by John Baldwin
My father was a lawyer for as long as I can remember before he sat on the District Court Bench. I grew up wondering where you took a deposition to, why we got calls from the jail in the middle of the night and thinking that his going to a Bar meeting was just another way of saying he was at the University Club. In sixth grade I did a report on careers. Even then I had heard that people thought there were too many lawyers. My father told me there would always be room for good lawyers. So I went to law school to become a good lawyer.
I graduated from law school at the University of Utah in 1980 and practiced law in a Salt Lake firm for two years, spent three more years in the AG's office, five years as Director of the Utah Securities Division and have been the Bar's Executive Director for sixteen. I paid my Bar fees every year, got involved in a couple of sections and hoped they never re-read my Bar exam because I didn't know how I passed in the first place. I read the old Bar Bulletin and paid particular attention to the discipline news.
L.M. Cummings was the first Executive Director of the Bar. He began when the Bar was organized as an association in 1931 and stayed on until 1958 when Dean Sheffield became the face of the Bar. I heard stories about Dean Sheffield throughout my childhood. Dean was the Bar for 27 years. He answered phones, spoke at conferences, met with the court, and directed the Bar at offices beginning at Continental Bank Building to the house on 2nd South. He ran the Bar exam when I took it in 1980. I can still see him standing before us in the old Hilton Motor Inn and telling us not to pay attention to the police dispatcher on the PA system in the room and focus on the real estate essay.
Under Dean's watch the Bar grew from a few hundred lawyers to a few thousand. The staff grew, the legal profession began to show signs of becoming more of a business, and new technology was introduced: IBM selectrics and fax machines and even fundamental word processing computers. In 1985, Dean retired and Steve Hutchinson came to shepherd an explosion of public services and member benefits as the Commission grew in number and took on more programs and forward-looking policies. Bar staff grew to meet the growing demands of the lawyers in the state and increasing needs to help find lawyers, improve legal education and expand the range of group benefit programs.
The Bar numbered 3,500 when I came on board. There were seventeen on the Bar staff, including two lawyers and two secretaries in the disciplinary department. In the sixteen years since, the Bar has grown to 8,800 lawyers, staff has grown to 35 and there are 6 lawyers, 5 paralegals and staff support in the Office of Professional Conduct. Programs now also include free legal research on CaseMaker, and an expanded lawyers assistance program which includes both peer-to-peer help and professional counseling. The Bar communicates with its membership via this Bar Journal and monthly e-bulletins. The OPC gets 1,500 complaints yearly. Cases go to trial before a district court judge and are no longer heard by the Board of Bar Commissioners.
The regulation of the practice of law in Utah had its roots in the formal association of Utah lawyers in 1894 who sought to improve communications within the legal community and find ways of serving the general public. As the State Bar Association of Utah, they collected dues, elected officers, formed committees, lobbied, met in convention and socialized together. In 1931 the Utah Legislature codified the regulation of the practice of law within the state's Judicial Code by requiring "persons engaged in the practice of law" to be admitted to the Bar. The legislature also provided that the Court approve the Bar's rules and regulations under its constitutional authority.
In 1981 the Court promulgated the Rules for Integration and Management of the Utah State Bar, restating its inherent authority under the Utah Constitution to regulate the practice of law, delegating certain responsibilities to the Bar, and acting to "perpetuate, create and continue" the Bar under its "direction and control." In 1985 the Utah Constitution was amended to explicitly grant the Court authority to govern the practice of law. In 1991 the Bar incorporated as a 501(c)(6) Utah non-profit corporation at the request of the Court.
The Bar is housed in the Utah Law and Justice Center. The innovative building opened its doors eighteen years ago to permit the Bar to expand, hold CLE seminars and to service the needs of non-profit, community-based and public service programs designed to deliver educational, charitable and ADR at the grass roots level. The building was dedicated to be a gathering place for government and civic leaders and to make both traditional and "alternative systems" of dispute resolution more responsive to the needs of society. It was built primarily through contributions from several Utah based foundations and the generosity of many Utah lawyers.
Over 18,000 professional, community, governmental, and educational groups have met here, bringing over 400,000 people within the walls. The Center also hosts numerous programs to assist people with legal needs, including Tuesday Night Bar, Utah Dispute Resolution and Utah Law Related Education.
The Bar is financially healthy. The Bar Commission devotes considerable time and energy to assure that its accounting systems reflect accurate and timely financial reporting. Monthly financial reports and adopted policies and procedures are scrutinized by a separate Budget and Finance Committee consisting of CPA's, and lawyers with financial backgrounds. Along with the Budget and Finance Committee and outside auditors, the Commission has established comprehensive guidelines for the management of Bar funds and has updated financial reporting technology.
The Bar has budgeted to spend a little over $4 million in the fiscal year through a balanced budget. Licensing fees from lawyers provide 62% of annual revenue, and the various CLE events, admissions fees, building room rental, Bar Journal advertising, interest on accounts and other income-producing activities provide the remaining 38%.
The largest portion of the Bar's budget is used for core regulatory functions including the admissions investigation and character and fitness process, Bar application administration, Bar examinations, discipline, CLE and general Bar administration. At the advice of our Budget and Finance Committee and outside auditors, the Commission has set aside a $200,000 annual contingency reserve for unanticipated annual needs, a $200,000 capital reserve for replacement of depreciated property and a $600,000 operations reserve for unanticipated declines in revenue.
Licensing fees began at a nominal amount of $5 per year in 1931. This cost of doing business as a lawyer remained below $50 through 1968. Then, as inflation became a fact of economic life and as Bar services began to grow, licensing fees increased steadily and incrementally until 1990, when they were $225 per calendar year. In 1990 the licensing fee cycle was changed to coincide with the Bar's fiscal year and fees were increased to $350. Licensing fees have remained at that level now for sixteen annual budget cycles while the number of licensed lawyers has grown 72%, from 5103 to 8800.
I have been a lawyer for the last 26 years. I am proud of our profession and am confident that the leadership of your organized Bar will continue to faithfully fulfill its mission of serving the public and the profession by promoting justice, professional excellence, civility, ethics respect for and understanding of the law.
Utah State Bar Executive Directors
L.M. Cummings 1931-1958
Dean Sheffield 1958-1985
Steve Hutchinson 1985-1990
John Baldwin 1990-present
Utah State Bar Milestones
1931 606 Members
1940 808 Members
1973 2000 Members
1980 3264 Members
1990 5103 Members
2000 7155 Members
2006 8849 Members