16th Annual Bar Leaders' Conference

24 May - 25 May 2023

Session information

What efforts are bars making at present to improve the public image of the legal profession? Can it in fact be improved and, if so, how?

Committee(s)

Bar Issues Commission (Lead)

Description

Reputation/image is vitally important in the modern world. For lawyers it shapes not just the attitudes of consumers of legal services, but also the policies of Governments towards the profession. 


What does expert research in different jurisdictions say is the public image of the profession? What shapes it? What are its most positive and negative aspects? Where does the profession rank in public esteem? Is its position changing?


And, most importantly, what, if anything, can Bars do about it?


The Finnish Bar Association is currently running an advertising campaign on national television. We will see some of these advertisements on screen with translations for our benefit. In addition, many bars, often under pressure from members, have run public relations campaigns in the past. What worked in these campaigns? What didn’t? What can we learn from each other’s experiences?

Session / Workshop Chair(s)

Ken Murphy Law Society of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland; Chair, Bar Issues Commission

Speakers

Deborah Enix-Ross Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York, New York, USA; President / Chairperson, American Bar Association
Pierre Hoffman Ordre des Avocats de Paris, Paris, France; President / Chairperson, Ordre des Avocats de Paris
Hanna Räihä-Mäntyharju The Finnish Bar Association, Helsinki, Finland; President/Chairperson, The Finnish Bar Association
Lubna Shuja President / Chairperson, The Law Society of England and Wales