Critics of state right-to-work laws, which prohibit mandatory membership in a union as a condition of continued employment in a bargaining unit represented by that union, complain that those who enjoy the benefits of union representation in the collective bargaining process and in grievance proceedings — without paying union dues — are "free riders." Under that definition, there are about 20,000 "free rider" lawyers in Connecticut; i.e., those who are licensed to practice law in the state, but who have not seen fit to join its voluntary bar association.
Those states that have an "integrated" or "mandatory" or "unified" bar association avoid that issue by making the practice of law conditioned on joining — and paying dues to — the mandatory bar association. North Dakota became the first state to adopt this approach in 1921 and some 30 other states have followed suit. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of such compulsory membership and dues payment in 1961, rejecting a lawyer's argument that Wisconsin's mandatory bar law violated his First Amendment free speech and free association rights. Revisiting the issue in 1990, the Supreme Court went further and ruled that an integrated bar could use mandatory dues to fund activities that were germane to the goals of regulating the legal profession, but could not use those funds for activities of an "ideologic nature which fall outside these areas of activity."
