Association managers and association lawyers should, and usually do, share a common goal: providing the best possible service to their client associations. Meeting this goal requires a high level of cooperation and understanding on the part of both the manager and the lawyer. Each of them operates under a number of practical and professional limitations and each brings to his or her work certain professional points of view and objectives. The lawyer and the manager must each understand the motivations and limitations of the other in order for them to cooperate in providing the best possible service to their mutual client.
This article is an attempt, by an association attorney, to outline the needs, perspectives and concerns of association mangers and association attorneys and to suggest some ways in which lawyers and managers can best cooperate in their work.