50years.dcbar.orgDCB 50th Anniversary - D.C. Bar 50th Anniversary

Setting the Gold Standard for 50 Years Enhancing access to justice. Improving the legal system. Empowering lawyers to achieve. Since 1972, the D.C. Bar has been setting the gold standard for legal excellence. Explore our history and get involved to help us continue to raise the bar for the next 50 years. Service. Integrity. Leadership. Inclusion. Learn how the D.C. Bar and D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center serve the legal community and the District of Columbia. more info 1972 – 2022 Explore Our History Scroll to the right to explore the full history of the D.C. Bar. 1801 Congress establishes the District of Columbia’s first judicial systems, which take on various forms under federal authority for the next 170 years. 1871 The Bar Association of the District of Columbia is founded as a voluntary bar to support lawyers practicing in D.C. courts. Membership is restricted to white men, so minority lawyers form the Washington Bar Association and female lawyers found the Women’s Bar Association. 1972 The D.C. Court of Appeals, which had been created by act of Congress in 1970 (along with the D.C. Superior Court), creates the D.C. Bar, vesting it authority to regulate all attorney practice under a single disciplinary code. The D.C. Bar is formed at a time when young lawyers and law students were calling more attention to the need for pro bono and public interest work. E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. is elected as the first president of the D.C. Bar. My board was an eclectic one, with strong-willed personalities of various and diverse viewpoints, not shy at expressing themselves on any subject. In fact, my biggest task during this first year was to bring a sense of calm and reason to our meetings. I found that if Board members thought I was fair, and they had every chance to propound their views, we could all work together as a unit.” — E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. The D.C. Bar creates a Clients’ Security Trust Fund to reimburse clients for losses caused by the dishonest conduct of D.C. Bar members. 1973 Prominent civil rights attorney Charles T. Duncan becomes the first African American president of the D.C. Bar. The D.C. Bar publishes the first edition of its official newspaper, emBar Report/em. The D.C. Bar forms 16 divisions” ranging from Administrative Law and Agency Practice to Taxation, the precursor of the current D.C. Bar Communities. Today there are 21 D.C. Bar Communities providing rich programming and content, volunteer opportunities, and member engagement initiatives. 1974 President Nixon signs the law creating the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The LSC is now the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation. D.C. citizens elect their first government in more than 100 years. 1975 The D.C. Bar creates a continuing legal education program on a self-supporting basis. Today the D.C. Bar’s award-winning Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Program offers 130+ programs to more than 7,000 attorneys each year. 1976 The D.C. Bar begins publication of its magazine, emDistrict Lawyer/em. It is renamed emWashington Lawyer/em in 1986. The D.C. Bar establishes the Office of Public Service Activities. 1977 The D.C. Bar expands its Board of Governors to include nonlawyers as nonvoting members. The D.C. Bar Foundation was established with the express purpose of working hand-in-hand with the civil legal aid community to better understand and address the legal issues facing District residents, identify unmet civil legal needs, and make strategic investments to strengthen and expand legal services for disadvantaged District residents.” 1978 The D.C. Bar Lawyer Referral and Information Service, forerunner of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, is established. Since its founding, the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center has become the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the District. Each year, the Center recruits, trains, and mobilizes attorney volunteers to serve more than 20,000 D.C. residents living in poverty, small businesses, and community-based nonprofits. 1981 The D.C. Bar Board of Governors establishes the Special Committee on Alcohol Abuse, tasked to develop and implement a program to assist lawyers struggling with alcohol use disorders. Today the Lawyer’s Assistance Program not-only serves D.C. Bar members, judges and law students on a free and confidential basis, but has expanded its counseling services to substance abuse and mental health issues. Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats were not exactly sanguine about a Reagan appointee; nevertheless, there was a lot of cheering among women lawyers when Justice O’Connor was nominated. She brought a perspective that was previously missing on the court.” – Jamie S. Gorelick D.C. Bar President, 1992-93 The D.C. Court of Appeals approves a $75 dues ceiling and rules to restrict use of fees to basic Bar functions such as discipline, admissions, and continued registration. Throughout the decade, Bar members and leadership ask and review questions relating to how much lawyers should pay in fees and where the money should go. The debate mirrors national debate regarding whether tax dollars should go to legal aid services. 1984 The D.C. Bar elects well-known attorney Marna S. Tucker as its first female president. In the succeeding years, 12 more women are elected to the Bar’s highest office. My being president let women know that that they could join leadership, that there was a place for them in leadership.” – Marna S. Tucker 1985 The D.C. Bar establishes the Lawyer Counseling Program (now the Lawyer Assistance Program) to support members of the D.C. Bar, judges, and law students. Today the Lawyer Assistance Program continues to help lawyers, judges and law students access confidential mental health, addiction and well-being resources when they need them. 1986 The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless is founded through the support of the D.C. Bar and D.C. Bar Foundation. 1988 The D.C. Bar Office of Public Service Activities incorporates as the D.C. Bar Public Service Activities Corporation (PSAC,) a forerunner of the Pro Bono Program (now Pro Bono Center). PSAC was a nonprofit service established by the Bar following a 1980 referendum restricting the use of mandatory dues. 1990 The D.C. Bar elects to bring its Continuing Legal Education Program in house, with the George Washington University Law School (then called the George Washington University National Law Center) providing assistance. The program secures MCLE accreditation the same year. The D.C. Bar establishes the Rosenberg Award for Excellence in Government Service in honor of Beatrice Bea” Rosenberg, who dedicated 35 years of her career to government service and performed with distinction at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 1991 The District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct, a new code of ethics for D.C. Bar members, go into effect. 1993 The D.C. Bar establishes the William J. Brennan Jr. Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award for exceptional achievement in the pursuit of equal justice and opportunity. The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center launches its Law Firm Clinic (now the AdvocacyJustice Clinic), recruiting and training attorney volunteers to represent prescreened low-income clients in housing, family, public benefits, disability, consumer, and unemployment law matters. Eighteen firms volunteer for the Law Firm Clinic in the first year. 1994 The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center opens its Bankruptcy Clinic. The D.C. Court of Appeals adopts rules requiring all attorneys admitted to the D.C. Bar after July 1, 1994, to complete the Mandatory Course on the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct and District of Columbia Practice. 1995 Upon recommendation by the D.C. Bar Board of Governors, the D.C. Court of Appeals adopts changes making the attorney discipline system more public. The D.C. Bar...