The Iowa State Bar Association has long been an advocate of economic growth in Iowa. We were pleased that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, after an intensive survey of corporate counsels throughout the nation, announced that Iowa again ranks in the top five states for its overall legal climate. More than 800 corporate general counsels and senior litigators were surveyed across the nation in order for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to come to this conclusion. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed said a state’s litigation environment affects where they locate or do business.

Fortunately, Iowa ranks in the top five in overall treatment of tort and contract litigation, treatment of class actions, timeliness, judicial impartiality and other classifications. This is a big plus for our state’s economic development. It helps Iowa companies conduct business and helps attract new companies to the state.

As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was announcing Iowa’s highly positive results in its nationwide comprehensive study, the Iowa Association of Business and Industry concluded from its Iowa-based survey that the Iowa legal climate is not good [“Iowa’s legal climate hurts job growth,” Oct. 23 Business Record].

In response to the ABI’s conclusion, in terms of comparing apples to apples — namely, the legal climate in Iowa versus the legal climates in the other 49 states of the union — the national survey by the U.S. Chamber has a much broader state-by-state perspective from which to make comparisons of legal climate. Iowa fared extremely well in that comparison. A top five listing is something we should be very proud of, as it does positively benefit the economic well-being and competitiveness of our state. Let’s all be proud and promote our successes.

The good news is that not only is the legal climate in Iowa one of the nation’s best, but Iowa’s lawyers continue to work with our community and state leaders to improve it.

For instance, the Iowa State Bar Association recently formed a committee of knowledgeable lawyers throughout the state to address Iowa’s economic development in yet another fashion. The committee will join with other like-minded organizations, such as the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Bankers Association, to further improve the state’s economic well-being and climate.

The bar association looks forward to working with many others, including the ABI. We will add the outcomes of such partnerships to our regular educational programs that are designed to help our 8,000 members to be even more knowledgeable about the various economic programs and techniques available to help our clients and our communities. We will study issues affecting the economic well-being of our state and make recommendations. We will work to help develop multi-disciplinary teams throughout the state to assist in this growth.

Our steadfast goal is to help move Iowa forward in economic rankings so that in addition to being in the top five of the nation’s state legal systems, we are in the top five of all economic rankings. As always, your attorneys welcome your input.

John D. Shors is a past president of the Iowa State Bar Association and chairman of the ISBA Economic Development Committee.