Voluntary and Mandatory Bars
A mandatory or integrated bar association is one to which a state delegates the authority to regulate the admission of attorneys to practice in that state; typically these require membership in that bar association to practice in that state. Mandatory bars derive their power from legislative statute and/or from the power of the state court system to regulate practice before it.
In the other states, membership in the bar associations is voluntary. In some states, a mandatory organization exists primarily for the purpose of regulating admission to practice, while a voluntary organization exists for other purposes. For example, in Virginia, for example, the Virginia State Bar is the mandatory organization and the Virginia Bar Association is voluntary.
There are many bar associations other than state bar associations. Usually these are organized by geography (e.g. county bar associations), area of practice, or affiliation (e.g. ethnic bar associations).
Read more about this topic: State Bar Association
Famous quotes containing the words voluntary, mandatory and/or bars:
“Her voluntary fruits, free without fees;”
—Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
“Off south, the bison multiply so fast
a slaughter’s mandatory every spring
and every spring the creeks get fat
and Kicking Horse fills up.”
—Richard Hugo (1923–1982)
“The last public hanging in the State took place in 1835 on Prince Hill.... On the fatal day, the victim, a man named Watkins, peering through the iron bars of his cell, and seeing the townfolk scurrying to the place of execution, is said to have remarked, ‘Why is everyone running? Nothing can happen until I get there.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)