State Bar of Wisconsin

Meeting Minutes
August 19, 1998

Attorney Casey Andringa served as Chair and called the meeting to order at approximately 1:30 p.m. (Chair Pam Barker was unable to attend due to illness.) Members in attendance were Attorney Frank Remington, Ms. Sally Mueller (for Mary Celentani), Ms. Shawn Olley, Mr. John Goudie, Ms. Lynn Retzak, Ms. Marie Koster, Ms. Christine Ouimet-Durow, BBE Director Attorney Gene Rankin and State Bar staff liaison Ms. Linda Barth. Attending by telephone were Ms. Rochelle Lowenhagen and Attorney Mary Lynn Donohue.

The Task Force reviewed the minutes from the July 27th meeting and made changes to Ms. Olley's name (not Mr.) and the spelling of Prof. Kritzer's name. It was moved by Ms. Olley and seconded by Mr. Goudie to approve the minutes as amended. The motion carried.

Ethics

The Task Force reviewed Mr. Goudie's suggested changes for the ethics package and decided that the preamble had a typo-it should read "through" not "though"-and Ms. Barth was directed to make that change. Ms. Barth reported that the final vote tally was 9 voting members in support of the Paralegal Ethics Package with one member not voting.

Article

Ms. Barth discussed the idea of a big, all-encompassing article in the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine instead of little articles coming out every once and awhile. Attorney Andringa said he felt the small articles addressed the issues raised and could go out to local bars' newsletters. He said that he isn't as likely to read the lengthy article as the short articles. Ms. Ouimet-Durow said she liked the idea of the Wisconsin Lawyer feature article. Ms. Lowenhagen said she would also like to see an article that could go in the Paralegal Association of Wisconsin newsletters.

Attorney Donohue said she liked the idea of the feature article because it would be professionally written and have photographs and artwork-it would attract more attention. She felt that it would do what the smaller articles would do all in one fell swoop.

Attorney Donohue moved and Ms. Ouimet-Durow seconded that the Task Force work to get a major feature article on the paralegal issue in the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine. The motion passed.

Ms. Barth indicated that she would give the editor the names of the Task Force members as possible resources and interviewees for the article. Everyone agreed that would be the procedure.

It was also noted that if the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine would not do the feature article or could not do it in a timely manner, that the Task Force would continue with the smaller articles.

Grandfather Clause Subcommittee

Attorney Andringa reported that the Grandfather Clause Subcommittee met for 1 hour and 30 minutes prior to the meeting. They decided that anyone grandfathered should have a high school education and a minimum experience of not less that 3 years. The individual should also be required to complete some type of accelerated minimum coursework that cover's the ethics code, etc. The Subcommittee's goal is to present a package to the Task Force within 8 weeks.

Mr. Rankin clarified how the Board of Visitors certifies law schools. He said the notion of certifying competence comes from the Deans to the Board of Bar Examiners or from the Supreme Court in reciprocity circumstances. Is BBE, he asked, the right place to certify competence of paralegals?

Mr. Rankin also explained that, to his knowledge, the National Council of Bar Examiners is not looking at paralegal exams. He said he would look into whether the group is developing a test for paralegals. Attorney Remington said the Task Force should not revisit testing if NSBE is looking at it already.

Mr. Goudie raised the issue of automatic grandfather for ABA-accredited schools.

Education Subcommittee

The Education Subcommittee did not have a report.

Mr. Rankin raised the issue that the market may not respond to creating continuing education credits for paralegals...just because there is a new requirement. He said that there is currently a new requirement for Guardian ad Litem credits for attorneys who want to serve as GALs and there is only one course available. Both Mr. Goudie and Ms. Olley said that could attend attorney CLE...they do now.

Attorney Remington said another issue the Task Force needs to address is the relationship between the State Bar of Wisconsin and the paralegal membership. Mr. Goudie said that somewhere down the line there would have to be an affiliation between the paralegals and the State Bar.

Attorney Remington recapped: The Task Force grew out of the Commission on the Delivery of Legal Services, looking at services not provided by lawyers that might be provided by paralegals. One possible byproduct may be that the Supreme Court will say that paralegals and attorneys can perform united functions. Paralegals will practice under the supervision of an attorney with the blessing of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has three agencies: BAPR, BBE and the State Bar. We've covered BAPR with the ethics package and the Education and Grandfathering Subcommittees will cover BBE so we still need to look at the relationship with the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Attorney Andringa said the relationship should be addressed, people will want to know how it all fits together. Ms. Olley pointed out that it is difficult to define the role when we haven't defined the responsibilities. Mr. Rankin added that institutional structures should be defined for the Board of Governors.

Mr. Goudie explained that no matter what type of relationship is created, he felt that independent paralegal associations would continue to exist-like WATL, WACTL and the Civil Trial Council.

Attorney Remington moved and Mr. Goudie seconded a motion recommending that a subcommittee be created to look at how a paralegal program would be integrated with BAPR, BBE , the State Bar and the Supreme Court. The motion carried.

Attorney Remington added that the new subcommittee should look at costs. Mr. Goudie noted that the State Bar would be less costly than an independent organization.

The issue of professional malpractice insurance was raised and Mr. Goudie said that NFPA already offered this insurance for paralegals.

The group discussed the next meeting date and felt that the Task Force should meet the second or third week in October which would give the subcommittees the month of September to complete their work.

The meeting adjourned.

Paralegal Task Force Main