"We cannot take our members for granted in this climate," said Garcia, a commercial litigator with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney P.C., a Pittsburgh firm with a 60-lawyer office in Philadelphia. "We need to make sure we are earning our dues money and then some."
The problem for the Philadelphia Bar Association and similar lawyers' groups across the country is that industry downsizing has cut into or slowed the flow of new memberships and renewals.
Membership in the Philadelphia bar, which was about 13,000 last year, is down several hundred, Garcia said. He said about 80 percent of the city's lawyers are members.
In many instances, membership fees, which can reach as high as $383 per year for lawyers in private practice in Philadelphia, often are paid by firms. But of course firms no longer make those payments for lawyers they have let go.
Garcia, 59, says the centerpiece of the membership drive will be the new legal database, offered as a free service to firms with 100 percent membership. The bar association projects that of the 25 largest firms in Philadelphia, each will be able to save at least $35,000 a year on top of new membership costs by using the service in place of other commercial legal databases.
The bar association, founded in 1802 as the Law Library Company of Philadelphia, which provided legal texts to local lawyers, also will look at restructuring membership fees, including the possibility of offering a flat rate to firms for all their lawyers.
Garcia said the focus on membership at the $4.5-million-a-year association was not driven by the need for dues. Those fees in fact have become less important as revenue from other sources has increased, notably advertising and joint marketing ventures, Garcia said.
