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2015 Business Bar Leaders Conference April 30-May 1, 2015
Renaissance O’Hare Suites Chicago, IL
ABA RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO OTHER BAR ORGANIZATIONS Chair: Roland E. Brandel, San Francisco, CA
Morrison & Foerster LLP Former Chair, The State Bar of California, Business Law Section Former Chair, ABA Business Law Section State and Local Bar Relations Committee
Panelists:
Robert T. Rupp, Chicago, IL American Bar Association Associate Executive Director, Business Services
Cheryl Niro, Chicago, IL American Bar Association Senior Strategy Advisor to the Executive Director
Karyn Linn, Chicago, IL American Bar Association Director, Division for Bar Services
ABA Content Convergence Resources What is Content Convergence? “Content convergence” is the strategic process of managing content to bring together related information that exists in historically unconnected formats in order to improve brand and image, broaden content use and distribution, and increase member satisfaction and engagement. 8 Goals for Content Convergence:
1) Learn and meet our audience’s needs 2) Incubate content creation 3) Innovate content production 4) Manage content strategically along the lifecycle 5) Grow entity revenues 6) Reduce expenses 7) Market strategically to an interested audience 8) Strengthen the ABA brand.
Marketing 101 – Webinar Recording and handouts available in the library to learn more on the highlights below: Approaches to Pricing • Maximizing Revenue - Determine the costs to create the product and assign a mark-up rate for that group of products • Member Benefit - Determine the costs to create the product and assign a loss rate for that group of products • Building Customer Base - Determine the costs to create a product and assign a “reasonable” profit to it. The customer’s perception of fairness is important and pricing needs to be transparent. Approaches to Messaging • Move away from “The ABA is always trying to sell me something” • Move to “The ABA always has my back” • Speak as if talking to a friend: careful, personalized, and thoughtful marketing • Strategic coverage Bundling products across entities, product lines • Coupon w/purchase for similar products • Marketing in non-marketing entity messages Approaches to Social Media • Develop the right content • Push to the right people • Get them to respond • Incentivize with special offers
• Engage/Go Viral! Content 101 – Webinar Recording and handouts available in the library to learn more on the highlights below: Published Content Creation Process • Focus on obtaining content from subject matter experts through substantive committees • Assist committees to develop ideas and find authors • Author submits completed Proposal Form to publishing board • Evaluation of Proposal • Authors (either single or multiple authors) submit draft • Peer review • Revisit marketing and other content avenues for book Steps to an Integrated Content Program Set Program Priorities with a Strategic Plan - Establish a Content Advisory Board (CAB) to: 1) Drive publishing plan, 2) Coordinate all member-reviewed content (including CLE), and 3) Oversee product editorial boards Create product editorial boards to oversee: 1) Section magazine or periodical, 2) New book publications, and 3) CLE programs Cross-purpose and integrate content and marketing between: 1) Magazine 2) Books 3) CLE, and 4) Section Website Lifecycle of Content Step 1: Define the project • Content projects should solve problems that interest you and your members • Don’t create content for its own sake or because "we’ve always done it that way" • "Hot topics," "developing trends," and "best practices" are often good examples Step 2: Define the "team"
• Key: Good, responsible project manager with some passion for the problem • Remember to involve a broad spectrum of members. "This is not your grandfather’s ABA" • Use young lawyers/law students where possible (properly supervised) Step 3: Define the first "channel" through which you want to present your solution (e.g., a program at a meeting) • Remember that recording for later viewing/listening create s a secondary channel • The materials could/should have independent value as content, so think about the next step in their life Step 4: "Repurposing" content • Adapt the content to other channels (e.g., a podcast, law review article in a Section/Association scholarly journal) • This might require changes in personnel on the project (e.g., add an academic) • It might require refining the project (e.g., a deeper dive on a narrower slice) • A product may lie at the intersection of related projects (especially true for books) Application of Technology – Live presentation, recording and handouts available in the library to learn more on the highlights below: Example 1: Supplemental Content Landing Pages
- Elimination of CD-ROMs for supplemental book and meeting materials in favor of landing pages to post:
o Interactive Forms o Graphics o Supplemental audio, video and software files o Animation and interactive video
- Benefits of migration to landing pages
o Greater accessibility o Cross promotion potential o Ease of updating o Cost savings
Example 2: Application and Value of a Content Taxonomy – Refer to Other Panel Example 3 - Webinar Presentation Tools
- The world of distance learning CLE is always changing o New vendor capabilities o Regulator acceptance does not always match technology o Underused tools (surveys, polls, video)
- Use of “Live Chat” for Non-CLE Programs o Rumble Talk – Career Track Programs - http://www.rumbletalk.com/
o LiveChat – GP Solo Division - http://www.livechatinc.com/ o Google Hangout – Antitrust Section -
http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/
- Use of HigherLogic for Online Section Community
o Online community to facilitate intra-member communications § Profiles (and photos) can easily be imported from LinkedIn § Members can engage in Open Forum and Committee discussions § Network with other members § Analysis from Firms § Events § News § Fully searchable content
o Separate email daily digest for each subscription. A member can adjust her/his
settings to receive § real time notices, § a daily digest, or § no emails
Example 4 – Multichannel Publishing and Analytics
o Traditional analytics for publishing decisions
§ Membership data on interest/practice areas and demographics § Readership surveys and polling § Focus groups and reader interviews § Competition research
o New Analytics for publishing decisions
§ Website traffic reporting § Email reporting and testing § Promotional codes for other purchases
Using your Financial Reports to Make Content Decisions - Live presentation, recording and handouts available in the library to learn more on the highlights below:
o Develop strong business cases § Forecasted costs § Sales estimates § Pricing § Potential sales channels § Three-year financial projections § Review periodically to performance
o Review performance at the product level § Actual revenue and expense § Performance to budget § Performance to other goals
o Analyze overall program trends § Revenue/expense/profit § Sales concentration § Profit concentration
Using Market Research to Inform Product Decisions - Live presentation, recording and handouts available in the library to learn more on the highlights below: What do you research and when?
- At the proposal stage; o What products are available from our competition? o What similar products are available from the ABA?
- You may also be asking: o What are our most popular products? o What are our most profitable products
- When the product is ready, you may ask: o What should it sell for?
Market research can and should inform every aspect of your content/product Some market research exists in your database
- Areas of concentration o By member o By buyer
- Previous purchasers Other research is out there as well
- Member research by your bar association - Research about the size of your target audience - Research by the ABA: e.g. American Bar Association - Professional Development
Survey July 2013 or ABA LTRC Annual Legal Technology Survey Resources for large scale survey projects:
- Hire an outside full-service market research firm o Sara Parikh – Shapiro+Raj www.ljs.com 312-321-8155 o Clarence Jackson - Research USA www.researchusainc.com 312-658-0080
- Hire an independent research consultant already approved as ABA vendor o Katie Feifer - KGF Insights www.kgfinsights.com 619-990-9345
o Donna Fletcher – Donna E. Fletcher Consulting,Inc. www.donnafletcherconsulting.com 847-432-1972
What’s to come? A new online community for members and staff with an interest in or responsibility for content creation and/or management.
• Single spot for announcements and convergence resources • Submission area for best practices • Comments, questions and advice • Will employ new Higher Logic community tool
Visit the Content Convergence and Social Media Successes libraries on the following ABA webpages: http://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/scopo.html http://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/scocle.html http://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/scocle/social-media.html
Staff contacts and vendor references are included with all materials.
180 North Wacker Drive Suite 202 Chicago, IL 60606
Telephone (312) 658.0080Fax (312) 658.0085
www.researchusainc.com
American Bar Association Professional Development Survey
July 2013
Conducted for American Bar Association
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Objectives .................................................................................................... i
Methodology................................................................................................. ii
Executive Summary ..................................................................................... iii
Summary of Results ..................................................................................... vi
Recommendations ....................................................................................... xxxv
Data tables under separate cover
— i —
Objectives
The American Bar Association (ABA) commissioned Research USA® to conduct a survey of members and non-members in order to find out more about them, their work, and their use, potential use, and evaluation of professional development programming.
Some specific areas studied included:
Factors that would most likely prompt lawyers to enroll in a professional development program
Current professional position
Level of satisfaction with professional development training from various providers
Types of professional development training taken
Number of ABA professional development programs respondents have participated in during the past 24 months
Rating the quality of ABA programs compared to professional development offered by other providers
Most important reasons for choosing ABA programs/events
Likelihood of participating in ABA professional development offered by various methods
Cities most attractive as a future in-person program site
Who pays for professional development including CLE
Annual allowance for CLE
Reasons for not taking ABA programming
Interest in taking various types of non-CLE programming
Rating of ABA’s performance in meeting the professional development needs of the legal profession
Use of subscription-based CLE plans from non-ABA providers
Ample notification for deciding to attend in-person/distance-learning programming
ABA membership
Demographic characteristics
— ii —
Methodology
The names used for this survey were 151,074 contacts, a random selection of 34,956 current ABA members, and 116,118 non members with known e-mail addresses.
Between April 30, 2013 and May 9, 2013 all selected e-mail addresses were sent a survey invitation from the American Bar Association, which explained the importance of the survey and provided a link to the survey’s Web site URL.
Between May 14, 2013 and May 23, 2013, all non-respondents were sent a reminder message with a link.
By June 3, 2013, there were 2,877 completed questionnaires returned for a net response rate of 2.0%.
As an incentive for participating, respondents were given the opportunity to win one of 100 $50 gift cards. One hundred winners were randomly selected.
The data in this report are based on a computer tabulation of the 2,877 completed questionnaires that were returned.
Total ABA Members Non Members Emails sent 151,074 34,956 116,118Opted-out previously 3,020 984 2,036Opted-out 116 35 81 Undeliverable/bounced 2025 723 1,302 145,913 33,214 112,699Questionnaires returned 2,877 1,527 1,350Response rate 2.0% 4.6% 1.2%
The data that follows are based on a computer tabulation of the 2,877 completed questionnaires that were returned. Results are projectable within a range of ±1.8% (with 95% confidence) for total respondents, ±2.5% for ABA members, and 2.7% for non-members for most of the tables found in the cross-tabulation section of the report. Cross-tabulations with fewer than 50 respondents should be used with caution and for informational purposes only.
— iii —
Executive Summary Methodology An online survey was e-mailed to 151,074 contacts, a random selection of 34,956 current ABAmembers, and 116,118 non members. This report is based on 2,877 completed returns (1,527 ABA members and 1,350 non members) for a net response of 2.0%.
Professional Development The three most important factors that would be most likely to prompt respondents to enroll ina professional development program are need to fulfill state requirements, desire to acquirein-depth information on topics, and desire to expand knowledge on topics within their practice area.
About four-fifths of ABA members and non-members have enrolled in a professional development webinar/teleconference program.
A large majority of respondents feel current professional development providers are meeting their continuing education needs.
About nine out of ten report being “very” or “somewhat satisfied” with professional development training they have taken from ABA, although 23% of members and 49% of non-members report not having experience with ABA professional development training.
Most respondents have taken in-person professional development programs and live distance learning and nearly one-half have taken self-study. Most who have taken self-study prefer an online course format, particularly younger lawyers.
A large majority of respondents prefer webinars including visual presentations at their computer over traditional audio only teleconferences.
Sixty-nine percent of ABA members have participated in one or more ABA professional development programs in the past 12 months compared to 31% of non-members.
When compared with professional development programs sponsored by other providers, the quality of ABA programs was rated “among the best” or “above average by 71% of ABAmembers and 52% of non-members.
When asked to compare the quality of ABA programs with programs in their specialty sponsored by other organizations, 59% of ABA members and 44% of non-members rated the quality of ABA programs “among the best” or “above average.”
The three most important reasons for choosing ABA programs/events are topics, price, and location.
A majority of respondents selected price and location – too much travel involved as a reason for not attending an ABA professional program.
Most respondents would be “very” or “somewhat likely” to participate in ABA professional development using the following methods: webinars, on-demand online courses, in-person at single-topic programs, and teleconferences.
— iv —
Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco are the most attractive cities for a future in-person program site.
January and June are months in which the largest percentage of respondents would be most likely to participate in in-person programs.
The average annual allowance for CLE is $1,149 ($1,376 for ABA members and $876 for non-members).
About 60% would be “very” or “somewhat likely” to pay for professional development including CLE if their employer will not.
A majority of respondents selected cost as a reason for not taking ABA programming.
To better meet their professional development needs, many respondents commented that ABAshould provide lower cost or free CLE, more career advice, mentoring, and more specialized programming.
ABA is the preferred source for satisfying CLE needs when compared to government agencies, in-house programming, and other national providers. However, nearly three-fourths prefer local/state bar associations over ABA as their source for satisfying CLE needs.
A large majority of respondents would be “very” or “somewhat interested” in a non-CLE program covering the latest technology.
82% of ABA members and 66% of non-members rated ABA’s performance in meeting the professional development needs of the legal profession as “excellent” or “good.”
In light of the changing nature of the practice, several respondents indicated a need for ABA to provide lawyers career advice and technology education.
SubscriptionsAt about $200-$250, ABA members would consider an individual professional development program subscription plan offered by ABA to be a bargain, a great buy for the money.
CommunicationRespondents feel about 2-3 months is ample notification to make a decision to attend future in-person programming and 1-2 months is ample notification to make a decision to attend future distance-learning programming.
About Their Work Most members agree that ABA is relevant to their professional needs, is useful in finding information about current law issues, and is one of their primary sources of information about law. However, less than one-half agree that ABA helps solve problems encountered in their work and is a primary source of professional development.
ABA is rated “among the best” or “above average” by one-half of members for providing opportunities to participate in improvement of the law. In the areas of mentoring, business development, professional development, service opportunities, and professional colleagues to use for consultation on legal issues, 40% or more rated ABA “average.”
— v —
One-fourth of lawyers responding are currently interested in Civil Litigation. Many are also interested in Business Law, Contracts Law, and Real Estate Law. Most lawyers do not anticipate being interested in any other fields of law in the next three to five years.
Additional Comments for ABA Respondents gave a variety of answers when asked to name the most critical issues facing lawyers in the next three years. Many lawyers indicated that the most critical issue they face in the next three years will be finding jobs, keeping up with changes in technology, and law school debt.
When asked to provide suggestions to help improve ABA’s programming, several mentioned lower cost programs/CLEs and more programming covering various specialties.
— xv —
Compared to lawyers whose employers pay for professional development/CLE, a higher percentage of respondents who pay for their own professional development/CLE are “very” or “somewhat likely” to participate in ABA professional development offered by download/podcast (52.6% vs. 43.1%), on-demand online course (74.8% vs. 67.8%), and CD/DVD (50.6% vs. 37.2%).
Generally, likelihood in participating in ABA professional development using all methods tended to increase as the number of ABA professional development programs respondents have participated in during the past 24 months increased.
Slightly over one-half of respondents (51.2%) would be more likely to attend in-person ABAprofessional development programming if they could combine it with personal travel (including 55.5% of ABA members and 46.1% of non-members). More than one-fourth would be more likely to attend if they could focus solely on the program as an opportunity to gain professional development skills, training and knowledge rather than as a social or networking event (30.3%) and to get other business done with other people attending the conference (28.3%).
Respondents were asked if they would prefer in-person programs to take place over a weekend or during the week. The largest percentage (45.7%) indicated they prefer in-person programs take place during the week, 22.5% over a weekend, and 31.8% had no preference. Where employers pay for professional development/CLE, 57.8% prefer in-person programs take place during the week and 14.8% prefer over a weekend. Among those who pay for their own professional development/CLE, 35.0% prefer in-person programs take place during the week and 29.1% prefer over a weekend. Sixty percent of in-house lawyers prefer in-person programs take place during the week, and only 8.7% prefer over a weekend.
From a list of 13 cities, respondents were asked to select the top three most attractive cities as a future in-person program site.
Named #1 –most attractive
Named as atop 3 choice
Chicago 15.5% 31.4%New York 12.1 31.8Washington, DC 11.4 37.9San Francisco 11.1 28.1Boston 8.1 22.4San Diego 6.2 20.2New Orleans 5.5 18.6Las Vegas 5.4 19.5Los Angeles 3.7 13.4Dallas 3.1 9.0Miami 3.1 11.8Philadelphia 2.6 12.2Houston 2.1 6.3
Nearly one-half of respondents located in the Midwest (48.2%) chose Chicago as the most attractive city as a future in-person program site.
Washington, DC was named the most attractive city (#1 choice) by 26.5% of lawyers whose practice is 75-100% national and by 23.5% of respondents who are located in the South.
— xxi —
Nearly one-half of respondents who have attended 5 or more ABA professional development programs in the past 24 months (46.8%) rate ABA’s performance in meeting the professional development needs of the legal profession as excellent, compared to 9.1% who have not attended any programs.
When asked what additional CLE resources and programming ABA should be providing to lawyers in light of the changing nature of the practice of law, several respondents mentioned technology education and career advice. The complete list of verbatim comments can be found in the Appendix.
Respondents were asked if they’ve taken a professional development program that stood out above all others, what made it so special. Several mentioned that the topics were relevant to their practice and the program had high-quality speakers. See the Appendix for a list of verbatim comments.
Subscriptions
Fifteen percent of respondents are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABA provider. Lawyers in large firms (29.3%), respondents located in areas with a population of 1 million or more (25.1%), partners (23.2%), respondents in the Midwest (21.2%) and associates (20.4%) are somewhat more likely to be signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABA provider.
Of the respondents who are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABAprovider (15%), the largest percentage have a subscription-based CLE plan through Practising Law Institute (PLI) (35.8%), a local bar association (21.8%), West LegalEdcenter (20.8%), and a state bar association (17.6%).
Of the respondents who are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABAprovider (15%), 62.4% of respondents in the Northeast and 41.9% located in the South have a plan with PLI compared with 24.6% located in the West and 19.2% in the Midwest.Respondents in the Midwest (30.8%) and West (25.0%) are more likely than those in the South (15.1%) and Northeast (14.0%) to have a CLE plan with a local bar association. 25.8% of respondents in the West have a CLE plan with a state bar association compared to less than 20% of those in the South, Midwest and Northeast.
Of the respondents who are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABAprovider (15%), plans in which the largest percentage of respondents have an individual paid subscription paid for by themselves include lawline.com (61.3%), NBI (54.5%), a local bar association (37.0%), and a state bar association (34.9%). Nearly one-half (47.4%) have an individual subscription to a specialty bar association that is paid for by their employer. Plans in which a majority of respondents have an employer subscription include PLI (88.4%), LexisNexis (71.9%), ALI CLE (70.8%), NITA (70.6%), and West LegalEdcenter (68.4%).
Of the respondents who are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABAprovider (15%), more than 80% report being “very” or “somewhat satisfied” with plans through the following providers: state bar association (95.4%), local bar association (92.6%), specialty bar association (89.4%), Strafford (88.9%), lawline.com (87.0%), PLI (83.9%), NBI (83.4%), and West LegalEdcenter (80.3%).
Respondents who are signed up for a subscription-based CLE plan from a non-ABA provider (15%) were asked how frequently they supplement with programs outside of the plan. On
— xxii —
average, they supplement with programs outside of the plan 2.6 times per year. Nearly one-fifth (19.3%) supplement once a year, 26.9% twice a year, 28.0% 3-4 times a year, 15.6% more than 4 times per year, and 10.2% never supplement with programs outside of the plan.
Respondents were asked to consider various price points for an ABA individual professional development program subscription plan providing access to at least 200 new webinars annually plus access to hundreds of recorded webinars. The following tables show the median and mean price points for an ABA subscription plan by total, member status, and age:
At what price would you consider the subscription plan to be so low that you would question the quality and not consider it?
Total ABA
memberNon
MemberAge< 35
Age35-44
Age45-54
Age55-64
Age65 +
Median $75 $100 $50 $50 $50 $99 $100 $100 Mean $132 $144 $117 $104 $118 $118 $153 $207 At what price would you consider the subscription plan to be a bargain – a great buy for the money?
Total ABA
memberNon
MemberAge< 35
Age35-44
Age45-54
Age55-64
Age65 +
Median $199 $200 $150 $100 $150 $200 $200 $200 Mean $259 $280 $235 $219 $228 $243 $287 $328 At what price would you consider the subscription plan to be starting to get expensive?
Total ABA
memberNon
MemberAge< 35
Age35-44
Age45-54
Age55-64
Age65 +
Median $400 $400 $350 $300 $350 $400 $500 $500 Mean $547 $606 $476 $450 $512 $527 $585 $669 At what price would you consider the subscription plan to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it?
Total ABA
memberNon
MemberAge< 35
Age35-44
Age45-54
Age55-64
Age65 +
Median $500 $501 $500 $500 $500 $500 $600 $675 Mean $862 $956 $750 $715 $818 $804 $942 $1033
Communication
When respondents were asked what is ample notification to make a decision to attend future in-person programming, the largest percentage responded either two months (34.1%) or three months (32.6%). Overall, respondents feel an average of 2.6 months is ample notification to make a decision to attend future in-person programming.
Respondents were also asked to consider what is ample notification to make a decision to attend future distance-learning programming. Respondents feel an average of 1.5 months is ample notification for making this decision. Forty-one percent responded that one month is ample notification.
Based on current economic conditions, a majority of respondents expect there to be no change in budgets to fund each of the following in the next 12 months:
— xxx —
Leading Areas of Interest by Professional Status Solo Partners Associates Govt Attorneys In-House
Family Law 25.7%
Litigation-Civil36.8%
Litigation-Civil33.8%
AdministrativeLaw 36.3%
Business Law 29.5%
Wills25.5%
Litigation-Commercial 23.9%
Business Law 21.2%
Government-State Law 34.1%
Contracts Law 28.8%
Litigation-Civil24.5%
Business Law 21.8%
Litigation-Commercial 17.1%
Government-Federal Law 26.7%
Corporate Law 26.9%
Business Law 24.1%
Real Estate Law 20.0%
Contracts Law 16.8%
Evidence22.7%
CorporateCompliance 21.2%
Trusts & Estates 21.8%
Contracts Law 16.6%
Civil Practice & Procedure 16.2%
Government-Local Law 20.5%
Intellectual Property Law 21.2%
Managing Partners Of-Counsel Judges Academia Litigation-Civil
48.4%Litigation-Civil
27.3%Judiciary 69.8%
Legal Education 31.6%
Real Estate Law 29.5%
Business Law 21.2%
Evidence44.2%
Civil Rights Law 23.5%
Law Practice Management 29.5%
Corporate Law 20.2%
Administrative Law 37.2%
Constitutional Law 19.4%
Business Law 27.4%
Litigation-Commercial 19.2%
Judicial Admin.34.9%
Pro Responsibility/ Ethics 18.4%
Litigation-Commercial 26.3%
Taxation Law 15.2%
Criminal Law 32.6%
Criminal Law 17.3%
A significantly higher percentage of lawyers in small firms are interested in the following areas compared to large firms: Business Law (22.8% vs. 14.1%), Contracts Law (21.1% vs. 10.8%), Family Law (18.5% vs. 5.3%), Wills (17.3% vs. 4.4%), Trusts & Estates (15.5% vs. 7.0%), Probate (12.6% vs. 2.9%), General Practice (12.4% vs. 3.7%), Elder Law (11.0% vs. 3.5%), and Small Business Law (10.2% vs. 2.2%).
Leading Areas of Interest by Firm Size Small firms
(1-9 lawyers) Medium-size firms
(10-99)Large Firms
(100+ lawyers) Litigation-Civil 24.4% Litigation-Civil 28.6% Litigation-Civil 26.4% Business Law 22.8% Business Law 17.3% Litigation-Commercial 17.6% Contracts Law 21.1% Administrative Law 15.8% Evidence 14.8%
Family Law 18.5% Evidence 15.3% Business Law 14.1% Wills 17.3% Contracts Law 15.0% Administrative Law 13.2%
Litigation-Civil is the leading area of interest among all of the age groups (23.0% among those under age 35, 29.3% of those age 35-44, 27.2% age 45-54, 23.8% age 55-64, and 23.1% age 65 or over). Twenty percent of lawyers age 65 or over are interested in Real Estate Law, compared to 10.5% of those under age 35, 10.8% age 35-44, 15.8% age 45-54, and 18.8% age 55-64. Mediation is an area of interest among 19.2% of lawyers 65 or older compared to 8.9% of those under age 35, 9.2% age 35-44, 11.0% age 45-54, and 13.5% age 55-64. Lawyers 65 and over (18.8%) are also somewhat more likely to be interested in Trusts and Estates compared to 10.5% of those under age 35, 8.2% age 35-44, 12.7% age 45-54, and 14.5% age 55-64. Women in Law and Immigration Law are more likely to be areas of interest among lawyers under age 35 (11.6% and 10.3% respectively) and those 35-44 (10.0% and 9.0% respectively) compared to lawyers age 45 and over (5.3% and 3.2% respectively).
— xxxi —
When asked if there are any areas they anticipate being of interest in the next three to five years, 84.9% of respondents replied “No, you expect to remain interested in areas indicated in the previous question.” 15.1% expect to be interested in other areas in the next three to five years (including 18.8% of females compared to 11.7% of males). 20.3% of solo attorneys and 17.9% of associates expect to be interested in other areas compared to 9.4% of managing partners.
Of lawyers who anticipate being interested in other areas in the next three to five years (15.1%), the largest number anticipate being interested in Wills (10.7%), Mediation (10.4%), Business Law (9.8%), Elder Law (9.5%), Health Law (7.7%), and Non-Profit Law (7.4%).
20.7% of associates and 15.1% of solo attorneys anticipate being interested in Wills in the next3 to 5 years.
The average age of all respondents is 47.9 years (50.9 among males and 44.7 among females).
The average age by current position is shown in the following table:
Solo Partner ManagingPartner Associate
GovtAtty.
OfCounsel Judge Academia
In-house
AverageAge 52.6 52.5 53.4 35.1 46.6 49.5 58.5 50.1 46.3
Males comprised 52.6% of those responding (including 53.7% of ABA members and 50.5% of non-members). More than sixty percent of managing partners (68.4%), partners (67.5%), judges (62.3%), and solo attorneys (61.1%) are male.
More than one-half of associates (58.7%), those in academia (55.0%), government attorneys (53.4%), and in-house lawyers (51.6%) are female.
A majority of respondents under age 35 (62.0%), age 35-44 (57.2%), and age 45-54 (52.1%) are female. Sixty percent of lawyers age 55-64 and 84.0% age 65 or older are male.
More than nine out of ten respondents (92.4%) indicated they do not have a disability, compared with 3.4% who have a disability. 4.2% declined to answer. The highest percentage of respondents with a disability were among solo attorneys (7.9%).
More than four-fifths describe themselves as heterosexual (82.8%), and 1.2% or less describes themselves as either gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender. 13.9% declined to answer.
Over three-fourths of respondents (76.3%) describe their race or ethnicity as White/Caucasian.5.3% of respondents are Black/African American, 3.6% Hispanic/Latino, 3.5% Asian, .5% Native American, and 1.2% some other race or ethnicity. 9.6% declined to answer.
— xxxiv —
Additional Comments for ABA
Respondents were asked to name the most critical issue facing lawyers in the next three years.A variety of answers were given, with several mentioning the difficulty of finding jobs, unemployment, economic issues, keeping up with technology changes, the oversupply of attorneys, and law school debt/paying student loans. The list of comments can be found in the Appendix.
Lawyers were asked to provide comments or suggestions to help improve ABA’s programming.Some mentioned a desire for lower cost programs/CLEs and more programming covering various specialties. See the Appendix for a list of verbatim comments.
— xxxv —
Recommendations
The survey indicates the top three factors that would prompt respondents to enroll in a professional development program are need to fulfill state requirements, desire to acquire in-depth information on topics, and desire to expand knowledge on topics within their practice area.
The survey also indicates that a majority of respondents have experience with ABA professional development training. When asked about their overall satisfaction with the training taken from the ABA, 92% were “very” or “somewhat satisfied.” Three-fourths of respondents rate ABA’sperformance in meeting the professional development needs of the legal profession as “excellent” or “good” (including 82.3% of members and 65.9% of non-members).
However, when asked to indicate the one source that best satisfy their CLE needs, paring ABAagainst other local/state bar associations, 74.1% of all respondents selected local/state bar associations.
These figures seem to indicate that though respondents are satisfied with ABA professional development training for CLE credit and not for credit, many feel that there may be room for improvement.
Based on the answers to specific questions as well as the open-ended responses, these are some things the ABA Center for Professional Development may wish to consider.
1. Many respondents, especially solo/small firms, government lawyers and those in not-for-profit are greatly concerned about the costs associated with ABA professionaldevelopment training, particularly the costs associated with in-person programs. The Center may wish to investigate how costs can be reduced, refined descriptor of training offered and/or how greater value can be provided to these respondents.
2. Respondents place strong interest in participating in ABA professional development via webinars and on-demand online courses in topics specified as being of interest.The Center should work with IT in a coordinated effort to update members and non-members information with actionable data fields to assist in marketing specific programming to these potential users with ample notification (1.5 months) capability.
3. There is some indication that solo/small firms, in-house counsel and government lawyers feel they do not get the same attention from ABA as larger firms. The Center may wish to investigate if there may be some ways to give these groups special attention. Possible solutions may include professional development in financial management and latest technology just for the solo practitioners, and more targeted training programming for in-house counsels and government lawyers.
4. Some respondents expressed an interest in having ABA offer more state and local law content that includes state required CLE credits. Even though CLE acceptance is a state-by-state matter, ABA may wish to investigate further to see if it can help respondents obtain ABA CLE credits acceptance by all states.
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5. The survey shows that a majority of respondents are not aware that the ABA offers a monthly free webinar to its members. The association may wish to publicize them more, if it is not already doing so.
6. Though respondents are more likely to participate in CLE/professional development programs offered by other associations (including state associations) and vendors, over 45% have strong interest in receiving non-CLE professional development programs from ABA in latest technology, financial management, leadership skills, managing others, career advice, and project management. The Center may wish to try to determine how to include these topics in its continuing education program so it can be made more attractive to members and non-members, especially females.
7. Some respondents expressed an interest in having ABA offer programming in:Career development courses for new, young and transitioning-to-a-new-employer attorneysAdapting firm’s business model to current economic trendsMarketingFundamentals on how to practice law Alternative paths for attorneys Practice skills workshops though the usage of modern technology and committed volunteersResources related to law firms’ and attorneys’ various needs/uses for social mediaEthics
The Center should look at possible ways it may wish to implement these professional development programs.
8. Less than one-half of member respondents agree that ABA helps them solve problems encountered at work and is their primary source of professional development. Because of its importance and to better meet the goal of this survey of ensuring that the ABA is providing CLE programming that is attractive to both members and the legal profession, the Center needs to continue conducting surveys from time-to-time to help ensure that its programming continues to offer what the legal profession want and need.
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sf-3526730
2015 ABA BUSINESS LAW SECTION BUSINESS BAR LEADERS CONFERENCE
Joint Programming
Roland E. Brandel Morrison & Foerster LLP
San Francisco, CA
I. Business lawyers want assistance to be more effective lawyers
A. Repeated surveys indicate:
1. "to monitor the latest developments in my specialty" was selected as the reason to join a Section
2. this reason achieved a score of almost double such reasons as:
a. networking
b. discounts on publications
c. leadership opportunities
II. Three ABA BLS Surveys indicate that the members want:
A. Locally held programs
B. Short programs
C. Advanced programs in their fields of practice
III. A Delivery Solution – Local/State Bar – ABA BLS Partnerships – Joint Programming
A. Combine the relative efficiencies of local bar BLS and the ABA BLS
B. Deliver value with joint attribution
IV. Possible Formats
A. Live programming on site
1. Local speakers only
2. ABA speaker involvement
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B. Live programming on site with audio or video national speaker involvement
C. Audio or video programming at local sites with a local coordinator who augments discussion, fields questions.
V. ABA BLS Resources
A. More than 200 programs per year
1. Nationally recognized speakers
2. High quality materials
3. Cutting edge, advanced content
4. Frequently involve federal and state officials discussing the latest developments and priorities from their agencies as well as business leaders and lawyers responsible for head-line making transactions.
B. The ABA BLS website list all programs that will be given at its major Spring, Annual and Fall meetings
C. Those listed are just the tip of the iceberg
1. Stand-alone Committee meetings
2. Presentations in Committee meetings at the three major BLS meetings
VI. Some Thoughts on Joint Resources
A. BLS materials/"celebrity" speakers
B. BLS electronic marketing to Committee members/AOC in geographic area
C. "Regional" entity provides site
D. "Regional" entity markets to whoever it wishes
E. "Regional" entity or law firm provides CLE credit if desired
F. "Regional" entity provides local speakers
G. Early identification of cutting edge topics; program listings on BLS website many weeks in advance. Search the listing to discover new program ideas or to find resources to augment your local program.
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VII. Want to Use These Resources for a Joint Program?
A. Contact the Chair of the State and Local Bar Relations Committee, Bill Boyd at (515) 283-3172 or [email protected]
B. He will be helpful. He will be flexible.
C. Your business law bar will be happy with the result.
