Bench & Bar January/February 2025

FEATURE: KBA MEMBER BENEFITS

THE KENTUCKY BENCH & BAR- A SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION BY EILEEN M. O’BRIEN,

CHAIR OF THE COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE AND BENCH & BAR EDITOR

Page one of each issue of the Bench & Bar states its purpose and provides an abbre viated description of the magazine. The editorial guidelines for the magazine con tain more details concerning the magazine’s goals and objectives: 1 The Bench & Bar magazine, the offi cial publication of the Kentucky Bar Association (KBA), is published to provide members of the KBA with information that will increase their knowledge of the law, improve the practice of law, and assist in improv ing the quality of legal services for the citizenry. It is a bi-monthly publi cation, published in January, March, May, July, September and November, in a format that both edifies and entertains the reader, and keeps the Bar informed on current issues and events within the legal profession. Within the Bench & Bar is a section called the Kentucky Bar News. Its purpose is to update members on committee and section events, local bar association events, news from Kentucky law schools, KBA-spon sored continuing legal education (CLE) seminars and events, and features of potential interest to KBA members. I. Statement of Purpose-In addi tion to the above-stated objectives, the purpose of the Bench & Bar magazine is to provide articles of general professional or scholarly

interest as a means to enhance and enrich the legal profession. Articles, primarily written by Kentucky attor neys, judges, and legal professionals, are intended to provide the most interest and benefit to our readers. We strive to publish articles that express the ideas and views of our members and display well-reasoned analysis. While we discourage both commercial writings and clear advo cacy pieces, we may choose to flavor our publications occasionally with controversial articles, and welcome such submissions as well as editorial comment. Rarely, articles on certain sensitive or social or political issues may be selected for publication to the membership for educational pur poses only. However, these articles must be balanced and are restricted by the mandates of Keller v. State Bar of California , 496 U.S. 1 (1990). We encourage well-written articles pertaining to Kentucky law that are serious, yet are not dull, and are of interest to significant segments of the Bar. Frequently, articles are selected or solicited based on a predeter mined area of specialty or theme; however, articles of significant interest or quality are not declined based on subject matter. Also, casual, humorous and general interest arti cles and artwork written about or prepared by Kentucky lawyers are welcomed.

The goals are appropriate and laudable, and I could not do a better job of describing the benefits for the members of the Kentucky Bar Association. As a long-term member of the editorial board, I hope to share with you my insight into the dedication of the members of the board as well as the pro fessional staff and leadership of the KBA. These individuals continue to be of maxi mum assistance and relevance to Kentucky judges, lawyers and law students. Members of the board bring a broad base of experi ence to their service. They work to craft an immensely relevant publication which iden tifies significant areas of legal practice and significant developments in the law. These areas then become the subject of often nuts and-bolts, how-to, and practical articles for those engaged in the practice of law. The members of the Board share the stresses and difficulties of legal practice and those areas of lawyer health and wellbeing also become topics for articles. Some recent examples illustrate the involve ment of the magazine and Bar leadership to identify and help to address challenges faced by the members of the Bar: 1. For several years, the Board received more and more information about the existence of “legal deserts” within the state. In 2022-23, then KBA President W. Fletcher Schrock appointed past-President J. D. Meyer to head a Rural Practice Task Force. The December, 2023 issue of the magazine was devoted to a dis cussion of the issue and efforts to

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