Alabama State Bar

The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama.

The Alabama State Bar was established in 1923 and is governed by the 1975 Alabama Code, Section 34 Chapter 3.

It is the "licensing and regulatory agency for attorneys in the State of Alabama, subject to Rules of the Alabama Supreme Court" and "has jurisdiction over the conduct of all attorneys and is charged with stimulating interest in improving the administration of justice." The Bar also administers the state bar examination for those seeking to be admitted to the Bar in Alabama.

The governing body of the State Bar is a Board of Commissioners. The Board is composed of at least one elected representative from each of Alabama's 41 judicial circuits. One additional Commissioner is elected for each 300 members of the State Bar in a circuit "who maintain their principal office in the circuit as of March of each year, subject to the requirement that no circuit is entitled to more than ten Commissioners."

The Alabama State Bar is dedicated to promoting the professional responsibility and competence of its members, improving the administration of justice and increasing the public understanding of and respect for the law.

The values that guide the State Bar are: Trust, Integrity and Service. The ASB has long served a dual role as an advocate for the profession and for the public. Often it is difficult to separate these two responsibilities, but during the last few decades with the growing complexity of society and our legal system, the ASB's public role has gained both emphasis and breadth.

Since its creation as an integrated bar association, the ASB has initiated programs addressing a wide range of public concerns; from merit selection of judges to securing adequate funding for representing indigent defendants; from ensuring that non-lawyers sit on disciplinary panels to encouraging the use of mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution. State Bar positions play an influential role in determining public and social policy in state and national forums.

The Alabama State Bar is composed principally of practicing attorneys, judges, law teachers, and non-practicing lawyers who are business executives, government officials, court administrators and so forth. It represents practitioners in specialized areas of law, as well as affiliated, law-related organizations and groups with special interests or needs.

The state bar serves as the voice of the legal practitioner in Alabama. It proposes model rules of professional responsibility (which govern the daily business and ethical practice of lawyers) for adoption by the supreme court.