From the President of the KBF

KBF—It’s the Right Thing to Do

by Scott Hill, KBF President

In the past two weeks, my law firm of Hite, Fanning & Honeyman LLP welcomed two new recent law school graduates—Brett Sitts and Evan Hathaway—as associate attorneys. For one of those attorneys (Evan), I have been assigned the role of “Supervising Partner,” which means that I help manage his workload, guide and mentor, and provide professional training and teaching to supplement what law school teaches all of us. On a day-to-day basis, I have found that this responsibility involves substantive support focused on research techniques, analysis and conclusions, and general writing approaches and conventions.

Last week, however, I sent Evan and Brett an email to describe some of our firm’s unwritten cultural expectations— not employee handbook issues and not items subject to any repercussions, but items where participation and observance helps define who we are as a law firm. Inherently, I was describing things like attending firm social functions, or certain practices related to secretaries and paralegals. But I found myself heading down the path of describing my firm’s “culture” of bar participation.

Let me take you back nearly 17 years to when I began my practice at Hite, Fanning. The summer of 2005 was my second summer as a lawyer with the firm. The annual meeting was to be held in Vail, Colorado. I recall asking Linda Parks (our firm’s managing partner and bar association juggernaut) whether I should attend and what I should attend. Her response was an overwhelming “yes.” As to what I should attend the discussion centered primarily around the Kansas Bar Foundation and its annual Fellows Dinner.

Linda suggested that while the Bar Foundation was my personal choice, it is something that every lawyer in our firm, and every lawyer in the state, should consider doing, because it is the “right thing to do.” In general terms, we talked through the comparative missions of, and the relationship between, the KBA and the KBF. She described the IOLTA program and what it did for numerous Kansans, including grant recipients themselves as well as those who received the benefit of the grant recipients’ works. The sales pitch was enough to get me to make a pledge to the Foundation and to become a Fellow.

Fast forward through the next 15 years, during which time I’ve conveyed this similar message to each new associate at my firm (and many across the bar.) In those conversations, I’ve shared many of the same facts and figures as Linda once described to me—the mission, the good work, and the impact.

But there is more to the story that I tell to Evan today—and that I share with all of you non-Fellows, whether you are a new attorney or a well-seasoned one. It gets back to “it’s the right thing to do.”

I won’t attempt here to shift to a scholarly article, except to say that the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct address many of our obligations for public service. See KRPC Rule 6.1-6.4. But the obligation is greater and more generalized:

As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority. A lawyer should be mind-

ful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest. The attributes contained in this paragraph for lawyers’ conduct shall be an aspirational goal of all lawyers.

KRPC, Preamble ¶6.

The KBF’s missions is “...to serve the citizens of Kansas and the legal profession through funding charitable and educational projects that foster the welfare, honor and integrity of the legal system by improving its accessibility, equality and uniformity, by enhancing public opinion of the role of lawyers in our society.” This mission fits squarely within—if not mirroring—the “aspirational goal of all lawyers” as set out in the above paragraph of the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct. Is participation in the KBF the “right thing to do?” As I read the KRPC, I think the answer is an absolute and unequivocal “yes.”

I return to where I began, to my conversation with Evan: “Become a Fellow of the Kansas Bar Foundation as it is the ‘right thing to do.’” As his Supervising Partner, it is my duty to set him down the right path—both in his professional training and in professional service. Being a part of the Foundation is a step in that right direction. n

About the Author

Scott Hill is a partner at Hite, Fanning & Honeyman L.L.P. He concentrates his practice in banking, business transactions, business litigation and real estate. Scott sits on his firm’s management committee and devotes substantial time to his firm’s management and marketing efforts. Raised in Independence, Kan., he graduated from Pittsburg State University and Washburn University School of Law. Scott earned his MBA at Washburn during law school. He is married to Jennifer Hill of McDonald, Tinker, and has two sons (ages 11 and 7).

hill@hitefanning.com

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