NCSB Journal Summer 2026

THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The Privilege We Inherited—and the Responsibility We Must Uphold B Y K A T H E R I N E F R Y E

In my speech the night I was sworn into this role, I talked about how I loved the law and loved being a lawyer. Being a lawyer is a privilege. As I have spent the last quarter of my presidency dealing with unexpected

ourselves to standards that protect the pub lic, the courts, and the legal system. Our Rules of Professional Conduct say it plainly: self-regulation “helps maintain the legal pro fession’s independence from government

A trustworthy disciplinary system and a commitment to using our professional obli gations for the public good are not just nice features of self-regulation, they are proof that we are earning the public’s trust. Again, What Do We Need to Do Today? Self-regulation has never been uncondi tional. When our self-regulation process comes under scrutiny, the right response is not to get defensive. It is to be transparent, engage seriously, and show that we are put ting the public interest first. For me, the last quarter has been about explaining and some times defending these programs or defending our right to self-regulate. A disciplinary process that becomes less transparent does not protect self-regulation. When the interest generated by client trust funds cannot reach the people it is meant to serve, we must ask ourselves what we are going to do about it. Communities that were already legal deserts are losing what little access they had. Real people are showing up to courthouses without the help they used to be able to get. Hopefully, by the time you read this arti cle, some of these issues will have been resolved. But keep in mind that whether they have been or haven’t been, everyone must remember how we earned the privilege to self-regulate and must remember that it is not guaranteed tomorrow. I implore anyone reading this article to ask how you can be proactive today to protect this privilege: Can you write a state legislator to explain the importance of IOLTA or explain the disci plinary process? Can you volunteer with a group that helps improve the court system? Can you accept a pro bono case? All of us are needed to protect this privilege. n

issues surrounding the disci pline of lawyers and the con tinued freeze of IOLTA funds, I have also realized how easy it is to take for granted that we regulate our selves. That is a privilege— and right now, it is one that deserves our full attention.

domination,” and “an inde pendent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law.” What Do We Need to Do Today? The privilege of self-regu lation is something we have to keep earning. That means holding ourselves and each other to high standards of competence, ethics, and pro fessionalism. It means run

A Privilege Earned

I will be the first to admit that history was never my strongest subject. However, for

us to understand the privilege of self-regulation, I need to explain how we got to this point, so let’s briefly walk through the history… • On February 10, 1899, the NC Bar Association was founded. The goal was to serve lawyers, but also to earn the public’s trust. • In 1903, the NCBA asked the legisla ture to give lawyers responsibility for exam ining, licensing, and disbarring members of the profession. • By 1915, the legislature had authorized a board of legal examiners made up of Supreme Court justices to handle admission and discipline. • By 1932, the members of the NCBA decided that something additional was also needed and began work to establish legisla tion to create the NC State Bar. • On April 3, 1933, the NC State Bar was created by legislation drafted by the NCBA. Self-regulation was not handed to us. We built it ourselves, over decades, and in doing so we made a promise: that we would hold

ning a disciplinary process that is rigorous, fair, and transparent. It should not be a process that shields lawyers from accounta bility; it should be a way that we show the public that the system actually works for them. The Disciplinary Hearing Commission includes eight nonlawyer pub lic members, which is intentional. Our legit imacy depends on public confidence. Self-regulation also shows up in how we handle what has been entrusted to us. The IOLTA program, established in 1983, is a good example. We are required by the Rules of Professional Conduct to hold client funds in trust. When those funds are too small or held too briefly to earn interest for an indi vidual client, the interest those pooled accounts generate goes to civil legal services for North Carolinians who cannot afford a lawyer. The program has put more than $134 million into legal aid since it started. It does not cost taxpayers a dime. It is built entirely on the incidental proceeds of our duty to our clients.

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THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR JOURNAL