Bar No One

by Mary F. Patel

When the Philadelphia Bar Association convenes its annual year-end meeting and luncheon at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue this Tuesday, it'll be more than a social gathering for hundreds of attorneys and local and federal judges.

The conservative legal institution will break new ground by inducting its first openly gay chancellor: Andrew Chirls—a partner at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen who specializes in commercial trial law. So, what does he think about the fact that he's a pioneer of sorts?

"I'm proud," said Chirls. "But I also have to remember that I have a responsibility to the 13,000 members of the Bar Association."

He also knows that he'll be under some more scrutiny than most past chancellors.

"The gay and lesbian community will be watching me," he said.

Though the position is unpaid, it's a prestigious position in which the chancellor speaks for the legal community on city, state and, occasionally, national issues. It's all the more important considering the Philadelphia Bar Association is one of the largest and oldest in the nation.

Chirls, 48, was elected vice chancellor by his peers last year, and during this past year, he served as the chancellor-elect to succeed outgoing chancellor Gabriel L.I. Bevilacqua.

Chirls, who lives with his longtime partner and ACLU legislative director Larry Frankel, is intimately familiar with gay-rights issues. While attending law school at Berkeley, he was active with many gay-rights cases, including one in which he helped defeat a referendum that would have empowered school boards to fire homosexual teachers. Later, he was a member of the national board of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and successfully represented the plaintiff in this state's first AIDS discrimination suit. Locally, he worked on the bar association's efforts to make benefits available to the domestic partners of Philadelphia legal workers and served on its Committee on the Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men when it was created in 1997.

Chirls is also paving the way for young lawyers like Dan Anders, who is exploring a run for a Common Pleas Court judgeship in 2007 as an openly gay candidate. Anders considers Chirls a mentor who has the qualifications and life experience to be the chancellor.

"Gays and lesbians are coming of age and looking to run as candidates," said Anders, who specializes in class action and commercial litigation at Pepper Hamilton.

Chirls will undoubtedly add a new dimension to a bar association that has long been dominated by conservative white men. Since the first Chancellor William Rawle served in 1827, there have only been three female chancellors, one of whom, Audrey Talley, was black. (The only other black chancellor was Andre Dennis, who held the title in 1993.)

Chirls already knows what he wants to accomplish during his tenure. He intends to focus on new programs for immigrants who need foreign language interpreters in various litigation, and plans to reach out globally and let other countries know that this city is a good place to do business.

Another priority is dealing with the endorsement of judicial candidates.

The bar association has long been involved in recommending judicial candidates by reviewing their legal records and conducting a lengthy interview process. The bar association then announces a slate of approved judicial candidates and embarks on an effort to let the public know their opinion through numerous media venues.

That process can sometimes rub political parties the wrong way, since the Democrats and Republicans maintain they—and not the association—should be backing candidates. As such, the parties and the bar association have long been at odds over judicial elections. During the last election of judges, several candidates not backed by the association won their races anyhow.

Chirls wants to work with party leadership, ward leaders and committees to agree on candidates during the nominating process particularly because there will be several local judgeships on the ballot next year.

Chips in the Glass Ceiling

When the Bar Association hosted their quarterly meeting in October, the theme was "Celebrating Women as Leaders." U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Midge Rendell, was recognized for her legal, community and cultural achievements and received the Sandra Day O'Connor Award. Keynote speaker and Penn President Amy Gutmann noted in her remarks that women still have a long way to go in the legal profession.

"Although women have entered the legal field, not many have become law partners," she said.