The panel rejected the idea that mandatory membership by itself violates constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and association. 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. That case, too, could eventually result in an order that the Louisiana State Bar Association make changes.īoth rulings were handed down Friday. 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.
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. 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.Ī panel of the 5th U.S.
