Last month, the American Bar Association announced that it was in the process of restructuring and reorganizing. In other words, layoffs. And the reason? Declining revenue.

According to the ABA Journal, the ABA’s operating budget has decreased over the past five years from $116 million in 2014 to $96.1 million for this fiscal year, and this has resulted in a series of staff cuts. Even with deep cuts in the past year, the ABA’s operating deficit was $7.7 million for fiscal year 2017.

The news of the ABA’s decline shouldn’t be too surprising to trench lawyers. Over the years, I have heard many solos and small firm attorneys complain about the ABA. Here are the three common complaints.

First is the very limited value the ABA provides to small firm attorneys. Former members complained about not getting anything out of their membership other than spam emails. I see that the 2018 annual fee for seasoned solos is $266. But you have to pay extra to join sections. Also, if you want to go to one of their conferences, you must pay a cover charge of several hundred dollars on top of airfare, hotel, and transportation. There are books and practice guides available, but they cost money and you get a very small member discount.

Another common complaint about the ABA is that it is perceived to favor the interests of large law firms. There’s a reason why the ABA is also known as the American Biglaw Association.

I remember when the ABA issued Formal Opinion 08-451 10 years ago. Through this opinion, the ABA formally approved the use of offshore legal support services for discovery work, such as document review. For Biglaw, this was great because they can save a lot of money by delegating discovery work to countries with lower labor costs. For jobless law school graduates and startup solo practices seeking supplemental income, it wasn’t so great. This opinion was heavily criticized, especially since it was released at the beginning of the Great Recession and lawyers were being laid off at an unprecedented rate.

Finally, others have complained that the ABA has become overly political. Instead of being a trade association representing lawyers’ interests, the ABA has turned into a headquarters for people who some would call liberal, special snowflake, social justice warriors with law degrees. Conservatives and even moderates claim that they cannot not justify paying an organization that advocates positions they disagree with.

The ABA is working on reversing the declining membership trends. From the ABA Journal:

In the current version of the new membership model, there is a focus on bundling benefits and significantly simplifying ABA dues categories. [ABA Executive Director Jack Rives] noted there are currently 157 dues categories at the ABA, depending on the types of work members do, their length of service and other considerations.

The model would reduce the dues categories down to three. Bundled benefits would include two sections, access to a CLE library and access to content that will be organized behind a member-only paywall.

While I appreciate the simpler fee structure, whenever I hear the term “bundled benefits,” I think of the 20+ useless, undeleteable, memory-sucking, slowdown-inducing apps that are digitally welded to my smartphone. I fear that the ABA may be headed towards that direction. A form bank is nothing new. Numerous lawyer groups have proposed setting up some kind of secret “members-only” databases of form contracts, pleadings, and practice guides. Since the ABA covers the entire country, the database will have to be extremely organized by jurisdiction and practice area or it will be useless to most members. As for the CLE library, will it be free for members and can it be downloaded on demand? Or do we get the average 0.0001% member discount?

As for the politics, I don’t think this should bother the ABA too much. I’ve seen too many people join organizations just for the purposes of connecting with people and putting another badge on their firm website. They come for the referrals but stay away from the flame wars. But the ABA should know that we live in a very divided world and so they will have to either choose a side or stay neutral and objective, which will also alienate a portion of both conservatives and liberals. Whichever decision they make, they are not going to please everyone.

When I was in law school, the one thing I learned from Westlaw’s and Lexis’s “drug dealer” recruitment model is that you want to get potential customers hooked on your brand while they are young. So if the ABA wants to attract younger members and keep them for longer than the free trial period, its leadership should take serious steps to look out for younger members’ careers, since that is their main concern. This does not mean publishing articles ad nauseam spouting the same banal platitudes about networking and hard work. One thing I am hoping the ABA’s leadership has the influence to do is convince reputable firms to be more holistic in their hiring practices instead of relying on keyword résumés. Now that would be a great article or CLE topic.

Perhaps the business model of charging annual membership dues and registration fees is no longer effective. Maybe the ABA should look into getting revenue from sources other than membership dues. One possibility is working with real estate brokers or landlords to negotiate office space lease deals. The ABA can get a commission from the lease payments and the lawyer does not have to pay the ABA’s annual membership dues and other fees so long as the lease is in place.

The ABA indeed has a challenge. If it wants to increase its membership base, particularly from the solo and small firm community, the ABA has to prove that it cares about their interests and will provide more than lip service. So please spare us the paltry discounts that most of us will never use. Instead, provide the solo, small firm, and the unemployed community with real value for which we will gladly pay the $266 annual fee.

Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.