At the May House of Delegates meeting President Joseph P.J. Vrabel spoke briefly about a multi-year plan being developed to improve the image of the legal profession.
Acknowledging that the public’s perception of lawyers has been a long-standing concern for the profession, Vrabel said, “We have to get better at promoting what we do as lawyers and as a profession and how we do it, and we should make a more concerted effort to increase involvement in our community-service and public-service programs by our members.
“This should be a focal point of the bar; it’s a long-term cause,” Vrabel said.
At a meeting prior to the HOD meeting, the officers discussed elements of a plan drafted by the MBA Communications Department working in conjunction with an informal committee convened by Vrabel. That plan calls for increased efforts to involve members in the MBA’s public-service programs and to raise the visibility in media across the state of MBA programs and services available to the public and of the individual lawyers who volunteer their time and expertise to participate. The plan also calls for increasing the MBA’s public outreach programs in the coming years.
“We are our own best PR agents,” Vrabel told the delegates, “but we need your help to make this work.
“The officers as a whole are committed to this effort. And the hundreds of lawyers who volunteered this year for Mock Trial, Conversations, Elder Law and other programs are already involved. If this is an effort that all of you commit to, it will be the best effort possible.”