For Immediate Release
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CONTACT: Amanda K. Todd
Court Information Officer
(608) 264-6256 |
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Supreme Court appoints interim members to attorney discipline
board
Feb. 14, 2000 - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has
tapped former members of the Board of Attorneys Professional
Responsibility (BAPR) to fill vacancies on the board on an interim basis
while the Court continues its work to restructure the state's lawyer
discipline system.
The new interim members are:
- John Bolz, Madison
- Arthur C. Egbert, Green Lake
- Attorney Robert J. Kay, Madison
- Marjorie Kinney, Superior
- Attorney Edmund Manydeeds, III, Eau Claire
- Attorney Marguerite Moeller, Madison
- Dr. Robert R. Spitzer, Burlington (note: Spitzer is not a former
member of BAPR)
- Attorney Michael R. Wherry, Milwaukee
Continuing members of BAPR are Attorneys Jon P. Axelrod, William N.
Koslo, Gerald M. O'Brien, and Trinette D. Pitts.
"By your prior service as court appointees, each of you is familiar
with lawyer regulation in Wisconsin and brings to the Board an awareness
and understanding of the important issues involved in it and will be
able to participate fully in the Board's current operations from the
outset," Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson wrote in a letter to the
appointees.
BAPR is an agency of the Supreme Court that is responsible for
investigating grievances involving possible attorney misconduct or
medical incapacity. The Court recently voted to pursue a new framework
for lawyer discipline that would replace BAPR with two, 12-person
statewide boards appointed by the Court, each consisting of at least
four non-lawyer members.
Grievances against lawyers would continue to be screened and
investigated by central staff with assistance as needed from local
committees appointed by the Court (also consisting of at least one-third
non-lawyer members). Under this framework, the local committees would
sunset in three years. The new framework also envisions an intake system
to more efficiently address complaints about or dissatisfaction with a
lawyer.
Supreme Court Commissioner William Mann is drafting proposed rules to
implement this structure and tentatively plans to submit them to the
Court by March 17, 2000. BAPR Interim Administrator James Martin is
forming a committee that will develop the intake system; he also plans
to report to the Court by March 17.
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