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The digital revolution has forced Bar Associations to meet new needs through innovative ways of making conferences

Bar Associations also need to satisfy the changing needs of lawyers. Some of them think Bar Associations have not been able to adapt to the digital revolution that the whole world is experiencing. Or in other words: they are not providing the services that the 21st century requires. 

Of course, Bar Associations have a big new competitor: online sites. These ones offer lower-cost and more convenient online services, which compete with the service that, until now, was only provided by Bar Associations. Online sites are now offering virtual networking opportunities and attorney referral websites, among others. 

Online sites are now gaining audience because of the new way of living to which the pandemic has forced us. Lawyers are more interested in online interactions or remote work. Therefore, Bar Associations need to adapt to this new era and innovate in order to satisfy the new lawyer needs. 

Avatar conference

Although not all of them are willing to change, there are some Bar Associations that are open to take a new route. This is the example of the Monroe County Bar Association and its executive director, Kevin Ryan. They were so innovative that they carried out an avatar-based conference. They were the first-ever Bar Association that organized this kind of meeting. 

Many attorneys were willing to participate in their avatar conference. All of them had something in common: they were tired of Zoom meetings and wanted to try something new. Also, none of them had much expertise in technology, but they wanted to give it a try. Despite all the difficulties, all of them managed to create their own avatars during the first session and everyone found it very entertaining.

The conference began with a speech of Heidi Alexander, Director of the Massachusetts SJC Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being. She spoke about what they had learned during the pandemic and the future of law practice. Then, the founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, Jared Correia, spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the practice of law. Also, in what way lawyers could use their learnings to adapt to this “new normal”. 

Source: Freepik

They day after, a similar schedule was settled. Several networking and learning sessions were held, all of them in avatar format. The meeting attendees were also able to go, through that fictional meeting, to other places such as the beach or other locations within the virtual campus. Several round tables were also held in which experts from different fields (lawyers, consultants…) shared their ideas and discussed issues in avatar form.

Best of all, this conference gave everyone the feeling that it had been held in person, even though it was held virtually through avatars. Also, all of them preferred this type of event rather than the common meeting through Zoom. 

Innovation

The Monroe County Bar Association has been the first one to take this innovative step forward. However, now that it has been proven it works, other Bar Associations can start doing what they used to do in an innovative way. Therefore, Bar Associations do not have to be intimidated by their new competitor, the online sites. They will not disappear because the world is undergoing a huge digital transformation, which is going much faster than expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Bar Associations could take advantage of their large audience and partner with online sites to offer a better service to its members. Thus, they could be part of the digital revolution.