Rethinking Civic Engagement: An Open Letter to the NCBA and YLD Members, Part I
By Clare Magee and Catherine Clodfelter
When we gather as lawyers, we have a chance to demonstrate organization and self-regulation that is respectful of the rules through which we organize, and respectful of each other. But to do that, we must first gather.
Last year, we served as the co-chairs of the Young Lawyers’ Division Civic Engagement Committee. Our task was straightforward on paper: encourage more lawyers — especially younger ones — to engage in civic spaces and activities across North Carolina. But in practice, we faced several hurdles, including low event attendance, lack of interest and limited engagement.
Some young lawyers in larger law firms repeated a common refrain: “I just don’t have time.” And it’s true. Many are working under intense billable hour requirements, attempting to harmonize their work and home lives, and trying to keep their heads above water as they build the foundation of their practice. Other lawyers — including those who are politically active in non-legal settings — said they would prefer to engage in explicitly partisan spaces. It was, after all, a tense national election year in which lines were drawn and high-stakes issues prioritized. The Civic Engagement Committee’s nonpartisan mandate may have been a deterrent to these individuals. Finally, others expressed that they simply didn’t view a state bar association as a meaningful place to engage.
Whether more interested in firm-specific activities, alienated by past experiences with the North Carolina Bar Association, or motivated by personal preferences, the lawyers with whom we spoke are gravitating towards community- or affinity-based organizations as opposed to a statewide bar association. These perspectives weren’t entirely surprising to hear. In fact, we both felt some of these tensions ourselves.
Perhaps these perspectives reflect the deeper shifts in our profession and our politics: growing polarization, institutional distrust, and a generation of attorneys who are both deeply engaged and disillusioned at the same time. But perhaps they also reflect opportunities for the bar to rethink how it connects with young lawyers, how it defines civic engagement, and what it looks like to be part of a fundamentally democratic professional association.
After our experiences trying — and largely failing — to engage more young lawyers in civic engagement conversations or activities with the North Carolina Bar Association, we took time to talk about why. Then, we talked about what, if anything, the YLD Civic Engagement Committee should do about it.
What we concluded through our discussions is that engagement with members of the bar through the Association, through the North Carolina State Bar and through the bar more informally is civic engagement that can directly support our grander experience in self-governance. At a time when our democratic institutions are under pressure, our belief is that younger lawyers like ourselves should engage with the bar as one way to model participation in an active and healthy democracy.
As we continue our second year as co-chairs, we are eager to continue this conversation and invite you, our colleagues across the profession, to share with us your reflections, ideas and experiences to help us reimagine civic engagement within the bar. We hope you’ll follow along and contribute your insights ahead of Part II of our series, where we will examine concrete ways to put these reflections into practice.