LIT UPDATES & COMMENTARY
State Bar of Texas faces fresh challenge to mandatory dues
AUG 31, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: FEB 19, 2022
The State Bar of Texas has been hit with a lawsuit claiming it has flouted a recent U.S. appeals court ruling by continuing to require lawyers in the state to join and pay dues, and that it should give refunds to members for dues spent on lobbying activities.
Three lawyers represented by Rich Robins of Robins Legal Services in a complaint filed in Houston federal court on Monday said the Texas Bar has continued to violate their “free-speech rights” despite the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ July decision in McDonald v. Longley, which said the group had used dues to fund activities unrelated to regulating the legal profession.
The 5th Circuit prohibited the Texas Bar from requiring the three plaintiffs to join or pay dues pending the outcome of their case.
Robins operates a website, Texas Bar Sunset, that provides information on the association’s budget, financial reports and reform proposals.
In the complaint, Robins criticized the association’s “very substantial” Houston headquarters and the “lavish” salaries and benefits it provides to employees. Robins said that 39 Texas Bar employees earn six-figure salaries.
Texas Bar spokesman Amy Starnes said the association is committed to complying with the 5th Circuit decision in a timely manner, and is taking steps to update its policies and procedures. She said the new complaint is being reviewed.
The McDonald case was one of several filed in recent years to challenge states’ practice of requiring lawyers to join state bar associations and pay dues. About 30 states have such requirements.
The 6th, 9th and 10th Circuits all have tossed out constitutional challenges to compulsory bar membership.
Specifically, those courts have rejected lawyers’ claims that a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME had barred mandatory dues.
The court in Janus said fees that public-sector unions collected from government employees who were not members were unconstitutional.
Most courts have said Janus only applied to unions, and not bar associations, but the 5th Circuit last month was more receptive.
The court said the Janus ruling had cast doubt on whether a 1990 Supreme Court decision in Keller v. State Bar of California, which upheld mandatory bar association membership, was still good law.
The 5th Circuit panel said the Texas Bar had violated members’ free-speech rights by spending dues on activities that were not related to regulating the legal profession, such as lobbying to legalize same-sex marriage.
In Monday’s complaint, Robins said the Texas Bar has seemingly ignored the 5th Circuit decision.
The group has continued demanding full dues payments from members by Aug. 31, and has yet to offer refunds for dues spent on non-germane lobbying activities, according to the complaint.
SPOKESPERSON FOR THE TEXAS BAR (TRANSPARENCY)
The plaintiffs are seeking to represent classes of Texas Bar members who do not agree with the group’s political activities or its alleged failure to give adequate and meaningful notice of how dues money is spent.
They are seeking an order requiring the Texas Bar to cease its allegedly unlawful conduct and compensatory and punitive damages, including refunds.
The case is Bennett v. State Bar of Texas, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 4:21-cv-2829.
For the plaintiffs: Rich Robins of Robins Legal Services
For the state bar: Not available
Assigned to; Judge Alfred Homer Bennett
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