Dear Members of the Bowling Green-Warren County Bar Association,

On behalf of the Officers and Directors of the Bowling Green-Warren County Bar Association, I want to thank each of you for your continued membership in our local bar.
We have been encouraged by the ever-increasing participation we have seen this year as we adjust to the practice of law in a post-COVID world, and we have tried to increase our programming accordingly.

Our year began in January with a well-attended membership luncheon. In February, we had the privilege to honor our local attorneys who have attained forty years of practice by hosting over 275 guests at the first Barrister’s Ball since 2015. Thanks to the Barrister’s Ball planning committee, this event was a great success and we are already looking forward to the next one in 2027-2028.

In May, we hosted local practitioners and students for our annual Law Day ceremony at the Capitol Arts Center. We expanded our typical CLE offerings by presenting a two- day CLE program, which featured four hours of ethics credit. We also expanded our social offerings, with a variety of events including a Hot Rods outing, the first post-COVID Barrister’s Open, a social to support the Kentucky Bar Foundation following the Kentucky Law Update, and the annual holiday party.

Perhaps most importantly, thanks to the financial stewardship of our predecessor officers and directors, the local bar was able to extend year-end gifts to several local organizations and scholarship funds focusing on legal services and education, including Kentucky Legal Aid, the Baren River Area Child Advocacy Center, the Gary A. Raymer Scholarship Fund, the Kiwanis SKYCTC Scholarship, the WKU Mock Trial Team, and Warren County Teen Court.

This year, our local bar started a partnership with the Louisville Bar Association that we hope will pay dividends in the future. Members of the BGWC Bar Association now have access to the LBA’s extensive CLE programming at a discounted rate. A portion of the fees paid by our members to the LBA for CLE programming comes back to the local bar. If you need last-minute CLE credits as the end of the educational year approaches, or if you simply want to expand your understanding of a particular area of the law, I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity and help your local bar at the same time.

The LBA has also expressed interest in expanding its Kentucky Lawyer Referral Service to cover Warren County. KLRS operators place prospective clients in touch with participating attorneys who service the clients’ geographical area and case type. In 2019, participating attorneys earned a combined total of $1.6 million in fees through KLRS referrals. We understand the KLRS often receives calls from prospective clients in Warren County, and as such, the LBA believes it could be worthwhile to expand the reach of its service here. More information regarding the KLRS may be found on the LBA’s website at https://www.loubar.org/public-resources/lawyer-referral-service/. If you might be interested in participating in the KLRS if it was offered in Warren County, please let us know.

Finally, enclosed is the dues notice for 2024. We look forward to each of you renewing your membership in the local bar. If you know an attorney who is new to the Bowling Green area, or was once a member but has dropped off our rolls, we ask that you forward them a copy of the notice, or provide us with their contact information so we may reach out. Our goal is to extend the opportunity of membership to every attorney in Warren County, as well as those in the surrounding counties who regularly practice here.

You will see that our bar dues remain set at $100/year. Our dues have stayed consistent for many years, even as the cost to put on CLEs, social events, and other activities has increased. At the same time, various economic and budgetary pressures have caused some employers, especially those in the public and non-profit sectors, to cease paying their attorneys’ bar dues. As a result, we have lost members whose perspectives are important and should be represented in our local bar.

This year, the bar board has discussed various options to recapture some of these lost members. One option is to create a program through which private attorneys could sponsor the bar dues of public and non-profit attorneys whose employers do not pay their bar dues. Another option is to expand the categories of attorneys exempt from paying dues and modestly increase the amount of dues for everyone else. The bar board does not take the notion of increasing dues lightly, and that is why we are seeking your input. If you have suggestions regarding how we might increase membership and participation in the local bar, both generally speaking and specifically among public and non-profit sector attorneys, please let us know. This is an ongoing discussion, and we want all our members and prospective members to be part of it.

Once again, please accept the sincere gratitude of the officers and directors of your local bar association for another successful year in the practice of law in Bowling Green and Warren County. We wish you and your families a happy holiday season and look forward to seeing each of you at a bar event in the new year.

With warmest regards,

Colton W. Givens
President, BG-WC Bar Association
December 18, 2023