Young Lawyer Rising

Bill Bay, President of the American Bar Association, joins Montana to discuss the role the ABA plays in supporting lawyers, promoting justice, and advocating for the rule of law. Regardless of where you are in your career, the ABA offers not only a wealth of material for you to improve your practice and serve your clients better, but also an opportunity to get involved, get inspired, and effectuate a broader impact as part of something bigger than yourself. Discover the ways the ABA can help you advance your career, serve your community, and take a leading role in making a meaningful difference.

Additional Resources:

How New Lawyers Can Use the ABA to Further Their Career Goals

Associate Producer: Montana Funk

(00:00) - Introduction: Bill Bay
(01:29) - Bill Bay’s Career
(03:24) - Bill’s Path to the ABA Presidency
(04:45) - Defining the American Bar Association
(11:07) - How Best to Get Involved in the ABA
(13:31) - How Young Lawyers Can Get Their Ideas Heard
(18:47) - Addressing Declining Confidence in the Judiciary
(21:05) - Resources for Young Lawyers from the ABA
(27:13) - Bill’s Advice to Young Lawyers

Creators and Guests

Host

Montana Funk

Guest

Bill Bay

What is Young Lawyer Rising?

Hosted by Montana Funk, Young Lawyer Rising covers issues pertinent to young lawyers, from newly minted attorneys to lawyers 10 years into practice and beyond. From dealing with the daily grind and career management to social issues and financial, mental, and physical wellness, this show features the voices of young lawyers from across the country sharing their stories and advice to help all lawyers navigate their careers and rise to where they want to be.

Montana Funk (00:13):
This is Young Lawyer Rising, brought to you by the ABA Young Lawyers Division and produced by Moraine Media. Welcome back listeners. I am your host, Montana Funk. Today William Bay joins me to talk all things about the ABA. Bill is a partner with the St. Louis Office of National Law Firm Thompson Coburn, LLPA longtime leader in the American Bar Association and an American Bar Foundation. Fellow President Bay has held many roles such as chairs of the House of Delegates, litigation and a a day to name a few of his entity commitments beyond the ABA, Bill is active in several local and state bar associations and is a past president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Listeners, let's get right into this episode. Good afternoon, Bill. Thank you so much for being here today.

Bill Bay (01:04):
Well, good to be here. Good to be here and meet you Montana Funk. I love this.

Montana Funk (01:08):
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you coming on. I think this is kind of a really cool episode. We obviously do this podcast as part of the ABA, so to get a chance to speak to you I think is something really cool and an opportunity that we haven't had yet. So I'm just really looking forward to this conversation.

Bill Bay (01:26):
Well good. Let's go for it.

Montana Funk (01:27):
Yeah, let's do it. Okay. I'm going to start off with an easy question, at least easy hopefully question. I just want you to introduce yourself to the listeners and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you've done so far in your career.

Bill Bay (01:39):
Okay. Grew up in the city of St. Louis, a working class neighborhood. I went away to college, university of Missouri. I went to law school at University of University of Michigan with a brief exception. I practiced at one firm, Thompson Coburn in St. Louis. It's grown from around 50 lawyers. I think I was like number 50 and now it's nearly 500 lawyers. Wow. With offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, LA, and dc. I would never have imagined that when I started in terms of practice, I started doing a lot of maritime litigation. This is a big brown water port. Eventually gravitated toward financial services litigation and in the last 10 years I've done a lot of education litigation. When I graduated law school I thought I'd be a transactional lawyer, but life happens. You run with I'm litigation guy.

Montana Funk (02:24):
Awesome.

Bill Bay (02:24):
I learned a lot from Thompson Coburn. Learned from doing, learned you can make mistakes and admit 'em and seek forgiveness and get up and start a new task in a new day. But I enjoy it. I mean, I think you enjoy spending time with people, helping them deal with difficult issues and problems. I really like it and as attorneys, we meet people at a point of need and provide a service to them. And so I've gotten to meet a lot of wonderful people and I mean this is great. I love it. And develop relationships with people along the way. Really. I mean, you become friends with people and so it's good.

Montana Funk (02:55):
Yeah, that's awesome. I started in litigation and now I do criminal work, which is kind of litigation in the sense of still being there for people and doing trials. So I completely get it. I always wanted to do litigation and it's fun. It's fun being on that side.

Bill Bay (03:10):
Well, people forget that you got to know the law, but it's a relationship business. I mean it's relationships with clients, whether the lawyers with judges, with court personnel. Yeah. You have to know the law. I get all that point. That's important, but it really is at base a real relationship business.

Montana Funk (03:24):
Absolutely. And I guess something I'm curious about is obviously you're practicing and now you're also the president of the ABA, which is what we're here to talk about today is what the ABA is, and I'm curious how you kind of took that path to actually say, you know what, maybe I actually want to run and be this president and I want to do this. So what kind of made you have that idea to jump?

Bill Bay (03:48):
I didn't start it out at all. That way mean my has been more about really just doing the next thing in front of you. Somebody would say, when I first got going in young lawyers, I was really reluctant you would come and I got going on some pro bono activities. So I started to do pro bono stuff and I thought, this is kind of cool. And so some would say, okay, well why don't you try this? How about helping us over here? And so the nice thing is you get to do a lot of different things and learn a lot. And some point a few years ago, a number of people said, Hey, you should consider running to be an ABA officer. And I decided, Hey, that would be good to do. I became chair of the House of Delegates, which is really the policymaking group where you bring together almost 600 lawyers from every bar association in the country and somewhere around the world and you debate resolutions and then two years later became a president and it's been good.

Montana Funk (04:34):
That's awesome. That sounds like a really cool just kind of journey. And I can't imagine being in 600 attorneys sounds like a lot, but I mean that's really, really cool. And I think a lot of people, it's funny because we know what the ABA is, but I still talk to colleagues who still don't actually really think about it or they're like, oh, I've heard about that, but I'm not a member. I don't actually really know what it is when it's a huge thing. Right. A huge thing in our profession. So people who are listening right now maybe are just getting into knowing what the ABA is, don't even know for sure what it is or what the membership is. So could you explain to those listeners what exactly the ABA is?

Bill Bay (05:13):
Yeah, I mean it's funny you should ask because when I first got out of law school, I didn't really have any idea what the ABA was, and I was kind of a reluctant convert to the A BAI was practicing law. I was spending time with my wife and three kids. There was not much time for anything else. My father had been active in his professional organization, which was an engineer, civil engineer, and he kept telling me, Hey, it's really important to be involved in a professional organization that sets standards, that takes the lead on issues that matter in engineers. And so he talked about the perspective of being in a national organization and that the relationships, I'll be honest, I wasn't convinced just to be honest, but I was active in our young lawyers group in St. Louis and one of the jobs was to go to the a young lawyers meetings and I avoided it for almost a year.

(05:56):
And then because I didn't really want to go, I didn't know what to expect and I don't have time for this, but I came back with a job and one that really required my best and a glimpse at what I've done before that what newer lawyers were doing through a myriad of public service projects around the country. I mean, it turned out really my father was right. And so much of what I learned that I do now, I learned with Young Lawyers Division in ABA, it shaped who I am and how I approach work. I mean, hard work mattered. I learned to treat bar work like client work and gave it my best effort. I mean, I was really inspired by what other people did around the country and I learned a lot from listening, including that the group could achieve a lot more than working together.

(06:36):
I know you say this is obvious, but it wasn't to me. Okay. So I found that leadership really opened a lot of new ideas and changed and I liked it and the energy brought by lots of new voices. And so that kind of shapes how I approach leadership. I mean, why is the lawyer from St. Louis the ABA president? I mean, sometimes I ask too, but I serve because I believe in a strong legal profession guided by a strong national bar, which is the American Bar Association. We're the leading legal organization in the United States. Make no mistake, this association really matters. So what are we? We're really defined by four things that we do, which people talk about a lot, our four principles, our four goals, but the ABA supports the rule of law by helping lawyers achieve excellence in their practice. That's number one. We serve our members. I mean, kind of obvious. So what do we do to help lawyers be their best? Well, I mean, I think it's pretty overwhelming. I mean, last year, 2024, we produced 800 accredited CLE programs. I mean, it's by my math and I'm okay in math is almost three. Every working day, 4,500 news articles, videos, podcasts like this one

Montana Funk (07:41):
Yeah

Bill Bay (07:41):
Released every year. That's nearly 20 every working day. Lots of opportunities to network. There were a hundred conferences you could attend to a week. And there are lots of virtual events. I mean almost 300 during the year. And so there's a real reason why the ABA is the home for the legal profession because content and networking really matter

(07:59):
And we deliver it. So why does the ABA matter, the answers are pretty clear there. And I always tell people, spread the word for guy's sakes. But then second is we do more than just help lawyers be better. We're also about our community serving our communities. We make justice real in the lives of people. So we talk about doing disaster legal assistance. I mean if you Google it, we come up number two after FEMA and Young Lawyers Division have been doing it for 50 years, helping survivors of disasters, staffing, legal hotlines and information desk. I mean, at their point of need, young lawyers are there. We champion creation of homeless courts for 20 years. Now there's homeless courts in 20 states. I mean, we serve our veterans in our military pro bono project. I think where over 20 million in billable hours has been donated by lawyers. There's lots of things we do. 15,000 volunteer lawyers do 400,000 legal inquiries from people all over the country in a free legal answers. And of course, we support legal services.

(08:59):
I mean, there's so much and people don't know, and I didn't know. I mean, I learned something new all the time. And so those are two big goals and that's what really attracted me, what we do in our communities first because that's what you'd expect the largest volunteer professional organization to do.

(09:14):
But we got two other goals. The other one, third one is to eliminate bias and enhance diversity in our court system. Shouldn't every person who appears in our courts be treated the same and consistent with due processes required by our constitution? We think so. And that's why we work to eliminate bias. And finally, we believe in the importance of the rule of law. The A rule of law initiative works in nearly 60 countries to help judges and lawyers implement the rule of law. We help through a group called a Pro bar help approximately 40,000 immigrants who are seeking asylum for buying legal information, representation and connections to services. Most of these people are unaccompanied minors. And then we also rate judges. The A standing committee on federal judiciary conducts 50 independent nonpartisan peer evaluations of federal judicial nominees in 2024. And so it's about accountability to promote professional excellence on the federal bench. And it's really, there's no other place it happens.

Montana Funk (10:11):
And I think that that's explaining to everyone what you do is really important because I think a lot of people, if they do know about the ABA know kind of what you were saying, like, okay, it helps lawyers, right? I can network more or maybe I can do a continuing legal education and get that done or whatever it may be, when really there are so many more initiatives that they can actually go and pursue that I think a lot of people don't know about, which is why having you on a podcast like this to actually get that message out is so important because sure, the numbers are amazing that you have, but we want people to continue to want to become involved. And maybe someone like you when you were younger, okay, I'm hesitant. What really is it going to do? I don't need to network more someone who's saying that. Well, no, there's so much more to it. So I think that that's really important and I want to get into a little bit about what our listeners can do to become involved. But I want to take one quick break soon before that.

(11:10):
So for the people who are listening and are surprised to hear everything, the ABA does that they did not know, what advice could you offer to them if they're like, okay, I actually want to get involved and maybe there's an area that I'm not sure the A does or is involved with, but I'd be curious to know how could they go about actually getting involved and finding that out?

Bill Bay (11:31):
Well, navigating the ABA structure can be daunting sometimes. I mean, I'm a Star Wars guy, and so that puts me into the nerd category. But there are times when our organizational structure feels like you need an R 2D two unit to plug into the Imperial network. And we're working hard to simplify that because it's got to be simpler. But if you're a law student or a new lawyer, it really is quite easy. Join the law student division. If you're a law student, the price is right. It's free for gosh sakes. Membership guides you through law school and into the profession with exclusive content, specific resources and opportunity to connect with legal professionals. We've got something called the career center job boards, webinars, articles, podcasts like this, career development resources such as resume interviewing tools, a legal career quiz to help gain a sense of what career path is the right fit for you. Although I will say as an aside, the path always changes. It's good. Okay. It's good to have a different path. I mean, you probably never thought you'd be doing this, you're doing this.

Montana Funk (12:28):
I know, right? Yeah, never could have thought.

Bill Bay (12:32):
Then we have a career coaching app and a big network of people. I mean, our greatest assets are a people, and you can sign up for five member groups for free. Now if you want to pay $25, you get premium membership and a lot of great discounts for new lawyers, it's the price is $125 and you get access to practice networking, wellness, which is the number one issue in the profession and other issues confronting the profession. But leadership, the thing you started with, and I'm getting to that. I mean, I always get frustrated and tired of people saying, well, young lawyers are our future. That's just a lie. That is not accurate. Young lawyers are our now. You don't have to wait here for 20 years to be heard and have a role. And so we've developed some special programs to allow any young lawyer to apply for service on commissions and committees right away. I mean, we need to be hearing and listening to people. You need to have a seat at the table. I mean, the world's run by 30 to 50 year olds for guy's sakes. You can't just say, oh, well come back when you're 65. We're just not going to do that. We haven't done it.

Montana Funk (13:32):
Right. And do you think that there's a way, let's say somebody who's listening is like, okay, I have an idea or I have a concern that I think is really important that we as legal professionals address, if they're somebody who maybe isn't sure if that's something that the ABA does, is there a way that they can actually reach out to the ABA and say, Hey, do you have this initiative? Or how can I help start maybe a pilot program for something like this? Is that even a possibility?

Bill Bay (13:56):
What's exciting about being a young lawyer division? I just found it was such, everybody's new. They're coming in all the time. There's new people, there's enthusiasm. They come in. Sometimes you'll find the idea you have has already been tried in Portland or Tallahassee, but sometimes it's brand new, sometimes it's a twist on something. And so that's a group. That's the place to go and say, Hey, I've got this idea. I'm willing to be involved. I'm doing this in my community. I'm willing to do it and get going, and this can we do. And I find far less red tape there, right? People are willing to do that. I mean, of course I'm willing to hear any idea. You can email me anytime. It's harder to get ahold of me sometimes. I mean, I got a lot of emails, so I'm not going to confess too busy back. You're right away. But listening to people who are sitting on the back row is really important. Too often leaders just listen to the people that are around them. We as an association, as a profession to listen to new voices and people that are out in the back row, that's so important because sometimes that's where the best idea comes from.

Montana Funk (14:59):
And I appreciate you saying that because I know, granted, I've only been practicing for almost six years, so still I am still a young lawyer. But I definitely know coming out of law school and working at the first firm I worked at, I was scared to voice opinions, right? It's like who wants to hear from a lowly associate or who wants to hear from the three L that's riding the bar? But as you're saying, okay, the people who are going on and becoming lawyers, those are the ones that are going to carry these ideas and who are going to start these initiatives. And I think that the people who are listening maybe who felt the same as me, I do appreciate you saying that because I've met a ton of people around my age who have amazing ideas. And when you're in an environment where those are welcomed and those are heard, it's crazy what can happen.

Bill Bay (15:42):
Well, you have a new idea, but sometimes it's an old idea with new enthusiasm. And sometimes the idea that wasn't great didn't work seven years ago, three years ago. Sometimes it's the right thing at the right time, and we have to be willing to embrace change. I mean, change is the biggest challenge. I laugh and people, I quote a friend of mine who says, change is like heaven. Everybody wants to go there, but they don't want to go there. Now we have to be willing to change. We're not going to deviate for our principles, we're not going to abandon our principles, but how we do things and how we reach people has to be fundamentally different. Thank goodness. It's not 1985 again, for guy's sakes. Okay.

Montana Funk (16:19):
Right. Do you have any advice or do you think that there's anything that even law students can benefit from the ABA?

Bill Bay (16:26):
Well, we have a law student member on the board, and I love hearing, it's the enthusiasm. It's the new ideas. And sometimes I listen to it and think, gee, we could take this here. We could do this here. That's where it's so important. If you're on a board and we put you on commissions and you get on something, speak up, speak up, okay. You're not always going to be right. It's okay. I've spoken up often and be wrong. So what? Same, I mean the part of the business is giving people grace. We want to be a place where people can be heard. I don't want people working on my matters who are afraid to say what they see and what they do. Yes. It may not be something we follow, but I want to hear it because that is so important.

Montana Funk (17:09):
And it almost seems like not only is the ABA, this tool to learn more or put your idea out, but almost in a way too, it's mentorship, right? You're creating sure these resources, these connections, but it's a place where people can actually be free to say, okay, if I get shut down, it's not because it's a dumb idea or I don't know what I'm doing. It's just a place to brainstorm. And I think that's really important, especially for law students and young lawyers who are in this career or deciding to go in this career and really worried about will people judge me or think that I'm just,

Bill Bay (17:42):
Well, I think that's exactly right. And growing up, did I like working for lawyers who never cared for my opinion or anything? Of course not. But I learned say, I'm not going to be that kind of lawyer. I'm going to change. I love to be a lawyer who says, yeah, I need you to take and run with this. Get back to me. Let's talk about what we have to do. And if I make mistakes, yeah, they go through it. That's why God created amended pleadings for God's sakes.

(18:04):
Come on. Yeah, we always have to work on that. Everybody, the older you get, the more you think, gee, I've tried all this and seen everything new. That's where we have to really work hard is to make sure we're listening to people and hear people. And I find it nice because it's like younger lawyers bring new enthusiasm. I mean, they reaffirm when the days you get discouraged and sometimes you can get discouraged. Okay, it's just the truth.

Montana Funk (18:28):
Oh, I've gotten discouraged a lot of times, a lot of days. So absolutely. I do also want to take one quick break here, but I think when we come back, there's also some importance to talking about how the judiciary system is right now and people's opinion on that. So there was a recent Gallup poll and it found that American's confidence in our judiciary system has actually fallen to 35%, and that's a really significant decline. Do you have any advice for maybe young lawyers who are either feeling discouraged in this profession and debating if they want to change, or maybe even law students who are thinking, I don't know that I want to actually become a lawyer. Anything that you could offer them? I know earlier you had said creating these relationships and being there for people who need help. And that's something that encourages me to always keep going. And so do you have anything to offer those people who are maybe hesitating right now?

Bill Bay (19:25):
Well, don't get discouraged. We really are doing important work. I just finished writing an article about second chances lawyers. In effect, we represent people seeking second chances. They come to us in your area where you're doing criminal law, people doing divorces, people doing estate issues, people who contract problems, all kinds of problems. And they're up against it. So they come get their lawyers, we provide them a second chance, and that's such an awesome responsibility. It's really big. Yes, I understand. It takes three years to get through school their days. It's discouraging. Not every day is a walk in the park. It's costly. But I think it's so important what we do, the investment in yourself to be part of a profession that changes the lives of people and communities is priceless. You cannot put a price tag on it. And so the A tries to ease the burden and provides law students and new lawyers with a wealth of relevant free resources to really help you along the way, but don't get, be discouraged in doing what's right. Okay.

Montana Funk (20:29):
Yeah.

Bill Bay (20:29):
And sometimes, yeah, I watch the news probably too much. Sometimes you got to say, no, I'm not going to watch it right now. I'm only spending 10 minutes. I got to focus on important things, people's needs and what we're doing for clients. And that's what you got to do because I think it's a great profession, but it's going continue to be a great profession if we remember the principles we stand for and that we have these new people coming in that bring a new way of approaching all problems.

Montana Funk (20:57):
Right. It's funny that you actually were talking about the free, because that's literally my next question. So you were saying that, and I was like, you've read my mind because I want to put you on the spot. There's two things that you've said that I think is really important to kind of dig deeper. And one was the free resources and one was the resources to help with the health. So I'm going to kind of put you on the spot here, but you had mentioned there's free resources for people, maybe people who are in law school and are like, okay, I'm going to have a ton of student loans. I'm stressed out. I don't know how I'm going to pay this. What are some of those free resources that you're saying the ABA has that people can take advantage of?

Bill Bay (21:34):
I mean, we have a variety of things we do, but we've been lobbying very much for student loan debt relief and the public service loan forgiveness. In 2022, following the pandemic, we held a student debt week of action in conjunction with our A day grassroots. And then next year we held another standalone student debt advocacy effort because this is so critical. I mean, other professional associations like ours, the American Psychological Association, the American Institute of Architects, their members face the same student loan challenges. We've engaged Senator Durbin, Senator Cornett, Senator Warren senator from both parties for guy's sakes, congressional leaders and strong advocates on the issue that we need student debt loan relief. And so we're continuing to fight for student debt relief every year and that we focus on loan forgiveness to our digital a day last week. I mean, we just did it. So cost is an issue though. I mean, the average student loan debt for all schools is 150 grand. It's 50,000 US a year, and that's not including living expenses, which are probably 25, $6,000 a year. But I think the investment is really important, and I just think it's so critical. We're going to try going to continue to advocate for this. And I know student debt loan world is complicated. It seems like the rules change all the time, but that's kind of where we're at right now.

Montana Funk (22:54):
I think that's reassuring though too, to know, regardless is if someone's okay, they're already in it and they're like, I'm paying this now and I just want somewhere that I can go, that I have even free access to. Like you said, continuing legal education or a lecture or an article, right? The ABA is so much more than just what people think is a membership that they pay down the road and meet people. And something else you had mentioned with the health aspect and how that's one of the biggest issues attorneys face. I think that's also super important because we really do the balance between work and life and our mental health. And in general, our health is really hard for a lot of people, especially I think a lot of students who are just starting out. So what advice do you have to people who maybe are either stuck in a rut or just starting out and don't know how to balance yet, and on top of that advice, what resources can they access through the A BA to help with that?

Bill Bay (23:53):
One of the things that I liked is sometimes it's good to listen to other people's stories. And I get on the Instagram on the ABA, and it has the stories. It's just a short clip where people will talk about how I survive this, how I did this, and sometimes you want to hear their story. I mean, this is in my view, you're starting a new adventure. Well, you're on an adventure, but it's the next chapter in your adventure. And so in law school, when I arrived in law school years ago, it was my first time to leave the familiar. I knew nobody. I was a stranger in a strange place. My classmates were different. Our experiences and perspective varied widely.

(24:30):
They dismissed things on heavy value. They were places that I ever heard of, different races, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds. They weren't even fans of the teams. I liked for guy's sakes, but over time I learned something important that we shared an important truth, which is each of us chose to be part of a profession. And that connection made all the difference in life. And you see that in the ABA as well. But I think on difficult days, those relationships and friendships, even from law, school matter, they matter because the same things I'm facing, they're facing and same discouragement come. And that's why I love sometimes going on Instagram and checking out ABA, I just think it speaks to the moment and you just never know. Now you don't want to spend 35 minutes going through it all but a few minutes. It's really valuable.

(25:17):
And that's why it's good to be involved in the ABA. I mean, it gives you an opportunity to be part of a local and national conversation about our profession and how to have an impact to talk about broadening your view of the world. And what I thought I knew from the perspective of my own backyard, the relationships, the wellness issues. I mean wellness. 10 years ago, people would laughed talk about wellness. Now it's front and center. And then the friends that stand by you, whatever life throws your way. If you want to make a difference in life, sometimes you have to do something different and make different friends the ABA gave me the chance to do something different. And your local and state bar do as well,

Montana Funk (25:58):
Right? Absolutely. And I think most people hopefully in our profession know that they're not going into this because it's going to be easy every day to wake up and face what we're facing. And it's a breeze and you just walk through it and everything's fine. We're in a profession that is made to help people and face challenges and be resilient. And to have a community in the ABA with huge numbers in the young lawyers division, to have that support and reach out I think is very, very important.

Bill Bay (26:26):
Yeah, I just think I would just, I mean, I don't know. I can only speak for experience. I was reluctant. Many of your listeners may say, gee, I don't have the time. I don't want to do it. It made the difference in my life and I think you can really make a difference in yours. Try it. We need people to be part of this profession and involved not just working all the time at home, but also networking and interfacing with people. I think it's so critical.

Montana Funk (26:52):
It'd be surprising too to some people to know that if you don't just work all the time and also do things like this, it does really help you mental health. So I think that hopefully that will encourage some listeners who maybe were kind of on the fence and I only have a couple of more questions for you and they should be the easiest ones. But I also ask this to people then say it's one of the hardest, so I apologize ahead of time, but if you could go back to yourself when you were graduating law school and entering this career and give you yourself one piece of advice or one phrase, words of encouragement, what would that be?

Bill Bay (27:24):
One of the things I thought was that I was too concerned about it always being. I was making cosmic decisions like, oh my gosh, I got to make the decision. What practice am I going to do? Where am I going to be? And it's just not that way. You do the next best thing in front of you and bring what the next day. And I've gone from this to this, this in terms of litigation and gone in ways I never thought I would imagine. Don't get too wed to what you see right now. You can't plan your whole life out. When you get out of law school. You got to look at the next couple months and when opportunity comes to do something different, take a chance, go for it.

Montana Funk (28:00):
I love that. I think the exact same thing too. There's so many areas in law, so many routes you can take. And I hope that our listeners are encouraged to try something that maybe they didn't think would be the initial thing they wanted to do because there's just so many things out there and we don't know what we like until we try it.

Bill Bay (28:18):
No, I think that's the one thing you can always remember is that whatever facing you in our society, we can be, certain lawyers are always going to be called upon to lead. It's going to take all of us to do something. And you'll be sitting here 15 years from now doing something different that you never imagined today. I mean, I just know it will happen. And because it's happened in my life and I see it happen in so many other people's lives, and that's exciting. That isn't discouraging. It's exciting.

Montana Funk (28:47):
It is exciting. Like you said, I would not have guessed when I graduated law school that I'd be the host of a podcast for the Young Lawyers division, but like you said, right, taking these opportunities and this opportunity came to me through the ABA

Bill Bay (28:59):
And someday it'll open up a different door someplace so great about this and you'll have a story. That's where everybody has a unique story, so great. They have a story to tell and you're developing the stories. I've developed a story and I still got chapters to get the A President isn't the pinnacle of all things. It's one thing on a story, but there's lots of things still ahead.

Montana Funk (29:22):
Right. Maybe like a game show host or something

Bill Bay (29:24):
There. I like that kind of talk.

Montana Funk (29:25):
Okay. Last question for you. I know you've said it earlier and you're very, very busy, but if people want to reach out to you, have questions to ask or even just get involved and become a member of the ABA, where should they go?

Bill Bay (29:37):
Well, I would go on the website and join. I mean, if you haven't joined, and I mean your law student is free to join $25 for a premium, but join right away. Young lawyer division's $125. That's the first place I'd do. If you've got ideas of want to get ahold of me, I mean, I'm on the website. My email address is wba@thompsoncoburn.com, but you can probably Google and find me. Everybody else seems to, so it's good. But I will try to help direct you someplace, but I'm probably not as quick as going on the web. That's the easy part. Just join. And then sometimes you just got to step out and take a risk and go to a meeting and say, Hey, I'm going to go that. I'm going to meet new friends. I'm going, this is something out of my comfort zone. I'm going to go do it. I think you'll be glad you did.

Montana Funk (30:21):
Just try. Right? Just give it a shot and see where you land.

Bill Bay (30:25):
I couldn't agree more.

Montana Funk (30:26):
Thank you so much. This has been a phenomenal episode. I really do think it was able to highlight so many things that the ABA does and so many opportunities that it gives people that maybe people just don't even realize because it's just not out there. So it was super important and I really appreciate you doing this for us.

Bill Bay (30:42):
Well, it's good. I love this. I mean, this is great. And Montana Funk. I love this. Okay. I love this all about it. This is great.

Montana Funk (30:48):
We can be co-hosts, co game show hosts.

Bill Bay (30:49):
I like that.

Montana Funk (30:51):
Perfect. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you.

Bill Bay (30:54):
Thank you. Take care,

Montana Funk (30:56):
Listeners, that is our show. Thank you as always for tuning in. If you like what you heard today, please recommend us to a friend. We can be found anywhere you listen to podcasts. Until next time, this is your host Montana Funk, and you've been listening to Young Lawyer Rising, brought to you by the ABA Young Lawyers Division and produced by Moraine Media.

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