By Ben Walters, Esq.

The Board of Directors of the Anchorage Bar Association has been discussing ways to get our members to be more informed about the Anchorage Bar Association, a voluntary local bar association, and about the mandatory, statewide Alaska Bar Association. We encourage more active participation in both associations. Both associations play a significant role in the community, from providing social and networking events such as the annual St. Patrick's Day party by the Anchorage Bar, funding important public service projects through the Anchorage Bar Young Lawyers Section, providing continuing legal education, vendor benefits, and the Alaska Bar's regulation of attorneys.

This year, however, it is particularly important for all of us to be more actively involved and interested in the proceedings at this year's annual Alaska Bar Convention in Anchorage. We must resolve to take an active role in that convention. Of particular interest is the rumor that the Board of Directors of the Alaska Bar Association will consider a motion to raise the mandatory membership fees despite that fees have already been increased for participation in the substantive sections and that the Alaska Bar Association has a large reserve (approximately 2 million dollars). Discounts for voluntary continuing legal education have also been cut back and the cost of taking continuing legal education courses offered by the Alaska Bar Association are on the rise.

Additionally, the Anchorage Bar Association Board is concerned about the quality and quantity of support the association extends to the membership. We ask ourselves whether we are getting additional support or benefit from the fees we are presently required to pay, fees which are among the highest in the country of any bar association. Is it enough to simply be regulated? Does our mandatory bar association work with and support the legal community and the practice of law to the degree other mandatory bar associations do? In short, does the Alaska Bar Association really matter? We will be looking at how our membership dues are being used. We are concerned that bar associations in general may be playing a less significant role in a practicing attorney's career. We are concerned about the effects this has for the development of new lawyers, for professionalism, for the development of the law, and for the perception of law and lawyers by the general public. While we appreciate the excellence of the staff at the Alaska Bar Association, have they been charged with too narrow of a focus when they merely regulate?

The Board of Directors of the Anchorage Bar Association believes that bar dues and the role of the Alaska Bar Association is an area in which all members of the bar should have a concern and in which they should take an active part. The Anchorage Bar Association will be looking to find appropriate venues in which to raise the consciousness of our members and other voting members of the state bar in the succeeding months. We hope you will find some of the debate or discussions of value and be moved to exercise your voice in determining the direction of our statewide Alaska Bar Association and of your own Anchorage Bar Association. Please feel free to contact us with your own ideas about this dialogue. Our website is www.anchoragebarassociation.org.