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Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit

The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit (BAFFC) is a nonprofit, voluntary bar association attorneys admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. It is located at 600 Camp St., New Orleans, Louisiana, just around the corner from the John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building. Any attorney admitted to practice before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is eligible for membership in the Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit. More than 6,000 attorneys have chosen to be members of this voluntary bar association.

Mission

The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit's (BAFFC) goal is to improve and facilitate the administration of justice in the federal courts within the Fifth Circuit. BAFFC seeks to meet this goal in a number of ways:

1. Serve the association's members by providing benefits, services, and programs that promote members’ professional growth.
2. Raise the standards of proficiency and integrity in federal practice.

History

John Minor Wisdom Court of Appeals Building

In 1984 Chief Judge Charles Clark sought the help of several Fifth Circuit attorney practitioners to form the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit. Chief Judge Clark explained that the purpose of the Bar Association would be to enable attorneys who have an active and continuing interest in the work of the bankruptcy, trial and appellate courts in the Fifth Circuit to work more closely with the judges of these courts to improve the administration of justice.

Several other goals were proposed to the initial charter members of the Board of Governors who agreed to work with Chief Judge Clark to establish such an association. Among the goals were the following:

1. To publish on a regular basis a current synopsis of recent decision and pending cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals;
2. To work with trial and appellate courts in the Fifth Circuit to develop and implement effective, efficient, uniform rules of practice and procedure;
3. To raise the standards of lawyer proficiency and federal practice by sponsoring and presenting a federal appellate seminar;
4. To participate actively in delegate selection and substantive programs of the Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference and;
5. To recommend to the Judicial Committee of the Fifth Circuit candidates for membership on the attorneys advisory committee.
   

Chief Judge Clark expressed to the initial charter governors that one of his ultimate goals was to raise the standards of integrity and professionalism of practice before the Fifth Circuit, which remains the mission of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit.

The initial charter governors were Marvin Sloman, Don Richard, Ken Mackey, LeRoy Jahn, Larry Frank, Robert G. Pugh, Frank Hunger and Jim Montgomery. Of these initial charter governors the only governor still active in the organization is Don Richard. The association began with a core group of 1000 members in 1984. Now the membership is over 6000.

The first Fifth Circuit Reporter was published by West Publishing Company in May 1984. It was a monthly compilation of the cases pending before Court as well as the cases that had been decided. The pending cases and the recent opinions were categorized to for easy research and reference. Articles on appellate practice and regular updates were also included. The last Reporter was October 2007. The Association now operates a full service website that contains all the information that was once printed in the Reporter, with a daily e-mail service of opinions rendered by the Court.

The first Appellate Advocacy Seminar was presented in October 1984. The uniqueness of the seminars involved witnessing actual oral arguments followed by critiquing of the arguments in the courtrooms after close of court. The seminars were suspended in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina and resumed in 2007. Since 2009, the association has provided continuing legal education for attorney participants in the biannual Judicial Conference. Over the course of the years the association has also sponsored Portrait Presentations of the judges and other events as requested by the Chief Judge.

The Board now consists of the original charter member, Don Richard, plus one governor for each of the districts of the court and three at-large governors for each state within the Circuit.

Services for members

The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit provides a number of services for its members:

• Daily email updates about the latest opinions rendered by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals;
• Monthly email notifications featuring announcements from the court and web site updates as well as commentary of recent Fifth Circuit opinions;
• Access to social media distribution of important and time sensitive updates on opinions released, pending cases or arguments, or court announcements;
• Archived Fifth Circuit opinions, updated monthly and categorized by subject and date for easy reference;
• Information on cases pending before the Fifth Circuit, also updated monthly and categorized for easy reference;
• Updates on Supreme Court cases arising from the Fifth Circuit or involving a conflict between the Fifth Circuit and another U.S. Court of Appeals;
• Substantive biographies of Fifth Circuit judges, including links to interviews and articles about the judges;
• Articles related to Federal Practice, Brief Writing, and Oral Argument (including advice directly from Fifth Circuit judges);
• Articles on the development of particular areas of law within Fifth Circuit jurisprudence;
• Videos from prior CLE presentations;
• Archived Fifth Circuit Reporter PDF documents from 2004-2007;
• Use of the BAFFC facilities for meetings and research.

The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit continues to develop services to benefit its members and welcomes suggestions from members. Future benefits under development include online CLE training for enhancing attorneys' skills and productivity.

Continuing Legal Education

Each fall, the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit hosts a two-day CLE program in New Orleans. The first Appellate Advocacy Seminar took place in 1984, the same year the BAFFC was founded. The seminars have continued each year except for a two-year break caused by Hurricane Katrina. The presentations are dedicated to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and federal practice more generally. These CLE programs are available to both members and nonmembers as part of BAFFC's commitment to raising the standards of proficiency and integrity in federal practice.

Leadership and governance

The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit is managed by a Board of Governors, all attorneys who are admitted to practice before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and who are members of BAFFC. The past presidents of the association are:

Marvin S. Sloman, Texas: 1984–1985
Robert G. Pugh, Louisiana: 1985–1987
Lawrence J. Franck, Mississippi: 1987–1989
Sidney K. Powell, Texas: 1989–1991
Don M. Richard, Louisiana: 1991–1993
Frank W. Hunter, Mississippi: 1993–1996
Michael Lowenberg, Texas: 1996–1998
Michael H. Rubin, Louisiana: 1998–2000
Robert L. Gibbs, Mississippi: 2000–2002
Seagal V. Wheatley, Texas: 2002–2004
Deborah A Pearce, Louisiana: 2004–2006
Patricia Bennett, Mississippi: 2006–2008
Jorge Rangel, Texas: 2008–2010
Allison A. Jones, Louisiana: 2010–2012
Brett Harvey, Mississippi: 2012–2014

Links

Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Library System