FBA President Builds Effective Bench/Bar Relations

Robert A. McNew, President of the Federal Bar Association, is Senior Counsel at Eaton Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a former Assistant Chief of the New York Office of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and now serves as Adjunct Lecturer at Cleveland State University School of Law in the areas of business associations, antitrust law, and unfair trade practices.

_Q:What are your goals for your presidency?

_A: For more than 80 years, the FBA has worked to support the federal Judiciary and to enhance the professionalism of practitioners before the federal courts and agencies. My primary goals as president are an extension of that longstanding mission—to cement the FBA's bond with the Judiciary, to build bridges to the executive branch, to strengthen the FBA's leadership, and to expand the FBA's membership and services. Much of our success in achieving those goals depends on the FBA's relationship with the Judiciary, and the Judiciary's relationship with the FBA. I'm proud of the fact that more than 900 judges are members of the FBA. No other national bar can boast of that kind of membership by the federal Judiciary.

_Q:As the bar association for federal practitioners, what are some of the issues that the FBA is focusing on today, or will be addressing in the future?

_A:A number of our key issues relate directly to the federal courts—both because judges are a key component of the FBA's membership, and because all federal practitioners have a stake in our judicial system.

A top priority is our campaign for increased judicial compensation, as part of comprehensive, long-overdue salary reform for top federal officials across all three branches. We also are working for increases in judgeships, particularly in the bankruptcy courts and the southwest border districts. Indeed, at its spring meeting in April, the FBA's National Council unanimously adopted resolutions endorsing additional judgeships for the southwest border courts, as well as opposing reintroduction of the Kerry-Feingold bill on judicial seminars, and urging Congress to increase the compensation of counsel appointed under the Criminal Justice Act—all issues important to the Judiciary.

Another exciting development is our new Executive Branch Outreach Initiative. While the FBA has historically enjoyed close ties to the Judiciary and, in recent years, has established strong working relationships with Congress, we have neglected the executive branch. So, this year, we have launched an aggressive outreach campaign, designed to capitalize on the change of administrations to cultivate relationships with incoming executive branch officials. That initiative will pay major dividends, enhancing our ability to work with the executive branch on issues important to FBA members, and aiding our Membership Committee and our Federal Career Services Division (because support for the FBA at the top levels of agencies will make FBA membership more attractive to rank-and-file government attorneys).

We are renewing our focus on issues important to government attorneys as well—supporting their rights to participate actively in professional associations like the FBA, ensuring that they are fairly compensated, and tracking implementation of the McDade Amendment (which requires federal prosecutors to comply with the ethics rules of jurisdictions where they are licensed—a seemingly innocuous requirement that has had some unintended consequences for both prosecutors and federal law enforcement).

Of course, in addition to these special initiatives, we also continue to provide all the services we traditionally provide to our members. For example, every year we offer more than 700 credit hours of low-cost continuing legal education, at both the local and national levels, and we present conferences on subjects ranging from federal litigation, tax law, and immigration law and procedure, to mutual funds, insurance taxation, and the federal sentencing guidelines. We have a very active government relations function. And we publish The Federal Lawyer, the only national magazine targeting the federal practitioner.

The FBA fills a critical niche in the legal profession. With a membership of 15,000 nationwide, we like to say that we are big enough to have an impact, but small enough to afford lawyers in federal practice real opportunities for networking, leadership, and fellowship.

_Q:Recently, the FBA and ABA in a joint press conference at the Supreme Court presented a white paper on judicial pay. What was the impetus for the paper? How has the paper been received?

_A:We are concerned that a crisis is looming, threatening the caliber of the federal Judiciary in the years to come. The bench is only as good as the judges who serve. But the continuing erosion of judicial compensation is making it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain the best and the brightest for the federal bench.

Moreover, salary erosion is just the tip of the iceberg. Private sector comparability exacerbates the problem. No one is arguing that judges should be paid the top private sector salaries of their peers. But something is seriously wrong when a first year associate at a large firm would have to take a pay cut to join the federal bench.

The FBA supports salary reform for top government officials across the board—in Congress and in the executive branch, as well as the Judiciary. But the problems for the Judiciary are especially grave, and implicate important values, like judicial independence. In short, absent Congressional action on judicial compensation, we risk both the quality and the socioeconomic diversity of the federal bench—not to mention the quality of justice in America.

The FBA/ABA white paper really helped put this issue on the national agenda. And the report apparently struck a responsive chord on Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL) has introduced the Federal Judicial Fairness Act of 2001, which reflects the major recommendations of our report and would give judges a catch-up pay raise of 9.6 percent (to restore the six COLAs denied them in the 1990s), establish a more automatic annual adjustment mechanism, and repeal section 140.

Now we have launched a major grass-roots campaign, mobilizing the FBA's 85 chapters nationwide to press Congress for prompt action on this issue. Our chapter structure—which distinguishes us from the ABA—makes us uniquely positioned to do this. Our chapters are sending a message to Capitol Hill—loud and clear.

_Q:How would you characterize the relationship of FBA members with the federal court system? What changes would you like to see, if any?

_A:Effective bench/bar relations are integral to the FBA's mission. Our Standing Committee on Bench/Bar Relations is a reflection of that fact. Our Judiciary Division also plays an important role in ensuring that the interests of the federal and administrative Judiciary are represented within the FBA. And we have worked closely over the years with the Judicial Conference (especially the Committee on the Judicial Branch) and the AO, coordinating efforts on issues of mutual concern. Just this year, we have begun to develop a parallel relationship with the Federal Judicial Center. Our judicial profiles in The Federal Lawyer, the FBA's monthly magazine, contribute to stronger bench/bar relations as well.

Our most frequent contact with the Judiciary, though, is at the local level, through our local FBA chapters all across the country. Our circuit vice presidents and other FBA representatives attend annual circuit conferences, and federal judges are frequent speakers and honored guests at chapter programs, including admission ceremonies, seminars on court rules and procedures, skills training, and programs on substantive areas of the law.

My vision is for the FBA and the federal bench to become even closer. I'd like to see courts nationwide routinely include the FBA on the agenda for their judicial conferences. I'd like to see an FBA speaker at every swearing-in ceremony, every portrait hanging, and every memorial service. We need to be constantly searching for ways to reinforce the mutually supportive relationship between the FBA and the federal Judiciary.

_Q:Could you describe some of the FBA's programs/work in the area of community outreach?

_A:Two of our more high profile community projects are the Bill of Rights Program and the Shaw Awards. Every year, our Younger Lawyers Division sends dozens of FBA members into public schools all over the country, to talk to students about the fundamental principles of the Bill of Rights. And the Ilene and Michael Shaw Public Service Award makes annual grants of up to $5,000 available to FBA chapters, to support innovative public service projects.

In addition, some of our chapters are now partnering with their local federal courts in two of the Judiciary's national outreach initiatives _ Open Doors of Justice: The Bill of Rights in Your Life (scheduled for October 25), and the Federal Courts' Teachers Institute, Judicial Independence Is For You. I hope that other courts across the country will enlist their local FBA chapters in their efforts.