State Bar of Wisconsin

Solo and Small Firm Practitioner's Toolbox

• Law Practice Tools
• Attract Clients
• Manage Your Practice
• Other Programs
• Solo and Small Firm Practice Committee

Tools to Help You Practice Law More Effectively

• Lawyer-to-Lawyer Directory: This directory lists about 700 volunteer lawyers who are willing to share their knowledge with you through brief telephone consultations. The directory lists many practice areas as well as office management and is included in the annual Wisconsin Lawyer Directory.
• CLE Books: These functional, basic practice books are developed and written with the sole and small firm practitioner in mind. The emphasis is on practical, how-to information, and the books are kept current with regularly scheduled updates. Forms (and forms on disk), checklists, practice notes, and extensive appendices and tables help make State Bar CLE books useful tools for sole and small firm practitioners. CLE books are also available on CD-ROM. These books are hypertext-linked to Wisconsin cases, statutes, and the administrative code.
• CLE Seminars: The State Bar offers a wide variety of programs at 11 convenient locations around Wisconsin. Topics include annual updates on many specific areas of the law, and are a valuable resource for sole and small firm practices. Using the CLE Passbook Program provides you with the same guaranteed low price for each seminar. Passbook certificates are transferrable so that the cost can be shared between several attorneys. Perfect for the sole practitioner, State Bar CLE telephone seminars make it possible for you to take CLE over hour phone, and receive credit without having to leave your office. Audiocassettes and written materials from various popular State Bar CLE seminars are a valuable resource to sole and small firm practitioners and are very affordable.
• Ethics Hotline: Free access to informal guidance and help in resolving questions regarding Wisconsin's Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys is available by telephone from an experienced legal ethics consultant. Simply call our ethics consultant attorney Timothy Pierce at (608) 250-6168 or (800) 444-9404, ext. 6168, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Client Training Videotapes: This nationally recognized series of training programs saves you time and money educating new clients. Overviews of areas ranging from going to court to preparing depositions educate your client in a shorter period of time. State Bar members receive a substantial discount.
• LOIS Professional Library: The State Bar's CD-ROM contains over 300,000 pages of case law, statutes, and key legal information-all hypertext-linked for quick, accurate legal research that you can do right at your desktop. With your subscription you receive a new CD-ROM quarterly and have access to electronic updates at no extra charge. The CD also contains over 30 State Bar CLE books which are also hyper-text linked to the primary law materials allowing you to move instantly from a citation in the CLE book directly to the Wisconsin case, statute or administrative code referenced. There are also seven customized practice libraries. These special library prices reflect a savings of up to 50% of the cost of purchasing the CD-ROM books separately.
• Caselaw Express: WisBar's CaseLaw Express is a free email service that keeps you abreast of recent cases that have been added to WisBar's case law archives. It costs nothing to subscribe to the service, and, once you are subscribed, you will receive an email each Monday listing all of the decisions handed down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals during the previous week.
• State Bar Conventions: The State Bar's Annual Convention provides sole and small firm practitioners with a wealth of opportunities for education, professional participation and networking. Conventions are a great CLE value - up to 14 credits in two days.

Tools to Help You Attract and Retain Clients

• Consumer Pamphlet Series: The State Bar's series of consumer information pamphlets gives you an ideal, low-cost way to disseminate basic legal information that clients and the public need and want. Distributing the pamphlets is both a public service and a low-key way to market your services.
• Law-related Education (LRE): LRE publications such as On Being 18, The Bill of Rights, Opportunities in Law and Adventures in Law supplement your public service presentations in schools and at other civic events. These professionally produced materials help you develop presentations that enhance the legal profession and your practice.
• Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS): More than a hundred calls a day are screened by LRIS professional legal assistants, many of which are referred to Wisconsin attorneys. When you join the LRIS panel, you receive cases that are pre-screened for legal need, saving you time and enhancing your practice with new clients while providing a public service.

Tools to Help You Manage your Law Practice

• Staff Training Videotapes: This nationally recognized series of training programs saves you time when you bring new employees into your offices. Subjects range from confidentiality and telephone skills to time management and marketing, and will make your new staff member more effective in a shorter period of time. State Bar members receive a substantial discount.
• www.wisbar.org: The world of legal resources and your State Bar now are available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week through WisBar on the World Wide Web. With convenient "point-and-click" ease, you can access substantive and practice-oriented resources essential to your work. For a list of Internet service providers in your area. Call the State Bar at (608)257-3838, 800-728-7788 (nationwide) or 800-362-8096 (in Wisconsin).
• General Practice Section and Law Practice Section Memberships: These sections support the needs and interests of the Wisconsin general practitioner. They publish newsletters with articles geared toward smaller law firms, practical practice tips and statutory case law updates. Contact the membership department at (800) 728-7788; or (608) 257-3838 (local).

Other Personal and Professional Programs

• Discounts on a Variety of Services: Save money on car rentals, VISA® and Master Card® programs, prescription drugs, travel programs and insurance through programs provided with your State Bar membership.
• Wisconsin Lawyers' Assistance Program (WisLAP): The day-to-day pressures and deadlines of practice sometimes manifest themselves into acute difficulties like anxiety, depression or chemical and alcohol dependency. Without help in understanding how to deal with these obstacles, our families and our work can be drastically affected. WisLAP, the Wisconsin Lawyers' Assistance Program, provides confidential telephone referral for State Bar members needing personal assistance with the problems related to the stress of practicing law. The service also provides educational and outreach activities. The helpline is (800) 543-2625.