Cover stories:

Foundations and associations: Working on the ‘marriage’

Bar foundations and bar associations are two very different types of organizations that often “live” within one building and sometimes operate with just one staff. While some conflict may be inevitable, association and foundation leaders have found ways to preserve harmony and work for the common good. Also, here’s a look at a new set of foundation services primarily for executive directors pulling “double duty” for the foundation and association.

Building your bar foundation: A ‘how-to’ and a case study

How does a bar foundation accomplish great things? By being clear on its mission and its capabilities, and by linking with other groups doing good work in its area. Marion Smithberger of the Columbus Bar Foundation and Columbus Bar Association offers some advice for newer foundations and shares how teamwork among the association, the foundation, a local philanthropist, and others is changing the way domestic violence cases are handled in the Columbus area.

GATS scratches its way onto bar leaders’ radar

GATS? What’s that? The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a worldwide trade agreement that could dramatically change the face of the profession (some compare it to multijurisdictional practice, but on an international scale). But many lawyers and bar leaders know very little about it. Negotiations are ongoing and set to wrap up in January 2005, and there’s still time to get involved.

And the survey says ... Things are getting better for most lawyers

Figures from recent surveys of the profession indicate that most lawyers enjoy a better quality of life—in terms of income, work/life balance, and other factors—than they did in 1990. But there’s room for improvement: For example, lawyers and firms are less loyal to each other than they used to be, and there’s still work to be done in eliminating sexual and racial discrimination. Allan B. Head, chair of the Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services, guides us through the statistics and offers his thoughts on the future of the profession.