January 2005

Lawyers and judges gather at joint Annual Convention and Annual Judicial Conference in May

The State Bar Annual Convention and the Annual Judicial Conference are scheduled for May 4 - 6 at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee. For only the fourth time since 1988, Wisconsin lawyers and judges will have the opportunity to meet and discuss major issues that confront them in administering justice and practicing law.

"In our day-to-day work, we rarely have this kind of opportunity to understand each other's viewpoints, explore solutions together, and even simply get to know each other better on a personal level," says Justice Patience Roggensack, Bench and Bar Planning Committee cochair. "It is our hope that this event will foster greater communication between lawyers and judges, professionally and personally."

"Combining these two events will offer lawyers and judges the opportunity to explore how the judiciary can better understand practicing lawyers' problems and how lawyers can gain a better understanding of the role of judges," says State Bar President Michelle Behnke, Bench and Bar Planning Committee cochair. "The results can significantly affect not only one's own effectiveness, but the quality of our state's entire legal system."

Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams will be the keynote speaker at the Bench and Bar luncheon on May 5. Williams will discuss whether the war on terror has become a permanent fixture of the American political landscape, as have the war on drugs, the war on poverty, and the war on crime. If it has, what are the constitutional implications? Are traditional civil liberties and constitutional protections against unlawful imprisonment in jeopardy?

More information will be mailed in late January.

Inside the Bar