With rare exceptions, few recent bar leaders have used their bully pulpit.

But while it's an uncomfortable spot for a bar leader to be in, he has to admit that it is altogether proper and fitting.

Others are bar leaders who lobbied to gain the organized bar's strong endorsement for the program.

Nearly half the local bar leaders surveyed by the panel said they would favor the proposal.

"The panel is made up of bar leaders, and you don't get on that committee because you're a shrinking violet," the member saids.

Their reluctance, the bar leaders said, is already slowing the courts.

Indeed, the need is so great that many top judges and bar leaders now call for mandatory givebacks in the form of donated service.

Many bar leaders sincerely believe that public service must come from the heart and not through coercion.

He wrote articles, spoke to lawyers' groups, buttonholed bar leaders, and organized conferences.

Responsible bar leaders know who is knowledgeable and active in the field.