Montana Lawyer June/July 2024

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Embracing Change As the axiom goes, the only con stant in life is change. When it comes to the legal profession and the delivery of legal services, change is indeed the operative word. Professionalism, training, and ethical conduct remain hallmarks of our work as counselors and attorneys at law. In my view, we must never lose sight of that. But the limited num ber of attorneys and the cost of legal services is pushing access to justice out of reach for far too many Americans. That hard reality is bringing about important conversations on the future of the legal profession in states across the country. Despite the overwhelming generos ity of many of you through pro bono work, the unserved population re mains staggering. Indeed, as I under stand the data, even if each licensed attorney performed all required pro bono hours, this would still not meet the estimated need for services. This justice gap is only heightened in Montana’s rural areas, in so-called legal deserts, where there are few, if any, attorneys. Our experience in Montana is not unique. In states across the American west, courts and bar organizations are working to close the gap through innovative programs such as Alaska’s Civil Justice Worker model, which partners that state’s rural healthcare network with legal services organi zations, under the authority of the Alaska Supreme Court, to allow some non-lawyer civil justice workers to assist citizens with limited legal is sues. That program is being studied throughout the country, including here in Montana. Other paraprofes sional models are gaining steam in Arizona and Texas. Likewise, legal education and the way we study law is changing. The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar recently ap proved moving forward with ac crediting online-only law schools (a proposal the State Bar of Montana supported), to bring legal education to those who cannot relocate for law

school, while keeping strong national accreditation standards. The bar exam is changing as well with the rollout of the NextGen Bar Exam, including additional focus on experiential learning (an area the University of Montana, Blewett School of Law already excels in) and assessment of readiness to enter the profession. The Montana Board of Bar Examiners is considering adopting the new exam in 2027. The changes and others (generative AI, e.g.) are coming as the State Bar of Montana celebrates fifty years this year. The Montana Supreme Court, when unifying the State Bar, explained that the controlling interest under consid eration was: “How is the public best served.” As we address these changes facing the profession, it behooves us to again consider that important question. In my view, we must examine these changes, and how we will respond to them, as we look to the future of our profession and our service to the public. That’s why we are putting together a Task Force on the Future of the Profession. The Task Force will exam topics like legal education and admis sion to the bar, legal delivery models being developed elsewhere, access to justice in rural and underserved areas, and sweeping technological changes like generative AI. We also plan to sur vey the bar, asking for your invaluable input on these various matters. The Task Force hopes to issue an interim report by late 2024 and a final report a year from now. As we rollout out the Task Force, and topic subcom mittees, in the coming weeks, I hope that you will take time to engage with its members and the State Bar in this important endeavor. This is our chance to help shape the legal profession in Montana for the next fifty years.

Stuart Segrest is a senior at torney at Christensen & Prezeau, PLLP where he handles a wide range of litigation and appel late matters. Before joining the firm, he worked for the Montana Attorney General’s Office, where his career spanned the terms of four different Attorney Generals. He served as Chief of the Civil Services Bureau, which repre sents the State of Montana in complex constitutional litigation and other cases of state-wide importance in both state and federal court. He is currently serving as the President of the State Bar of Montana.

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