Abar association is aprofessional association oflawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types ofjurisprudence.[1] The wordbar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing (bar) to separate the area in which court or legal profession business is done from the viewing area for the general public or students of the law.[2]
Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in theirjurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both. In manyCommonwealth jurisdictions, the bar association comprises lawyers who are qualified asbarristers oradvocates in particular, versussolicitors (seebar council). Membership in bar associations may be mandatory (necessary to practice law) or optional (voluntary) for practicing attorneys, depending on jurisdiction.
The use of the termbar to mean "the whole body of lawyers, the legal profession" comes ultimately fromEnglish custom. In the early 16th century, arailing divided the hall in theInns of Court, with students occupying the body of the hall and readers orbenchers on the other side. Students who officially became lawyers crossed thesymbolic physical barrier and were "admitted to the bar".[2] Later, this was popularly assumed to mean the wooden railing marking off the area around the judge's seat in a courtroom, where prisoners stood for arraignment and where abarrister stood to plead. In modern courtrooms, a railing may still be in place to enclose the space which is occupied by legalcounsel as well as thecriminaldefendants andcivillitigants who have business pending before the court.
In manyCommonwealth jurisdictions, includingin England and Wales, the "bar association" comprises lawyers who are qualified asbarristers oradvocates (collectively known as "the bar", or "members of the bar"), while the "law society" comprisessolicitors. These bodies are sometimes mutually exclusive, while in other jurisdictions, the "bar" may refer to the entire community of persons engaged in thepractice of law.
InCanada, one iscalled to the bar after undertaking a post-law-school training in aprovincial law society program, and undergoing anapprenticeship ortaking articles. Legal communities are calledprovinciallaw societies, except forNova Scotia, where it is called the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, andQuebec, where it is called theBarreau du Quebec.
TheCanadian Bar Association (and its provincial and territorial branches) is a professional association of barristers, solicitors and advocates that serves the roles of advocates for the profession, provides continuing legal education and member benefits. It does not play a part in the regulation of the profession, however.
InIndia under the legal framework set established under the Advocates Act, 1961,[3] a law graduate is required to be enrolled with theBar Council of India. The process of enrollment is delegated by the Bar Council of India to the state Bar Councils wherein almost eachstate has a Bar Council of its own. Once enrolled with a State Bar Council, the law graduate is recognized as anAdvocate provisionally for a period of two years, within which they must clear the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) conducted by the Bar Council of India. Once the advocate clears the AIBE test, they are entitled to appear and practice before any court of law in India.
There is no formal requirement for further membership of any Bar Association. However, Advocates do become members of various local or national bar associations for reasons of recognition and facilities which these associations offer. Some well-known Bar Associations in India include theSupreme Court Bar Association,Delhi High Court Bar Association,Bombay Bar Association,Delhi Bar Association, National Bar Association of India, All India Bar Association, etc.
InPakistan, a person becomes a licensee of a Provincial Bar Council after fulfilling certain requirements. He must have a valid law degreeLL.B from a recognized university by thePakistan Bar Council, must offer certain undertakings, and pay the Provincial Bar Council fees. Furthermore, he shall join any bar association as a member. Tehsil bar associations work under the umbrella of District Bar Association, District Bar Association under Provincial Bar councils, such as thePunjab Bar Council,Sindh Bar Council,Balochistan Bar Council andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council. To become an advocate, one must first complete six monthspupillage with a practising advocate of High Court, whom they must assist on at least ten cases during a six-month pupillage. Some well-known Bar Associations in Pakistan include theSupreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan,Lahore High Court Bar Association,Lahore Bar Association etc.
InSri Lanka, a person becomes anAttorney-at-Law of theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka after completing passing law exams at theSri Lanka Law College which are administered by the Council of Legal Education and spending a period of six months under a practicing attorney of at least eight years standing as anarticled clerk. Attorneys may opt to become a member of theBar Association of Sri Lanka.
In the United States,admission to the bar is permission granted by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. This is to be distinguished from membership in a bar association. In the United States,[4] some states require membership in thestate bar association for all attorneys, while others do not.
Although bar associations historically existed as unincorporatedvoluntary associations, nearly all bar associations have since been organized (or reorganized) ascorporations. Furthermore, membership in some of them (see the next section below) is no longer voluntary, which is why some of them have omitted the word "association" and merely call themselves the "state bar" to indicate that they arethe incorporated body that constitutes the entire admitted legal profession of a state.
Some states require membership in a regulatory agency often called the state's bar association in order to permit them to practice law in that state. Such an organization is called a mandatory, integrated, or unified bar,[5][6] and is a type ofgovernment-granted monopoly. They exist at present in a majority ofU.S. states:Alabama,Alaska,Arizona,Florida,Georgia,Hawaii,Idaho,Kentucky,Louisiana,Maine,Michigan,Mississippi,Missouri,Montana,Nebraska,Nevada,New Hampshire,New Mexico,North Dakota,Oklahoma,Oregon,Rhode Island,South Carolina,South Dakota,Texas,Utah,Virginia,Washington State, West Virginia,Wisconsin, andWyoming.
TheDistrict of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands also have unified bars. The mandatory status of thePuerto Rico Bar Association was eliminated in 2009 by an act of the legislature, and ratified by the recently appointed majority of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. By act of the Puerto Rico legislature, the mandatory status was reinstated in June 2014. TheSupreme Court of Puerto Rico struck down this act in October 2014, finding that it unconstitutionally usurped its powers.
In some states, like Wisconsin, the mandatory membership requirement is implemented through an order of thestate supreme court, which can be revoked or canceled at any time at the court's discretion. In others, like Oregon, the state legislature passed a law and created a government agency. California went farther than any other state and wrote the State Bar of California intoits constitution.
The first state to have an integrated bar association was North Dakota in 1921.[7]
Although the names may be confusing, avoluntary bar association is a private organization of lawyers and often other legal professionals. These associations focus on issues including social, educational, and lobbying functions. In states where the functions of the disciplinary bar entity is separate from the statewide voluntary bar association, the voluntary association does not, however, formally regulate the practice of law, admit lawyers to practice or discipline lawyers for ethical violations. For example, the "State Bar of California" is the mandatory, regulatory agency whereas theCalifornia Lawyers Association is a voluntary educational and networking group.[8] A statewide voluntary bar association exists in every state that has no mandatory or integrated bar association.
In addition to state-wide organizations, there are many voluntary bar associations organized by city, county, or other affiliate community. Such associations are often focused on common professional interests (such asbankruptcy lawyers or in-house counsel) or commonethnic interests (such asgender,race,religion, ornational heritage), such as theHispanic National Bar Association orLos Angeles County Bar Association.
Such associations often advocate for law reform and provide information inbar journals,pro bono services or alawyer referral service to the general public. In 2017, theCalifornia State Legislature split off the education, lobbying, and young lawyers sections of that state's Bar in order to create the voluntary California Lawyers Association.[9] This split was done to finalize the rationale and holding ofa 1990 ruling which prohibited the required bar registration fees from being used for political purposes, relying on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
As all attorney regulation is performed on the state level (while federal courts also regulate the attorney's that appear before them, those attorneys' generally must be already qualified by the states). There is no mandatory federal bar association. TheFederal Bar Association is a private, voluntary group.
There are also a number of subject-specific private associations, which are not denominated as bar associations by name but which serve similar functions in terms of providing their members with useful publications, networking opportunities, andcontinuing legal education. The largest association of defense counsel is the Defense Research Institute, which describes itself as "The Voice of the Defense Bar", while the largest association of plaintiffs' counsel is theAmerican Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America). TheAmerican Bar Association (ABA) is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States with members from both defense, plaintiff, civil, criminal and other specialities. TheNational Lawyers Guild (NLG) is an association of progressive attorneys and legal workers, founded as the first national association for lawyers whose membership was open to all races and religions.
Most American law schools have astudent bar association, which is astudent organization that fulfills various functions, including sometimes serving as thestudent government.
Judges may or may not be members of the bar. Etymologically, they sit "on the bench", and thecases which come before them are "at bar" or "at bench". Many states in the United States require that some or all judges be members of the bar; typically these limit or completely prohibit the judges from practicing law while serving as a judge.
TheUnited States Constitution contains no requirement that Federal judges orSupreme Court of the United States justices be members of the bar. However, there are no modern instances of thePresident of the United States nominating or the U.S. Senate providing advice and consent to any nominee who is not a member of any bar. The unofficial practice of theAmerican Bar Association publicly rating the qualifications of judicial nominees has strengthened the imperative to nominate lawyers on the bar. There are various professional associations of judges, such as the American Judges Association, that perform some of the educational and other service functions of bar associations.
