The largest voluntary state bar association in the United States, the New York State Bar Association was founded in 1877. The NYSBA is noted for achieving several important historical goals early on, including removing the restriction of women from legal practice and proposing the first global means for settling disputes between nations – known as the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Today, the New York State Bar Association continues to work on achieving legal goals of equal importance. The association strives to simplify and update court procedures, raise judicial standards, establish standards of integrity in the profession as well as systems to uphold them, advocate pro bono legal services to the less fortunate, and continually educate its members, the public, and public education systems on the law.