Are D.C. Bar Members Being Sold A Bill Of Goods?

With much fanfare, the District of Columbia Bar has announced that it will build a monument to itself

The D.C. Bar is embarking on a multiyear effort to design and build a new headquarters. While the Bar will create a state-of-the-art office space, we’ll also be building more than that. We will be building a place to network and to learn, a place to congregate and to connect. We will be building community.

Located in the bustling Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, the development project incorporates the needs identified by thousands of members during our D.C. Bar 2020 strategic planning outreach, including:

• More classroom venues to accommodate programming that keeps attorneys current and at the top of their practice areas
• A new in-house production studio to expand the Bar’s capabilities in capturing events and member knowledge and broadcasting them virtually to members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 80+ countries
• Member access to additional space and valuable resources that will enhance work capabilities and networking opportunities.

In addition, ownership of the building allows the Bar to save more than $25 million over 30 years versus renting—money that can be used to find more ways to provide member value while maintaining the Bar’s position in the lowest quartile of dues rates in the country. Doing more. Managing costs. Driving direct member value. That’s what the new home affords the Bar. 

Saving $25 million over 30 years!

Why do I have a sinking feeling that I’m being sold the mandatory dues equivalent of the Iraq War?

It is truly a crime that members of the Bar are being forced to invest in real estate without any oversight (report back to me on the real costs, please) or say-so.

The D. C. Bar now picks its Board of Governors from a “leadership academy” that allows the senior staff of the Bar to self-select its rising members. Boat rockers need not apply.

And democracy does not exist for the Bar’s rank-and-file.

Question: Who gets to hold the bag when these rosy predictions don’t pan out?

When the building costs more than expected?

When the Bar finds out that its landlord business does not generate the expected profits?

Answer: The D.C. Bar members who had no say in this offense committed in their names.  

No problem: Just raise the dues. (Mike Frisch)