Official Publication of the Minnesota State Bar Association

Vol. 63, No. 1 | January 2006
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Finding Value in Your Membership

By Susan M. Holden

Publication of this annual directory poses a challenge that is unique among the 11 opportunities I have to address you through this page.  On one hand, the added heft of the book, coupled with the knowledge that it will likely be in regular use for a year or more, suggests that the topic of this President’s Page should be comparably weighty and chosen to stand the test of time.  On the other hand, if you are like me, you probably make greatest use of the two-thirds of this volume furthest removed from this page — the thousands of listings of Minnesota attorneys and judges — and may not have known before now that the directory even carried a President’s Page!  Clearly, this second reality suggests quite a different sort of column is called for.

Given such divergent images of how best to approach this task, perhaps it’s best to “split the difference.”  In that spirit, I offer you a “snapshot” of the msba as it stands on the eve of 2006, knowing that this record may well serve some future historian of our Association, but also confident that you won’t be missing any “breaking news” if you don’t happen to read this column for a few more months.

STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY

Eleven years ago, then-President Mike Galvin Jr. of St. Paul noted in his directory President’s Page that msba had come a long way since 1970, when our membership was overwhelmingly white and male.  As Galvin related, in 1995 women comprised 25 percent of the 14,285 Association members and the percentage of members who were attorneys of color was estimated at 3 percent. 

Through the efforts of Minnesota employers, law schools, and such bodies as our Diversity and Women in the Legal Profession committees, the legal profession in Minnesota has since become considerably more diverse as our profession has grown.  Women now comprise just over 33 percent of 15,385 msba members.  While figures for attorneys of color are not so readily available, data from the National Association for Law Placement indicate that late in 2005 attorneys of color comprised 5 percent of attorneys at 20 Twin Cities area law firms.  Attorneys of color comprise 12.5 percent of the Assembly, msba’s principal governing body, while women comprise 35 percent of this important group.

While progress has thus been made, we do not rest on our laurels.  Our Task Force on Diversity in the Profession, cochaired by Leslie Altman and Michael Tracy, recently hired a part-time staff member to assist with a significant study this year of gender and race issues in Minnesota’s legal community.  The msba-sponsored Minnesota Minority Clerkship Program, designed to place selected first-year law students of color in summer legal clerkships with Twin Cities area employers, in November exceeded its recruitment goal, having recruited 20 employers for summer 2006 and started a waiting list for 2007.  Meanwhile, the Women in the Legal Profession Committee has actively promoted its Self-Audit for Gender Equity (sage) Program, winning commitments from 25 major firms for the past two years and in December marketing the program to an additional 100 large firms and corporate legal departments.

COMMITTEES & SECTIONS

The task force and committees mentioned above are but a few of the working groups available within the msba for members seeking to broaden their knowledge, sharpen their skills, and contribute to their profession.  msba today has 22 committees and 33 sections focusing on legal subjects ranging from Administrative Law to Tax, Insurance for Members to Publications, Human Rights to the Rules of Professional Conduct.  Whatever your area of particular interest or expertise, there’s a place for you in msba and we depend on you and others like you for our continued well-being as an association.  Indeed, one measure of our success is members’ participation.  At last report, 8,039 msba members (52%) were also members of sections, and many hold membership in more than one section. 

Let me encourage each of you to take the opportunity to join a committee or section: to expand your skills, enhance your competence, and maximize the value of your membership.  Not incidentally, by participating you will also enrich the experience of others and gain the satisfaction that comes from working together for betterment of your profession.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION

In addition to the work we do together in committees and sections, msba is active every year at the Legislature, working to improve the law and the administration of justice in Minnesota.  Legislative proposals coming from our sections and committees are first reviewed by the Legislative Committee of the Assembly, this year chaired by attorney John Dornik.  Legislative positions recommended by the Committee and endorsed by the Assembly are then carried to the Legislature by our lobbyist, Lloyd Grooms.  In this way the msba maintains an active presence at the Legislature to aid our representatives and senators in arriving at decisions that we feel are in the best interests of the public and the judicial system.

Individual msba members also have opportunities to be involved in this effort through our Grassroots Action Network.  Through the Network, msba informs members about legislative issues so that they can in turn influence their legislators and other policymakers.

In order to make important legislative decisions, elected officials need advice on legislation from informed constituents. Particularly with respect to issues involving the legal profession and the administration of justice, but also regarding many important legal and policy issues facing our communities, lawyers have a valuable perspective to offer and are encouraged to sign up for the Network.

Whatever path you choose to become involved in the work of msba, I’m confident you will find the experience rewarding and a source of professional pride.  Our Association continues strong, thanks to the efforts of members like you.  c

SUSAN M. HOLDEN is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association.  A partner and member of the board of directors of the Minneapolis personal injury firm of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, Ltd., she is certified as a civil trial specialist by the msba.