As a past member of the Missouri Bar Board of Governors, Bill Bay learned about service and leadership and he plans to apply the lessons in his new position as American Bar Association (ABA) president-elect.
“You learn there are different viewpoints,” he said. “Our experience does not define all that is true.”
Bay’s presidency becomes effective in August 2024 after the current ABA president, Mary L. Smith, completes her term.
He was unopposed while campaigning.
"It was nice because I'd been chair of the House of Delegates, and I think people got a feel for what my thinking was and leadership style," he said.
As a partner at the St. Louis office of Thompson Coburn, a national law firm, for more than 30 years, Bay has defended major corporations such as major financial institutions, manufacturers, and postsecondary institutions.
"Funny enough, if you had pegged me the first year to be president-elect of the ABA, most people would say I'm the last guy," Bay told the St. Louis Record. "It wouldn't have registered in my consciousness because I had a family and I was working, trying to get things going and the bar activity was really the last thing on my mind."
Becoming a lawyer was a natural progression for Bay after he studied political science in college. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and received an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri.
In addition to having served on the Missouri Bar Board, Bay is also a fellow of The Missouri Bar Foundation and a past president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.
“One of the things my father, who was an engineer, encouraged me to do was to be involved in national organizations because it’s a relationship business,” Bay said in an interview “That’s how to change the profession and make sure the profession stays on track and does the right thing is by being involved.”
Bay has lead the ABA's Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services, Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, Commission on Governance, Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fundraising Committee, Death Penalty Representation Project, and the Young Lawyers Division.
As ABA president, Bay plans to remove barriers that prevent lawyers from becoming better at the practice of law.
“We need to make sure they can access the content they want and the networks they want and especially to help new members find places to serve right away,” he added. “We have content on almost any imaginable subject a lawyer could want but sometimes we make it difficult to get some of that. We have to do a better job.”