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This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards.(December 2019) |
Type | Legal Society |
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Headquarters | Phoenix and Tucson, AZ |
Location |
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Membership | 18,500 (2022) [1] |
Key people | Jessica Sanchez (President) [2] |
Website | http://www.azbar.org/ |
The State Bar of Arizona is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Arizona. The Arizona Supreme Court licenses lawyers, while the State Bar administers the regulation of the practice of law. The State Bar, under the direction of the Court, establishes procedures for the discipline of lawyer misconduct and provides education and development programs for the legal profession and the public. Through the Rules of The Supreme Court of Arizona, the privilege to practice law in Arizona is granted solely to "active member[s] of the state bar." [3]
It is governed by a 30-member Board of Governors: four non-attorney, public members appointed by the Board; three at-large members appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court, 19 attorney members elected by fellow Bar members in their districts; and four ex officio members (immediate past president and the deans of Arizona's three law schools.)
The Bar is a private/non-profit funded through membership dues and service fees; it is not a state agency and receives no taxpayer funding.[ citation needed ]
The State Bar was organized to advance the administration of justice, provide for the regulation and discipline of persons engaged in the practice of law; foster integrity, learning, competence, and public service within the legal profession. Its active membership includes nearly 18,500 lawyers, both in-state and out-of-state. Total membership (including categories for inactive, judicial, retired and others) is nearly 24,000.
Consumers look to the State Bar as a resource of information about the legal system, including how to find and hire a lawyer, alternatives to trial, and how to handle a dispute with a lawyer. All of these topics can be found on the Bar's website at www.azbar.org or through free brochures (published by the Bar) available at local libraries and at the State Bar offices in Phoenix and Tucson.
Lawyers on Call is a public service program sponsored by the State Bar of Arizona and Phoenix's 12 News KPNX TV. Members of the public can have their legal questions answered by volunteer lawyers. The Bar also partners with Univision to provide a similar service for the Spanish-speaking community.
The State Bar promotes the work of its sister organization, the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education, also known as the Arizona Bar Foundation. The Foundation supports pro bono volunteer work by Arizona lawyers, including the "Wills for Heroes" program, which provides free wills to first responders. Other programs of the Foundation include Kids Voting, Project Citizen, AZLawHelp.org, We the People, LawforVeterans.org, LawforSeniors.org, and LawforKids.org.
Lawyer Regulation In addition to providing member services, the State Bar acts in the capacity of a consumer protection agency. The "Find a Lawyer" tool on www.azbar.org includes the name of anyone ever admitted to the State Bar, along with their current status and a record of their discipline history, if any. There are detailed explanations of disciplinary sanctions on the website, along with a complete description of the disciplinary system.
In 2010 the lawyer regulation process was reviewed by The State Bar of Arizona, the Arizona Supreme Court and respondents' counsel representatives. A streamlined system, launched in January, 2011, has resulted in marked improvements in resolution at the Intake stage. The vast majority of charges against lawyers, which might include such things as failing to return calls promptly, can be quickly resolved with a call or letter to the lawyer. These minor charges do not require full investigation. Instead, the resources of the State Bar can be devoted to more serious charges which can take months to investigate.
To protect lawyers from frivolous complaints, the Rules of The Supreme Court of Arizona allow the Bar to:
Serious ethical violations may result in a variety of sanctions or diversion, with disbarment being the most severe form of sanction. The State Bar publishes these sanctions on its website and notifies media outlets in the sanctioned lawyer's jurisdiction.
The entire lawyer regulation process is monitored by the Attorney Regulation Advisory Committee of the Arizona Supreme Court.
Professional Development The State Bar of Arizona provides a variety of professional development opportunities for its members, ranging from the Bar Leadership Institute, Arizona College of Trial Advocacy, 28 practice area sections, Law Office Management Assistance, Mentor Program, and Young Lawyers Division.
The first Arizona-wide bar association was created in 1895. In 1902, it led the rewriting of a civil code for the Territory and in 1904 strongly promoted the admission of Arizona as a state into the Union. In 1906 the Arizona Bar Association was first incorporated. In 1912 it adopted the ethical rules of the American Bar Association and began official admission procedures for law practice.
James M. Murphy, the 24th president of the State Bar of Arizona, recounted the founding of the Bar in a 1960 article for the Arizona Law Review: [6]
"On the Glorious Feast of St. Patrick in the year 1933, [7] the State Bar of Arizona was created as an integrated legal entity. By act of the Legislature the State Bar became a semi-public body, and membership in it was required for anyone who might practice law in Arizona."
The first organizational meeting of the State Bar was held in the Supreme Court Room in Phoenix on September 15, 1933. At that time there were about 600 lawyers in Arizona, exclusive of judges.
In 1948 the Bar established its first central office in Phoenix. The first Executive Director was hired in 1954. In 1955 the Board authorized the creation of sections in the State Bar organization for the benefit of members with a special interest in particular areas of the law.
In April 1961, the Bar published the first Bar Journal, an anthology of featured articles from 1940 to date. This publication has since evolved into Arizona Attorney magazine, which is published 11 times annually and has been nationally recognized as the premier large-bar publication in the country. [8]
In 1988 the Bar opened a satellite office in Tucson, serving lawyers in Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties. Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirements were adopted in 1991.
The 21st century ushered in a number of changes at the State Bar, including an electronic newsletter, eLegal, sent bimonthly to all members. The Bar purchased and moved into new headquarters in Phoenix and purchased a building for the Southern Regional Office in Tucson.
In 2012, the Bar's total membership rose to more than 22,000, which includes out-of-state members.
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct but may also be imposed for incompetence or incapacity. Procedures vary depending on the law society; temporary disbarment may be referred to as suspension.
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister, solicitor, or civil law notary. However, there is a substantial amount of overlap between the practice of law and various other professions where clients are represented by agents. These professions include real estate, banking, accounting, and insurance. Moreover, a growing number of legal document assistants (LDAs) are offering services which have traditionally been offered only by lawyers and their employee paralegals. Many documents may now be created by computer-assisted drafting libraries, where the clients are asked a series of questions that are posed by the software in order to construct the legal documents. In addition, regulatory consulting firms also provide advisory services on regulatory compliance that were traditionally provided exclusively by law firms.
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separate the area in which court business is done from the viewing area for the general public.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C.
The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate discipline, accepting attorney-member fees, and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California; however, its Trustees are now appointed by the Supreme Court, the California Legislature, and Governor of California. All attorney admissions are issued as recommendations of the State Bar, which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court. Attorney discipline is handled by the State Bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel, which acts as prosecutor before the State Bar Court of California.
The State Bar of Texas is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas. With more than 100,000 active members, the State Bar of Texas is one of the largest state bars in the United States. Unlike the American Bar Association (ABA), the State Bar of Texas (SBOT) is a mandatory bar. The State Bar is headquartered in the Texas Law Center at 1414 Colorado Street in Austin.
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are distinct practising certificates.
Lorna Elizabeth Lockwood was an American lawyer and judge who served as justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is the state bar association of the U.S. state of Washington. It operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's nearly 41,000 active and inactive lawyers and other legal professionals. In furtherance of its obligation to protect and serve the public, the WSBA regulates lawyers and other legal professionals and serves its members as a professional association. The WSBA's mission is to serve the public and the members of the Bar, to ensure the integrity of the legal profession, and to champion justice.
Legal advertising is advertising by lawyers (attorneys), solicitors and law firms. Legal marketing is a broader term referring to advertising and other practices, including client relations, social media, and public relations. It's a type of marketing undertaken by law firms, lawyers (attorneys) and solicitors that aims to promote the services of law firms and increase their brand awareness.
Sarah Herring Sorin was Arizona's first woman attorney and the first woman to try a case in front of the United States Supreme Court unassisted by a male attorney. Sorin practiced law with her father William Herring in the firm "Herring & Sorin" initially in Tombstone, Arizona, and later in Tucson. After her father's death, Sorin moved to Globe, Arizona, where she became the attorney for the Old Dominion Copper Company and United Globe Mines. Sarah Sorin is a member of the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.(See photo of Sarah Herring Sorin in the Arizona Library Archives.) She is also included in Stanford Law School's Women's Legal History Biography Project.
Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the right of lawyers to advertise their services. In holding that lawyer advertising was commercial speech entitled to protection under the First Amendment, the Court upset the tradition against advertising by lawyers, rejecting it as an antiquated rule of etiquette.
The State Bar of Michigan is the governing body for lawyers in the State of Michigan. Membership is mandatory for attorneys who practice law in Michigan. The organization's mission is to aid in promoting improvements in the administration of justice and advancements in jurisprudence, improving relations between the legal profession and the public, and promoting the interests of the legal profession in Michigan.
The Virginia State Bar (VSB) is the administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia created to regulate, improve and advance the legal profession in Virginia. Membership in good standing in the VSB is mandatory for attorneys wishing to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VSB is thus an integrated bar.
The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama.
Fennemore Craig, P.C. is a Mountain West regional law firm that offers clients legal services in both litigation and commercial transactions.
The Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The mission of the Louisiana State Bar Association is to assist and serve its members in the practice of law, assure access to and aid in the administration of justice, assist the Supreme Court in the regulation of the practice of law, uphold the honor of the courts and the profession, promote the professional competence of attorneys, increase public understanding of and respect for the law, and encourage collegiality among its members.
The State Bar of Wisconsin (SBW) is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for all attorneys who hold a Wisconsin law license, the State Bar of Wisconsin aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education and other services for its members, and supports the education of law students. The SBW also provides public services, including attorney referrals, public education, and reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents.
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