The Benefits of Bar Service
The Bencher—March/April
By Rhonda Jennings Blackburn, Esquire
Serving in bar leadership is one of the most rewarding experiences in my 25-year career as a lawyer. I am constantly amazed by the lawyers I meet, both statewide and nationally, who have made the commitment to serve the needs of other lawyers. The sacrifices of time and energy from so many dedicated attorneys is a shining example of what effective bar leadership can do to promote the practice of law and support the attorney, both professionally and personally.
As president of the Kentucky Bar Association, I hope my leadership has been as beneficial to the bar and its members as it has been to me. The Kentucky Bar Association provides crucial service to its members in many ways. By sharing a sample of them with you, perhaps it will spark ideas that can assist other bar associations.
Rural Practice. Across the United States, the problems facing rural areas and the lack of local students returning as attorneys after graduating from law school are reaching a crisis level. Most members of the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents have programs designed to study the issue and develop strategies to encourage young attorneys to return home or move to rural areas to practice law. Whereas most bar presidents routinely come from metro and/or more populous areas, I have spent the entirety of my practice in my rural hometown. Over the past several years, through design, the Kentucky Bar Association has ensured that its leadership comes from across the state, not solely its urban centers. Diversity in geography and practice areas is critical to ensure that all lawyers are fairly represented in the bar association.
There is a misconception by some that rural practitioners are not as skilled as those in urban areas. This is far from the truth. Some of the best attorneys I have ever met or worked with were in the rural areas of Kentucky. Although few attorneys are returning to rural Kentucky, the ones who do come back are doing well. While such things are easy to say or write, seeing someone who has succeeded in a rural practice can have a much bigger impact. Diversifying bar leadership is a critical component of that work.
Transparency. When I made the commitment to bar leadership and this presidency, I promised myself that I would do it openly and honestly. Too often in this world, people seek to present themselves as something different than who they actually are. Social media is often a carefully curated fiction presenting our best selves for the world to see. Attorneys are no different. Attorney advertising always tells you about successes and never about failures. This fiction of infallibility can be extremely detrimental to an attorney’s psyche.
It is easier to put one’s best self forward, but that is not necessarily what attorneys need to see. No one’s life and career is perfect. Bar members, and especially the younger attorneys, need to understand that mistakes are inevitable, you won’t always win, and practicing law is not without its emotional struggles. Most importantly, none of these things means you are a bad or weak attorney. It’s how you deal with these problems that determines your mettle. Sometimes, the only way to sleep at night is to know that you gave your best effort and that’s all you can do.
One of the important programs the Kentucky Bar Association provides is the Kentucky Lawyer’s Assistance Program (KYLAP), which provides resources for attorneys who have mental health issues or a substance use disorder. These programs are necessarily confidential for very important reasons. However, some have chosen to disclose that they used the program and talk about the help they received. Their openness is crucial to promoting KYLAP to those who need it most, and I am grateful for their willingness to share their KYLAP experience. It’s also important for bar leadership to be transparent if they have battled mental health or substance use issues.
Although I have not used KYLAP, I have been open about my own issues with depression while practicing law. Too many attorneys check out of their practice, rather than seeking help to manage stress. It has been important to me to let those attorneys who are struggling know they are not alone and that help is available for those who ask. If these disclosures help just one person, it will be worth it. By having bar leadership be transparent about such things, bar members will not see failure, but success.
Showing Up. Bar leadership is a huge time commitment, but a job worth taking is a job worth doing right. I have driven almost 10,000 miles in five months across Kentucky to wherever anyone wanted me to be. It’s important to show up to support the activities of the state’s lawyers. Driving seven hours for a two-hour dinner sounds crazy, but that effort is crucial for attorneys to know that their bar association cares about their well-being.
To be effective, bar leaders need to available. Showing up for bar members is a minimum requirement. It is the best way for a bar association to reach out to its members and promote the many beneficial programs.
Public Relations. During my years of bar leadership, it has become apparent that the vast majority of attorneys in Kentucky don’t understand the enormous effort that its bar association expends to provide quality programs to assist its attorneys professionally, financially, and personally. In addition to offering KYLAP, the Kentucky Bar Association and its staff and volunteers (and bar leadership is definitely a volunteer position) have worked tirelessly to provide competitive health insurance options, quality continuing legal education for free or at a reasonable cost, and free legal software, just to name a few. That the bar association accomplishes all that it does without raising its dues since 2012 is a remarkable achievement.
The lack of quality programs is not the issue. Rather, it is the lack of public relations. Every attorney should receive the advantages of these programs. If an attorney’s dues were merely a fee to be granted the opportunity to practice law in Kentucky, it could be considered a bargain, but the fact that the Kentucky Bar Association uses these funds to provide so many great advantages to its members should be aggressively publicized. The greatest program in the world doesn’t help if no one knows about it.
To be fair, some of the lack of knowledge is likely due to the immense time pressures natural to the profession. Finding creative ways to reach members to inform them of these advantageous programs is an uphill battle. Incorporating public speaking, written articles, and videos, along with consistent messaging has hopefully brought better awareness to the benefits the Kentucky Bar Association can and will provide to its members.
It Takes a Village. Attorneys need a robust and productive bar association to protect the interests of the legal profession and provide important resources. But a bar association can’t function correctly without dedicated volunteers, which are often in short supply. For the dedicated few who devote their time and energy to their bar association, the rewards are plentiful. Contacts and friendships across the state (and nation) are made that enhance an attorney’s reach and influence. It’s also a fun time—and who doesn’t need more of that in this world? There is opportunity for any member who wants to volunteer, and your bar association would be eternally grateful for the assist.
Sharing Ideas Makes Our Profession Better. I continue to learn from colleagues both in and out of Kentucky about new ways to approach difficult issues and inventive programs to make law practice better. I’ve shared only a few of the ways the Kentucky Bar Association is working to assist its members. I have benefitted greatly as a recipient of those benefits and as a leader of the bar. It is my hope that sharing these examples will encourage readers to use these ideas and create new ones to benefit their own bar associations.
Rhonda Jennings Blackburn, Esquire, is associate general counsel for Pikeville Medical Center in Pikeville, Kentucky, and the president of the Kentucky Bar Association.