Last year, the MSBA reduced its price for student memberships to $0. We did this fully aware that the conventional wisdom says a financial buy-in – even a modest one – better ensures engagement among those signing up. The argument says students are too quick to dismiss programs they don’t pay for. We understand why this might be the case but the sort of civic engagement at the core of a professional association like ours needs to be driven by something other than behavioral economics.
Former MSBA president and author of A Profession on Edge, Wood Foster argues that the legal profession has changed more in the last 15 years than it did in the 150 years from 1849 to 1999. Indeed, programs like Confronting Displacement did not exist 15 years ago. (LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer didn’t exist 15 years ago.) These changes impact even some of the traditional and longer-term efforts of bar associations. Per Foster:
- safeguarding and assuring adequate funding of our court systems and improving the processes by which judges are selected;
- improving our laws by assuring that proposed changes are reviewed by a wide range of lawyers;
- reviewing, improving, teaching, and enforcing the ethical, professional, and practice standards to which we have agreed to bind ourselves;
- establishing and maintaining high quality legal education and continuing legal education;
- addressing inequality of opportunity and potential bias in legal institutions and supporting efforts to improve diversity and inclusiveness;
- identifying and bridging the justice gap by encouraging and supporting institutions and programs that provide opportunities and support for lawyers to provide pro bono services;
- accommodating and adjusting to the rapid internationalization of BigLaw, addressing the new forms of association (read: MDP) that will soon accompany that process, without limiting or diluting the core responsibilities of the profession; and
- protecting the public and assisting lawyers by providing adequate resources to address growing mental health and chemical dependency issues among lawyers.
Our primary goal with law students is to help them make meaningful connections with practicing attorneys. These connections, however, are not focused on job prospecting alone. They are also opportunities to demonstrate leadership in a rapidly changing professional ecosystem. No doubt, we invest in the professional development of our members but as Foster points out, stewardship of the profession is a collective effort. Responding to a genuine desire to contribute to the profession is something we need to get right as a member association. We are aware that sometimes the most valuable contributions come from the most unexpected sources. It’s for this reason our starting point is growing the number of student members. Not every project will appeal to every student member. But, our goal is to create an active space where our student members might critique, adopt, join, master, create – even re-create if necessary – projects which serve both the profession and a student’s personal development.
To join the MSBA as a student, click here or contact Mike Carlson.