President’s Report Joe F. Kolb

Off and Running— Building a Better Association

Joe F. Kolb is the President of the Arkansas Bar Association. Kolb is the principal member of the law firm j. k o l b in Little Rock.

In my last report, I outlined a vision of how to move the association forward—a roadmap to build a better, stronger, more vibrant, more sustainable association.

I laid out a plan to renew the association’s focus on four key areas: creating membership value, improving two-way communication between the association and the lawyers it serves, encouraging engagement at all levels—from nonmembers all the way up to the board of trustees, and integrating and unifying the many parts and programs of the association so that the association makes efficient use of limited resources.

I am happy to report that, as a whole, we’re all in—the Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee, the task forces and committees charged with developing and implementing the details, and our wonderful staff—we are all working toward that brighter future.

In this report, I want to give you some examples of how our renewed focus on communication and engagement is playing out.

We have reimagined and reconfigured our Board of Trustees meetings. We have stepped away from Zoom and moved our meetings out into and around the state. And we have made them more engaging for our trustees AND our members.

We held our first board meeting of the year in Fayetteville in August. It was a great success. The trustees had in-depth generative discussions related to member benefits and member value and an extended discussion related to the use and maintenance of the Bar Center. More on that to come.

But what was just as exciting was, under our new format, on the Thursday evening before our Friday meeting, the board cohosted a “Local Social” in partnership with local bar organizations. These socials are designed to create opportunities for trustees and local attorneys to interact, exchange information and ideas, and engage one another—in two-way communication—so attorneys can make their voices heard and trustees can be sure they understand what is important to members.

Our first “Local Social” was co-hosted with the Washington County and Benton County bar associations. More than 150 trustees, local attorneys, and law students enjoyed a wonderful evening of casual conversation and fellowship.

I want to thank trustee and Washington County Bar President Michelle Jaskolski and YLS District A Representative and Benton County Bar President Sam Mason for their support and hard work in planning the event, as well as Sarah Jewell, the association’s Chief Engagement Officer.

District B will host our December board meeting in Little Rock. We have reached out to several local bar organizations for our “Local Social.” In addition, Executive Committee District B Representative Jamie Jones and trustee Jessica Mallet are working on a special project for the trustees while they are in town that will involve the trustees reaching out to and engaging graduating law students.

As they say—“But that’s not all!” I am also pleased to report that the Member Value Task Force, under the leadership of Jamie Jones, is hard at work to determine what value the association can and should provide its members.

As an initial step, the task force has planned a series of “Coffee Chats” to be held around the state. “Coffee Chats” are open and informal gatherings at which local attorneys can share with association leaders their thoughts about what they need and want from the association over a cup of coffee and a pastry.

The first “Coffee Chat” was held in Jonesboro on November 3rd. I would like to thank Past President Tom Womack, and all of the attorneys of Womack Phelps Puryear Mayfield & McNeil, P.A. for hosting. I also want to specifically acknowledge trustee Ryan Wilson and YLS at-large representative Sara Gay for their part in staging the event.

Two other “Coffee Chats” are scheduled in November, one in Rogers and one in Little Rock. Plans are also being made for gatherings in Fort Smith and Texarkana. If you would like to host or just attend a chat in your neck of the woods, reach out to Jamie Jones at jjones@fridayfirm.com.

These chats are precursors to more formal outreach and discussions to be led by the Member Value Task Force. The task force is in the process of identifying and interviewing consultants to help design additional outreach to members and prospective members. The goal of these efforts is to determine what Arkansas lawyers need and want from the association to alleviate issues or “pain points” in their practices.

The task force anticipates it will host several focus groups and commission one or more surveys over the next six months to gather the data it needs to make recommendations to the board of trustees about the programming and products our members want and need.

These are just a few examples of how the association is renewing its focus on communication and engagement.

Through these efforts, we can assure that the association provides real value to Arkansas attorneys. And in so doing, we can and we will build a better, stronger, more vibrant, more sustainable association—one that truly lives up to its mission “to support attorneys” and “advance the practice of law.” ■