By Benjamin Gould
In February 2024, the Bar Bulletin published a piece entitled, “From the River to the Sea,” which generated considerable controversy. That controversy, and the errors that the KCBA concluded had been made in the piece’s placement and publication, led the KCBA Board of Trustees to create a volunteer Task Force that would recommend editorial guidelines and best practices for the Bar Bulletin. These recommended editorial guidelines and best practices would then be submitted to the Board of Trustees for consideration.
That Task Force, of which I am the chair, has now been assembled and has recently begun its work. It is composed of a diverse group of KCBA members with a variety of practice backgrounds. This brief article is meant to give KCBA members a sense of what the Task Force plans to do in the coming months and how it plans to do it.
The Task Force’s first phase will be fact gathering. It will first determine whether there are best practices in comparable bar publications that might help guide the Bar Bulletin’s work. If it turns out that a single set of best practices doesn’t exist — as seems likely to be the case — the Task Force will investigate the diversity of practices in this area. To accomplish these goals, the Task Force will be consulting with the editorial leadership of publications of similar membership organizations. The Task Force also plans to consult with experts who might shed light on best practices or appropriate editorial guidelines (for example, legal academics who have studied bar publications).
As part of the fact-gathering process, the Task Force will also investigate the procedures by which the Bar Bulletin is being — and has been — put together. That investigation will help determine how those procedures may need to change and whether the Bar Bulletin needs additional staff or resources. To do this, the Task Force will speak with those currently involved in publishing the Bar Bulletin or who have been involved in the past. It will also explore the preparation and publication of the February 2024 Bar Bulletin, as well as the Board of Trustees’ actions following the publication of that issue, to see what can be learned from them.
Throughout its work, the Task Force will stay in touch with the KCBA Communications and Bar Bulletin Steering Committee, a committee that serves as a liaison between the Board and the Task Force.
Once the fact-gathering phase of its work is complete, the Task Force expects to create a principled and informed set of editorial guidelines and best practices for the Bar Bulletin. It may also make recommendations about additional resources that might be devoted to improve a publication that has served the members of KCBA and the larger legal community for six decades. Ultimately, the Task Force will submit a written report to the KCBA Board of Trustees that includes its proposals and recommendations.
What’s the timeline for all of this? This is necessarily tentative, but the Task Force hopes to complete its fact gathering by the end of 2024, and to submit its report to the KCBA Board of Trustees in early 2025. Updates will be provided as the work of the Task Force continues.
Benjamin Gould practices in Keller Rohrback’s Complex Litigation Group and is Chair of KCBA’s Bar Bulletin Task Force.
