To everyone who passed the February 2017 Bar Exam: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
In order to become licensed to practice law in Michigan, you need to accomplish three steps:
Once you have completed those steps, you will be assigned a P-number.
The State Bar of Michigan Equal Access Initiative and Committee on Justice Initiatives will present a panel discussion on “Language Access – Best Practices in Michigan Courts” at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 19 at the SBM Annual Meeting in DeVos Place in Grand Rapids.
The Michigan Supreme Court adopted language access rules in September of 2013 to assure access to justice for people with limited English proficiency. All of the state’s trial courts have adopted plans to improve access to the courts for those with limited English proficiency, and they are working with legal practitioners and their local communities to implement the new rules.
The panel discussion, moderated by SBM Equal Access Initiative Co-Chair Maya Watson, will review MCR 1.111, MCR 8.127 and the American Bar Association Standards for Language Access in Courts. The panel will include Hon. Christopher Yates, Hon. William Kelly, Donna Bos and Angela Tripp. They will show attendees how to use the request and order form for interpreters on the Michigan Legal Help website and introduce the Spanish version of the website. The panel will discuss judicial discretion in determining the need for interpreters, criteria and tests for certification of foreign language interpreters, practical tips for how to work with interpreters and best practices for courtroom and courthouse operations.
The program is free to attend for anyone who is interested, but organizers hope as many judges, attorneys, court staff members, access to justice advocates, language interpreters and community partners as possible will attend. Registration is requested to allow for proper facilities planning. Visit the SBM Annual Meeting page for more details or to register.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
Congratulations again on passing the bar exam!
Here's what you need to do next:
All persons who are licensed to practice law in Michigan must be members of the State Bar of Michigan. In order to become a member of the State Bar, you must first take steps to become admitted to the State Bar. If you've recently passed the bar exam, the Board of Law Examiners has mailed you a certificate of qualification. A current, active member of the State Bar must file this certificate and a motion seeking your admission to the State Bar in the Supreme Court or a circuit court. You must also appear personally in open court to be administered the oath of office. View the rule describing the steps to follow in taking the oath of office as a lawyer. View a schedule of swearing-in ceremonies around Michigan.
After being sworn in to one of the circuit courts or the Supreme Court of Michigan, you will need to complete a membership application to join the State Bar of Michigan and pay your membership dues.
To complete the State Bar of Michigan new member application online and pay your member dues with a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card, please visit the Bar's Member Area and create an account as a "Prospective New Member & Non-Member" and continue with the membership application if you have already been sworn in. Do not create an account online until you have been sworn in. If you wish to complete the paper application and pay your member dues with a check, download new member application form.
After completing the new member application form and payment of the required dues, a true or certified copy of the Order of Admission certified by the County Clerk will need to be provided to the State Bar of Michigan. Some courts provide the Order of Admission directly to the State Bar. If you wish, you may mail your true or certified copy of the Order of Admission signed by the County Clerk to the State Bar of Michigan, Attention Finance, 306 Townsend St., Lansing, MI 48933.
As soon as the State Bar of Michigan has issued you a P number, you will be a member in good standing and eligible to practice law.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
Meet Octavia Bates, one of the first women lawyers in Michigan, and one of the biggest proponents of women's suffrage.
Bates never practiced law, but she did graduate from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1877 and a Doctor of Laws degree in 1896. The photo above is of her 1896 graduating law school class.
According to the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society, Bates became chair of the Committee on Domestic Relations of the National Council of Women, an organization of over one million members. She was an active member of the Lend-A-Hand Club, the Woman’s Literary Club, the Arundell Club, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Her involvement in the club life of American women led to her appointment by the National Federation of Women’s Clubs as a delegate to the International Council of Women in London in 1899. At the council, Bates delivered a paper entitled “The Study of Law for Women,” which was considered highly progressive at that time. Her reputation even earned her the opportunity to speak with Queen Victoria during an informal afternoon tea about her ideas on the state of American women. Bates traveled extensively, promulgating her views on women’s rights and donating her talents, wealth, and passion to the service of womanhood.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
We apologize for missing until now the roaring debate over the possible career advantages of having only one child ignited by the book One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and the Joy of Being One. The Atlantic headlined its excerpt from the book “The Secret to Being Both a Successful Writer and a Mother: Have Just One Kid.” Temporarily Impressed by the logic of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Alice Walker's observation, “With one you can move, with more than one you’re a sitting duck,” we decided the one-child career advantage hypothesis was goofy enough to waste three or four minutes testing in the context of well-known successful mother-lawyers. (And yes, we acknowledge the unfairness of not subjecting fathers to the same hypothesis.) The results do not support the hypothesis:
Whatever.
Update: Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors (2)
Karen Dyck at Slaw asks "Where are all the women in the future of law?" From her post:
I've posted here previously about how the exodus of women from private practice might serve as an alert to the fact that something needs to change in the private practice model.
More recently, I've been wondering why it is that many of those who have left that model behind are not engaging in the current discussions about where the practice of law is headed. I suspect these women have strong opinions and good ideas about what needs to change. I'm also not hearing the voices of more recently called lawyers, although I appreciate that the pressures of the early years of practice may make it especially challenging to form an opinion, never mind to find time to weigh in.
But this is, it seems to me, the perfect moment to "lean in" and speak out about what it is that drives women out of legal practice, and even more importantly, what could be different so that more women will remain in the practice of law. At this time, when there is a growing understanding that change is not only inevitable but coming at an accelerating rate, when there is a call for innovative approaches that better meet the needs of both clients and their lawyers, there is also an incredible opportunity for women lawyers to step forward to drive and lead this process.
Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers have put Michigan's Honigman Miller on its 2013
list of 50 Best Law Firms for Women. An executive summary suggests that women are making progress toward equity in the law firm setting. The award list is determined on the basis of applications that ask 300 questions about workforce representation, time off
and leaves, child care, flexibility, leadership, compensation and
advancement of women, and development and retention of women. The winning firms, according to Working Mother and Flex-time Lawyers, lead the industry in supporting flexible work arrangements and offering generous paid parental leave, and ensure that lawyers who take advantage of family friendly programs are not excluded from the partnership or leadership track.
Here are key Honigman stats that earned it recognition:
Milwaukee-based Foley and Lardner, with 34 attorneys in its Michigan office, also earned a spot on the list.
HT: MiLW Blog
The American Bar Association is serious about gender equity in the workplace. And no wonder. Statistics show that the average white woman earns 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns. For other women, things are even worse. In the legal profession, women partners earn significantly less than their male counterparts even when they're doing the same work, with a similar book of business, and are making similar contributions to the law firm.
What to do? The ABA has invited everyone to join a "virtual march" for gender equity by clicking an icon. The virtual march started on Equal Pay Day on April 9th and continues through the ABA’s Day of the Woman on August 9, 2013. Here's the pitch:
The visual of hundreds of thousands of people descending on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the sea of people coming together for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 has become an iconic representation of people standing in concert to effect change. While nothing can ever replace the historic transcendence of that day, in this new millennium a virtual voice carries the same power and ability to effect change as a physical presence. Can you hear the swell of a million women and men clicking their mouse in a virtual march for the basic right of equality? We can! In that vein, the ABA Task Force on Gender Equity invites all to participate in a virtual march in support of gender equity.
It's hard to pick a favorite sentence in that paragraph, but we'll go with this one for mind-blowing understatement -- "While nothing can ever replace [rival?] the historic transcendence of that day, in this new millennium a virtual voice carries the same power and ability to effect change as a physical presence." Umhh, really?
While we were transfixed by the rhetoric of the pitch, Prof. Christine Hurt at the Conglomerate Blog was focusing on the graphics -- the icon the ABA is urging folks to click on to join the virtual march. Playing on the pun "Click your heels," the ABA has chosen a pair of red high heels. Hurt observes:
There's nothing that says equity more than imagining a female attorney in shoes that are made more for nighttime party activities than working as an attorney. High heels, particularly sky-high heels, in red nonetheless, aren't really associated with gender equity. They are associated with sexy fashions and foot problems. I don't think I can "march" either virtually or literally in those shoes.
If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times -- puns can be dangerous.
