic participation. (The MSBA is going to use that book, with the assistance of Prof. Thomas Sander, Putnam’s research director, for a conference later this month.)

Putnam’s analysis begins with an explanation of social capital, which “refers to connections among individuals — social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from that.”

Putnam concludes that social capital “allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily.” It “greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothly.” It also widens “our awareness of the many ways in which our fates are linked.” At an individual level social capital operates “through psychological and biological processes to improve individuals’ lives.” He adds; “Mounting evidence suggests that people whose lives are rich in social capital cope better with trauma and fight illness more effectively.”

Putnam has rated the average social capital of the various states based on “group membership, attendance at public meetings on town or school affairs, service as an officer or committee member for some local organization, attendance at club meetings, volunteer work and community projects, home entertaining and socializing with friends, social trust, electoral turnout, and the incidence of nonprofit organizations and civic associations.” He finds very significant differences, roughly three-to-one, between high-ranking and low-ranking states. Minnesota, along with North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Montana are the highest in social capital. The states in the South and Nevada are the lowest. He then compares levels of social capital with levels of education and children’s welfare, educational performance, levels of TV-watching by fourth and eighth graders, murder rates, levels of pugnaciousness, a “healthy state index,” and mortality rates and finds a very high positive correlation between high levels of social capital and the desirable conditions. He also concludes that social capital is a cause of the desirable conditions, and not a common effect of some other influence.

On the personal level he states, “The single most common finding from a half century’s research on the correlates of life satisfaction, not only in the United States but around the world, is that happiness is best predicated by the breadth and depth of one’s social connections”

But a continued high level of participation is not assured. In fact, Putnam has concluded that the level of active participation nationwide has declined by half in the last 40 years. Given that the largest driver of this trend is generational, the worst is ahead of us unless we act personally to reverse the trend. Our own observations tell us that Minnesota has not been exempted from the trend. This is a challenge to our association.

Maintaining a strong Minnesota and MSBA means seeking to add to social capital, instead of drawing it down. Over the long run the strength of the association will depend on individual participation and the building of social capital. And, notwithstanding Oscar Wilde’s cynical witticism, we will benefit individually if we do so — strengthening our professional skills and understanding and broadening and strengthening our personal social contacts.

The MSBA offers many opportunities to work with others. We have opportunities requiring many hours lasting the full year and others that require only one or two hours. Some require your presence at the MSBA office, but many can be accomplished on your schedule in other locations. Not all of the opportunities are glamorous, but then the object of my challenge is not to encourage self-aggrandizement. I am challenging you to help build our social capital; to create connections with others that will build the networks that will allow us to solve the challenges facing the legal profession.

The following are a few ideas. You can find many opportunities to participate in a new section of our webpage at www.mnbar.org. My challenge to you is to go there now and participate.

• Become a pro bono volunteer
• Register for the MSBA Annual Convention or the annual meeting of your District Bar
• Join a section and get involved in its committees
• Join one of the 27 committees with open membership
• If you are a new lawyer, get active in the New Lawyers Section
• Sign up for the new grass roots legislative effort
• Participate in a listserve and share your knowledge with others
• Share your forms with others through practicelaw.org

If you don’t find an opportunity, leave your name and contact information, and we will contact you throughout the year with other ways to get involved.

Make a contribution to the social capital of Minnesota’s legal profession as a legacy to the lawyers now in grade school.

JIM BAILLIE is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association. A shareholder in the firm of Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., he concentrates his practice in business bankruptcy and insolvency law and related litigation and business transactions.