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Ohio bar president holds town hall meeting in Youngstown
BENJAMIN WHITE
Associate Editor
Published: October 24, 2013
A rare silence fell over the roomful of attorneys at The Youngstown Country Club on Oct. 8. Gathered for the annual meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association’s 13th district, they quietly watched as OSBA President Jonathan Hollingsworth roamed from the podium and actively asked for input.
“I know it seems we put you on the spot, but that’s not our goal,” Hollingsworth said. “Our goal is to hear from you. There’s got to be a time when you get tired of talking heads.”
After a bit of prodding, the lawyers finally began firing questions and concerns about bar membership, CLE requirements and retirement at a meeting that featured recognition of a 50-year practitioner and speeches by Hollingsworth’s hopeful successors.
“Hopefully by engaging them they’ll give us the feedback we need to figure out what we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong and what it is they want us to do,” said Hollingsworth after the meeting.
The longtime Dayton litigator, who earned his juris doctor from the University of Michigan, said he debuted the town hall style in Canton the day before the Youngstown meeting. Though he needed to warm the crowd at both meetings, he said he hopes to use the interactive style at the 16 remaining district meetings, including the Summit and Portage County meeting in Akron next spring.
The first few questions involved the OSBA’s changes to its CLE offerings. Hollingsworth said the bar plans to add to its library of on-demand webcasts produced in the OSBA’s new production studio and available on www.ohiobar.org. Most new classes will run no longer than an hour, he said.
Also addressed were the OSBA’s efforts to help lawyers transition their practices to retirement.
“The senior lawyers were saying that young lawyers want them to basically move over and get out of the way to provide them with an opportunity to build and grow their practices,” Hollingsworth said.
“The problem is that as lawyers we want to be able to decide when to leave the profession and not be told when to leave, so we have to figure out how to make this work.”
Several of the attorneys in attendance asked what guidance the bar provided, seemingly unaware of the currently available on-demand CLEs regarding Medicare and other topics of retirement.
“We are providing legal education materials on how to transition your practice through a retirement,” Hollingsworth said. “Obviously we’re not doing a good job of marketing it, because some of these folks wouldn’t be asking if we did.”
The deeper problem spurring the push for Baby Boomer retirement remains the woeful job market for recent law school graduates brought about by the recession and fundamental changes in the legal field. The fact that young lawyers have generally steered away from joining the OSBA and other bar associations seems to exacerbate the problem, Hollingsworth said.
The average age of OSBA members is 56, and though 26,000 of Ohio’s 40,000 attorneys claim membership, Hollingsworth said the tally falls by about 100 each year. The state bar association offers free membership to all first-year attorneys.
“We see this as an opportunity,” he said. “Our weakness is that group of lawyers in the one-to-10-year experience range.”
At next year’s OSBA Convention, Hollingsworth said a special seminar will foster a debate between older and younger lawyers. The OSBA has retained a consultant to help mine and analyze data collected from young Ohio attorneys. A complete assessment is expected by the end of the year.
He also said a new task force, comprised of 15 young lawyers and the decision makers of the bar, will meet for the first time this month to determine the best way to reach out to the struggling generation.
“We’re focusing on this issue because we recognize that we have to find the leaders of tomorrow and train them today,” Hollingsworth said.
John Holschuh, a Cincinnati lawyer, serves as chair of the OSBA’s Membership and Development Committee. He echoed Hollingsworth’s beliefs on the importance of attracting young lawyers as he gave his speech as candidate for president-elect of the OSBA.
“Young lawyers coming out of law school are $80,000 to $100,000 in debt and there’s no jobs out here,” he said. Nationwide, the average is $100,584, according to U.S. News & World Report.
“We need to show them how the OSBA can assist them in getting a job and networking and getting to know other people in the profession. It is a win-win for young lawyers.”
Holschuh, who also serves on the OSBA Board of Governors and the Board of Editors of Ohio Lawyer, also ran on a general increase of the application of technology.
Melissa Graham-Hurt, an Akron solo practitioner, also spoke in hopes of garnering the president-elect position. Along with drawing younger lawyers to the bar, she stressed fiscal responsibility.
“My mother was born in Scotland, so that tells you I’m cheap,” she said to laughter. “I’m optimistic for the future. Sure, we have problems in our profession. Sure, we have change going on, but transformation brings opportunity.
The OSBA officially recognized East Liverpool attorney Jackman Vodrey for five decades of practice. Vodrey, a third-generation lawyer, graduated from the University of Michigan, though he stressed he always pulled for Ohio State football.
“50 years doesn’t sound so bad, but when you start talking about half a century in the law, you’re talking about a real time span,” he said.
“I accept this 50-year award on the contingency that you understand I didn’t get sworn in until Oct. 16, so this is eight days early.
Also recognized was Youngstown attorney George Millich, who received the Ohio State Bar Foundation Community Service Award for attorneys under 40 years old.
Millich, who works as a tax lawyer at Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell, serves or served on the boards of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., Oh Wow! Center for Science and Technology, Youngstown Hearing & Speech, Akron Law Review, Mahoning Valley Professional 20/30 Club and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
“It really is worth it to get involved in community foundations and community functions, not only for what I hope you would get – a personal benefit – but just for the experience,” he said.
Though the town hall format achieved its goal of exposing concerns of attorneys in the midst of a roiling time of change in the legal field, both Hollingsworth and Mahoning County Bar Association President Ed Hartwig maintained that their respective bars remained as strong as ever.
“All in all, we have a very strong association that’s very active,” Hartwig said. “But we’re striving to build numbers for our membership, build our committees and maintain our energy and enthusiasm.”