once we have settled on a direction. A sample of questions to be considered in- clude: Can we better leverage our Asso- ciation to provide affordable e-services such as cloud storage? Can we better as- sist persons who are reading for the bar? What opportunities exist for our members in the new health care legislation? Should we advocate for a tax deduction tied to student loans? It is the constant sifting of good ideas to find the several that fit our legal landscape and budget that is the dif- ficult part. For this we will need more than your dues: we will also need your time, in- put, and yes, your cosmic thinking. The VBA already has a progressive dues structure, based on years of membership, with a maximum annual rate of $195.00. This is one of the lowest rates in the coun- try for any state bar association, voluntary or involuntary. We have an active CLE pro- gram, mentoring, Casemaker, a pro bono coordinator, lawyer referral services, law practice management services, the Ver-
mont Bar Journal, list serves, Twitter, Face- book, blogs, the VBA Directory, and the eNews. We sponsor a legal roundtable that recently dealt with the clerkship require- ment. We have a staff and executive di- rector that is the envy of bar associations across the country. We are active in multi- ple school and community civic events. That said, the changing legal landscape
will require us to continuously adapt and refine the services we provide. Of our 2116 members, only 347 are in their twenties and thirties, and only 216 of them have practiced less than four years. Clearly, there is a bubble of legal experience and talent moving through our ranks that will soon be looking to a next generation of lawyers that currently just does not exist. All problems present opportunities. With some foresight, the VBA hopes to be at the center of those opportunities. No doubt the Big Bang, or other source of our origins, is still unfolding in ways that we cannot control. Nonetheless, we insist
on trying anyway by setting some of our own carbon in motion. In so doing, a small association of lawyers and their associates just might be able to avoid being overrun by forces beyond our borders and learn some new tricks of the trade in the bargain. As noble and romantic as the buffalo be, it is better that they be found on the plains where they belong rather than in the zoo standing in the rain.
Be well, Jim Carroll
____________________ Jim Carroll, Esq., is President of the Ver- mont Bar Association and practices law with the firm of English, Carroll and Boe, P.C., in Middlebury.
For a copy of the complete report, go to
http://www.nysba.org/AM/Template. cfm?Section=Task_Force_on_the_Future_of_ the_Legal_Profession_Home&Template=/CM/
ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=48108.
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THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2012
www.vtbar.org
President’s Column
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