Mission Statement
The State Bar of Arizona exists to serve and protect the public with respect to the provision of legal services and access to justice. Consistent with these goals, the State Bar of Arizona seeks to improve the administration of justice and the competency, ethics, and professionalism of lawyers practicing in Arizona.
Long-Term Vision
The State Bar of Arizona (SBA) has a vision of the future that guides our work as an organization. We are committed to create a future Arizona where:
- All Arizona lawyers are part of a supportive and collegial community of professionals exhibiting the highest standards of ethical conduct and technical skill, and sharing a passion for excellence in the practice of law.
- Arizona courts are honored as forums for the fair and prompt handling of legal proceedings by judicial officers of the highest caliber.
- All Arizona residents have equal access to legal services of the highest quality and to a system of justice that affords them prompt resolution of their legal issues.
- The judiciary and the members of the SBA stand ready at all times to anticipate the emerging legal needs of Arizona citizens and to continuously improve the system of justice to meet those needs.
Core Values
There are key values that guide the work of the Board of Governors. These values are important to everything we do. We use these values to shape our work and ensure that our approaches are consistent with our results. We list them without reference to priority, because they are of equal value to how we live our professional and personal lives.
Integrity: This value represents our commitment to truth in all of its forms and in all of our actions. It is adherence to the spirit as well as to the letter of the law. It is consistency, transparency, and accountability for what we say and what we do, as individuals, as professionals, and as an organization.
Service to Clients and the Public: This value represents our commitment to advocate the causes of others with all of our strength, as we would advocate for ourselves in the most important of personal concerns. It is embracing the responsibility to give back to society the knowledge and skills that we acquired with the help of others.
Diversity: This value represents our commitment to ensuring that the legal profession and the justice system reflect the community it serves in all of its social, economic, and geographical diversity. It is seeking out members of underrepresented groups to add their strength to the legal profession and to the advancement of justice in all areas of society.
Professionalism: This value represents our commitment to each other and to all whom we encounter to act with highest level of sensitivity to the feelings of others. It transcends common courtesy and requires treating all persons within the sphere of our influence with dignity, respect, and unqualified civility.
Promoting Justice: This value represents our commitment to ensuring at every risk to ourselves that others have access to the system of justice in which we serve as officers of the court. It is living in our daily lives the oath of allegiance to the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Arizona by which we are privileged to practice our profession.
Leadership: This value represents our commitment to use whatever influence we are privileged to acquire to advance the just causes of those whose influence is less. It is understanding at all times that our actions are observed and may be emulated, and that we are responsible for social behaviors modeled upon our own.