Lawyers win mandatory bar dues battles in Texas, Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Attorneys who don't want to belong to, or pay dues to, their state bar associations in Texas and Louisiana have won important battles at a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Texas must stop requiring attorneys to join or pay dues to that state’s bar association unless and until it gives them a better opportunity to object to some of the ways the money is spent. In a separate case, the same panel of three appellate judges revived a lawsuit in which a Louisiana attorney objected to being forced to join that state’s bar association. That case, too, could eventually result in an order that the Louisiana State Bar Association make changes.
Both rulings were handed down Friday. They are the latest developments in least six lawsuits being pursued by lawyers in some of the 31 states requiring bar association membership as part of the states' regulation of the legal profession.
The victories were not total. The panel rejected the idea that mandatory membership by itself violates constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and association. In the Texas case, the panel held that compelled bar membership can be seen as constitutional under current law and Supreme Court precedent if the bar association is engaged in funding or lobbying for activities that are germane to the regulation of the legal profession.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Lawyers-win-mandatory-bar-dues-battles-in-Texas-16294614.php
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