A Different Bar Year

AYLA PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

BY DAVID KING

While I am often reluctant to predict the future, here is one thing we can count on: The 2020-21 bar year is going to be very different. The pandemic has upended virtually every aspect of our lives with no end in sight. The toll in terms of both human lives and economic well-being is staggering. And, on top of all of that, it’s an election year!

And yet, now more than ever, during these chaotic and uncertain times, it is critical that our legal community remains connected and involved. The need is great. There is no question, with unemployment expected to reach its highest level since the Great Depression, the need for legal services, particularly for the most vulnerable, is climbing and will continue to climb dramatically. Evictions, domestic violence, bankruptcies, fraud— there is a wave coming, to the extent it is not already here, and it will get worse before it gets better. At the same time, many are faced with the dilemma of how to get involved when our traditional social structures have been dismantled by the pandemic. Once upon a time (i.e., six months ago), AYLA held monthly service days with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Central Texas Food Bank, the Austin Parks Foundation, and many others. We also organized groups to volunteer at Volunteer Legal Services’ weekly clinics and to go to the Community First! Village to draft wills for the homeless.

While I hesitate to call it a silver lining, I believe the pandemic—both its disruption and the isolation it has imposed—has left people more eager than ever to get involved in confronting our community’s biggest issues.

Like so many other organizations, AYLA’s programs have been deeply impacted by the pandemic. This requires AYLA to adapt. Indeed, AYLA must adapt if it is to fulfill its mission of promoting justice through service to the profession and the community. This will certainly be a challenge, but I am confident that AYLA and its members will rise to that challenge.

While I hesitate to call it a silver lining, I believe the pandemic—both its disruption and the isolation it has imposed—has left people more eager than ever to get involved in confronting our community’s biggest issues. We are seeing this, for example, as protests continue across the country over racial injustice. This outpouring of activism in the face of the pandemic is inspiring. And we are seeing this increased involvement among AYLA’s members, too. In July, AYLA worked hand-in-hand with the Austin Bar to respond to the online commentary posted by State Bar of Texas President Larry McDougal. In back-to-back meetings called with short notice, the boards of the Austin Bar and AYLA assembled (remotely, of course) to unanimously approve a joint resolution condemning racism and encouraging the implementation of changes like requiring anti-racism/implicit-bias training, providing funding to the Office of Minority Affairs that is sufficient to allow it to increase programming and communication on issues regarding diversity and racial issues within the State Bar, and augmenting Texas Bar Journal content by publishing highlights and stories regarding successes and challenges related to diversity within the profession.

The following month, AYLA again teamed up with the Austin Bar to form a joint Supervised Practice Committee, which aims to match yet-to-be-licensed law school graduates with lawyer supervisors in the Austin legal community, with a focus on pro bono work.

These are some of the ways that AYLA and its members are staying involved. There will be much more to come as the bar year gets underway. To be sure, we also expect, one day, to resume our “regularly scheduled programming”—including our Judicial Reception, where AYLA members mix and mingle with our local judges; the Runway for Justice fashion show, which features your favorite local lawyers and judges modeling various looks; and, of course, our monthly Docket Calls. But, in the meantime, AYLA will be turning its sights elsewhere, and, in particular, toward the needs which arise as our community grapples with the pandemic’s repercussions.

Finally, if there is one thing we need here at AYLA as we adapt to this rapidly changing world it is innovative thinking and leadership. With many of its programs on hiatus, AYLA is fertile ground for completely new ideas about what we can do as an organization and how we should do it. To that end, I encourage our members to get involved and take ownership of their organization. Join one of AYLA’s committees; better yet, email me your ideas for new committees that can help activate AYLA’s members. And encourage your friends to join! With new members come new ideas.

In these difficult times, many of us have a deep desire to not only stay connected to others, but also help others in need. AYLA aims to accomplish both. With any luck, this bar year will be remembered, not simply for the challenges we faced, but for the unique ways we responded to those challenges. AL

David King, Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody