President’s Report Bob Estes

Bob Estes is the President of the Arkansas Bar Association. He is a solo practitioner in Fayetteville.

The State of the Association

It is my honor and privilege to serve as your president for the 2021-22 bar year. I want to thank Paul Keith for his dedication and hard work. Paul has been a mentor and a friend. This year, we will work together to continue Paul’s efforts to serve the goals of this Association: to advance the administration of justice and to foster and maintain high ideals of integrity, learning, competence and public service. I look forward to working closely with the new officers of the Association: President-Elect Joe F. Kolb, Secretary Glenn Hoggard, Treasurer Brant Perkins, YLS Chair Payton Bentley and Parliamentarian Brent Eubanks.

As President of the Arkansas Bar Association, I want to thank you for your membership. Your leadership and support are invaluable to our profession. I believe it is important for lawyers and judges to work together to lead efforts that support the profession and protect the rule of law.

We know that your time is valuable, and we want you to get the most out of your membership. We were so pleased to hear from our friend Judge Bruce Anderson who let us know the value that he finds in our new member benefit Practice Link.

“I consider the subscription I get to Affinity Consulting (Practice Link and Affinity University) through my bar association membership to be very valuable. I watch a lot of their webinars and especially enjoy the capability to view recorded webinars. I have also bought a couple of their books,” Judge Anderson said. Practice Link offers over 150 training videos on many different legal software as well as the Microsoft suite of products. Please take the time to explore these resources that are available as part of your membership at https://www.arkbar.com/practice-link.

A great example of this association working together is our practice handbooks on substantive areas of law. These books are available in print, pdf and as part of the Fastcase legal research tool. Thank you to the Cumulative Supplement Committee for updating “Handling Appeals in Arkansas” and to the joint committee of the Real Estate Law and Natural Resources Law Section for updating “Standards for Examination of Real Estate Titles in Arkansas.” These committees put in a great deal of work each year to keep these important books updated for us. Go to www.arkbar.com/for-attorneys/publications/ practice-handbooks to view the library and order your copies. Members receive a substantial discount on these handbooks, so remember to contact Michele Glasgow at the Arkbar for your discount code before placing your order.

We are excited this year to offer a new affiliate membership for legal support staff. Affiliate membership is open to anyone working for and supervised by an Arkansas Bar attorney member, whether that person is a paralegal, legal secretary or office manager. This will be a great way to provide more training opportunities for those who support us in our law practice and make things more efficient for our attorneys. More information on this program can be found at https://www.arkbar.com/forattorneys/paralegal.

Thank you to our Committee and Section leaders for agreeing to serve and support the Association this year. Please see the list of chairs on pages 4-5 of this magazine. The Arkansas Bar Commission on Diversity and Inclusion plans to continue the great work that it started lasted year, including the results of their survey.

Our sections have already been active this bar year and have a great lineup of Fall CLE starting in October. See the CLE Calendar listed on the inside cover of this magazine to view the schedule. You can view the agendas and register on CLE CENTRAL at www. pathlms.com/arkbar.

Just this month a task force has been hard at work filming a new civics video to update the previous Level Playing Field video. Many justices, judges and leaders in the legal community worked to engage students as they explained the importance of our justice system in this new civics video. Please plan to help us present this to schools in your area of the state as soon as it is finalized.

We are also pleased to announce the 2nd Public Service Academy sponsored by the Arkansas Bar Association and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, in association with UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law and the University of Arkansas School of Law, for member lawyers and law students who are interested in public service in any capacity. The Public Service Academy will be limited to approximately 25 diverse, statewide participants including law students. Applications for the Public Service Academy are due September 3rd and can be found at www.arkbar.com/cle--events/public-serviceacademy.

Your Arkansas Bar Association is important. It is it essential. It is the members of this Association who advance the administration of justice and improve our communities. ■