Matt Kaiser Speaks to the National Law Journal about His New Role as President of the BADC
In a recent interview with the National Law Journal, Partner Matt Kaiser discussed his new role as President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the country’s oldest voluntary bar association.
Mr. Kaiser described the benefits of involvement in the BADC: “I’ve met a lot of people through the BADC…. And work has come out of that, but the primary benefits are that getting involved and being more active makes me feel better about life as a lawyer. What I’ve found through getting active… is that the more lawyers you bump into, the more it reaffirms the fundamental goodness of the people who are lawyers.”
As President of the BADC, Mr. Kaiser plans to expand the association’s networking and programming opportunities and encourage its members to become more active in the community. This year’s theme, “The Role of Lawyers in a Constitutional Democracy,” will give members a chance to discuss what is happening in the current administration and how they can help people. “I think there’s a big conversation that needs to happen about the role of lawyers as this presidency gets going. One of the things the BADC can do that a mandatory bar can’t do is we can talk. We’ve got First Amendment rights. The D.C. bar can’t file an amicus brief in support of a position in a case. We can, so one thing we’re going to do is advocacy.“
Mr. Kaiser also referred to the challenges faced by lawyers representing Donald Trump. “It may be that this president is the worst client in the history of legal representation. He’s got really good lawyers at the Department of Justice and I don’t know why he wants to make their life harder. I can see any particular lawyer’s reluctance to get involved in that as a client-management issue.”
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