The nation’s lawyers cheered when the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch, the courageous lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, its number one movie hero. The selection reaffirmed the deeply held belief among legal practitioners that their profession remains a noble calling. But whatever their stature on the silver screen, public confidence in lawyers remains low. The bar world has been working hard to change that.

Planning for the unexpected might not be the most natural business practice, but it is one of the most important. As the June 2006 Wisconsin Lawyer notes, disaster is one of the four leading causes of business failure. Bars have learned the lesson from tragedies such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and made disaster planning a key priority. The preparation has paid off, allowing the organized bar community to rapidly react to a series of natural disasters in 2008.

A term once used to refer mainly to race, "diversity" can now refer to almost anything that differentiates people, including gender, sexual orientation, physical disability, and religion. As the definition of diversity has expanded, so have bar association diversity programs.

Simple but effective, Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) programs combine client funds that would not earn interest on their own, and use the interest to pay for legal services for the poor. IOLTA programs now operate in all 50 states and have earned more than $3 billion combined. After a string of court victories affirming their constitutionality (see above quote), and averting a serious threat triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, IOLTA programs in many states are now focusing on increasing revenue.

Two burgeoning issues have been occupying lawyer assistance programs recently. First, many state lawyer assistance programs have reported a significant increase in lawyer suicides within the last 2-3 years. Second, a report by the National Organization of Bar Counsel and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers expressed concern about senior lawyers with failing cognitive skills.

Faced with a cumulative debt of more than $80,000 that translates to monthly payments of more than $1,000, most new law school graduates quickly dismiss careers in the low-paying fields of public service and government law.

Multijurisdictional Practice (MJP) is the temporary legal work of a lawyer in a jurisdiction in which the lawyer is not admitted to practice law. There are many concerns about MJP, and, until 1998, most states didn't allow it. But the impact of 1998's Birbrower et al v. Superior Court of Santa Clara County, the increasingly global nature of law practice, and disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have made MJP a necessity.

The need for pro bono attorneys to represent the poor is greater than ever. According to a 2005 Legal Services Corporation report, legal services attorneys are available for less than half the eligible clients who need them. The ABA and several states are implementing measures to motivate law firms, attorneys, and judges to help meet the pro bono need.

For a bar, unification means greater political influence and revenue than if it were voluntary. But some unified bar members object to a compulsory dues payment – which can be as high as $540 a year – especially when part of it is used to pay for political activity they oppose.